Blue's Clues - Reception

Reception

Blue's Clues has been described as the first commercial television show for preschoolers that was both educational and profitable. The show began "a revolution in kids' TV" and started the trend of targeting preschool programs and merchandise to younger viewers. Its creators met regularly with the businesses that created products for the show, to ensure their goals of creating high-quality products that were educational and met "the same high...standards as the show". Products, like the show, were heavily tested prior to marketing.

Blue's Clues had sold almost 40 million units of its 45 VHS and DVD titles by 1998, and generated over $1 billion in product licensing in 2000. More than ten million Blue's Clues books were in print by 2001, and over three million copies of six CD-ROM titles based on the show had been sold. Seven Blue's Clues titles sold at least 1 million copies each. The show's first direct to video production, Blue's Big Musical Movie (2000), which featured Ray Charles and The Persuasions, received mostly positive reviews, and has sold over 3 million copies since 2006. The launch of Blue's Clues products at FAO Schwartz's flagship store in New York City was the most successful product launch in the store's history, and was attended by over 7,000 people. By 2002, Blue's Clues had received several awards for children's programming, educational software, and licensing and been nominated for nine Emmy Awards.

A live production of Blue's Clues toured the U.S. starting in 1999, to positive reviews. As of 2002, over 2 million people had attended over 1,000 performances. The creators of the TV show were involved in all aspects of the live show. Their goals were to translate the bond between the TV show's audience and its cast to the stage, and to provide young audiences with their first theatrical experience. The creators chose Jonathan Hochwald as the live show's producer, Gip Hoppe as its director, and Dave Gallo as its set designer. Neither Hoppe nor Gallo had any previous experience in children's theater. Nick Balaban and Michael Rubin, who wrote the music for the TV show, composed the live show's soundtrack. The producers were concerned with children's response to the host, who was played by Tom Mizer (a different actor than the host of the TV show), but the young audience enthusiastically accepted him. Actors were encouraged to improvise and respond to the audience, which resulted in changes throughout the show's run. The show's script included humor that both children and their parents could enjoy.

Other countries have produced regional versions of the show that feature native hosts. It has been successful in the UK, become part of pop culture in Korea, been syndicated in 120 countries, and been translated into 15 languages. In 2000, it became one of the first preschool shows to incorporate American Sign Language into its content, with five-to-ten signs used consistently in each episode. Blue's Clues won an award from the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) for promoting deaf awareness in the media.