Bluey

Bluey is an Australian cartoon that airs on ABC Kids as of 2018. As of 2019, the show airs on Disney Channel & Disney Junior in the United States. It also airs on CBeebies in the UK and TVNZ in New Zealand.

Plot

Follows the adventures of a Blue Heeler puppy named Bluey, who lives with her mum, dad, and sister. Her energy and lovable spirit gets her into all kinds of funny and unpredictable situations.

Why It’s Great "For Real Life"

1. The art style is adorable and well drawn.
2. The animation is very fluid and well-made, and also focuses on the backgrounds rather than just the main focus.
3. It follows the slice-of-life formula by relatable characters and situations, such as going to school and trying new things.
4. Great, heartwarming and memorable soundtrack & music score by Joff Bush.
5. Depicts play time in a positive light.
6. There are amazing morals in almost all the episodes, which includes:
   • "The Magic Xylophone", which teaches kids that they should take turns.
   • "Hammerbarn", which teaches kids that you must be happy with the things you have and almost all the things have a cost.
   • "Daddy Robot" has a good moral about you should tidy up rather than letting your parents do all the work.
   • "Bike", which teaches kids to learn how to take risks, never give up, and overcome any obstacle on their way.
   • "Takeaway", which has a deep moral that you should savour your childhood whilst you can because one day you won't be a kid anymore.
   • "Yoga Ball", which teaches kids that they shouldn't play rough with anyone.
   • "Wagon Ride" had a good moral about you shouldn't disturb everyone when they're trying and wait until they stop talking.
   • "Grannies", which teaches kids that they can learn how to do things they don't know yet, like dancing.
   • "The Sleepover", which teaches kids that sleep is important.
   • "Camping", which teaches kids that special people come into our lives, stay a bit, then leave.
   • "Hairdressers", which teaches us that we shouldn't talk over people, and instead wait for the person to finish their sentence/word.
   • "Stumpfest", which has a good moral that you shouldn't disturb anyone when they playing.
   • "Grandad", which teaches us that you need to be big and strong, and rest if you need to.
   • "Seesaw", which has a good moral that even if you're small, you can still have a big impact.
   • "Library", which has a moral that you should be quiet in quiet places like a library, and that when someone calls you "special", you don't take it too literal.
   • "Barky Boats", which teaches kids about what being 12 years old is like.
   • "Circus", which has a good moral that you shouldn't bully everyone else by forcing others to play the game you want to play.
   • "Muffin Cone" which has a good moral about you should break your old habits, especially annoying ones like sucking your thumb.
   • "Baby Race", which teaches us that not everything is a race, and that everyone is still learning new things.
   • "Mr Monkeyjocks", which teaches us that we have to get rid of things we don't need and give it to someone else.
   • "Fruitbat", which teaches us that we can dream of what we want to be, whether it's your dream job, to continue doing the things you enjoy, even pretend to be an animal you desire.
   • "The Beach" and "Piggyback" has a good moral about walking and running is important.
   • "Butterflies" has a good moral about you shouldn't run off from anyone.
   • "Bad Mood" has a good moral about you shouldn't' be in a bad mood when things goes wrong.
   • "Featherwand" has a good and alright moral about you can make your own fun.
   • "Blue Mountains" has a great moral about you shouldn't trust strangers.
   • ”Mount Mumandad” which teaches kids about teamwork.
   • ”Perfect” says that everything doesn’t have to be perfect.
   • ”Obstacle course” teaches kids that you shouldn’t cheat at anything.
   • “Faceytalk” teaches kids you should take turns, similar to Magic Xylophone.
   • “Promises” teaches kiddies that you should keep promises.
7. Catchy and memorable theme tune.
8. It can teach non-Australian kids about Australian culture.
9. Has a positive, relatable depiction of a kid with ADHD named Jack Russell in the second season.
10. Cute and simple character designs.
11. Nice and skillfull voice acting, especially from the kids themselves.
12. A lot of enjoyable episodes, but because bullet points don’t work, we can’t show you.
13. A lot of funny moments in there, such as in "The Sleepover", where Muffin gets all crazy and psychotic after skipping a sleep.
14. It spawned good Christmas episodes like "Verandah Santa" and "Christmas Swim" and a great Eater special “Easter”.
15. It has many likable characters like Bluey, Bingo, Rusty, Muffin and especially Snickers, Socks, Winton and Pom Pom.
16. Some unlikable characters like Judo can redeem themselves.
17. This show also encourages kids to use they imagination very well without hammering it down as much as possible.
18. Not only the morals are good, but it's also used very well.
19. Countless memorable quotes, such as "For real life?", "Oh... biscuits", "Wackadoo", "Morning, Wendy", "We can edit that bit out, right?", "I'm the flamingo queen", "I want to suck my thumb!", "Oh boy, here comes the meltdown", "Hello doctor ladies, do you sell crutches?", "Coconuts have water in them!" and "My name is Bububabu".
20. The relationship between some characters, such as with Bandit and Chilli, Captain and Mia and Radley and Frisky are cute and wholesome.
21. There are also shorts for the show, and they're all amazing, such as "Pea Pod Sausages" and "Jingle Bells".
22. This show has even managed to spawn a good album that was released in 2021, titled Bluey: The Album, and it was debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart in February 2021.
23. There are also funny gags in the show, such as in Hairdressers, where the title card appears twice in the episode, the second time having "Hairdressers" scribbled out and replaced with "Nits", with Bluey saying "This episode of Bluey is now called 'Nits'".
24. It's one of the few preschool shows that also appeal to anyone outside the target demographic very well.
25. It keeps the names of the children's voice actors anonymous to protect them from groomers and predators unlike most children's shows.

Bad Qualities

1. It has some bad episodes like "The Doctor", “Neighbours”, "Sticky Gecko", "Charades", “Fairies” and “Musical Statues” ( all depending on your view).
2. There's some bad jokes and unnecessary toilet humor here and there like the one infamous scene in "Work".
3. While the animation is very fluid and well-made, it may have some errors found in some episodes, the notable episodes is "Takeaway" and "Horsey Ride" and “Spies”.
4. Some r/fellowkids stuff such as flossing, fidget spinners, pop-its and Bandit doing the worm in “Dance mode”
   • In fact, they had an entire episode dedicated to flossing, making the episode a lot more dated than it needs to be.
5. Some characters can be a bit unlikable sometimes.
   • Judo also isn't any better, especially due to her bossy nature. An example is in Butterflies, where Bingo wanted to be the caterpillar, but Judo said she couldn't because it was her turn.
   • Muffin was unlikable in bad episodes like "Charades".
   • The Flying Fox Shichon kid was unlikable in "Promises" when he refused to share with Bluey saying that it's still his turn.
6. It had bad controversies about the show:
   • The description of Chilli (known as Mum) was so inappropriate that it was changed to make it more appropriate for kids.
   • Two of the episodes, Teasing and Flat Pack, were pulled from the ABC Kids iView and ABC iView apps due to racist stuff about aboriginals, then after that, They removed the racist stuff on these two episodes and later got re-released later.
   • There are few disabled people, LGBTQ+ characters and different religions, and some parents have been mad about that. There are some people that are disabled, such as Jack and wheelchair girl, but still.
7. While the music is very well composed, The Lollipop Song from the episode "Bad Mood" is one of the worst of the worst Bluey songs of all time.
8. While the show doesn't lack common logic, it shows harmful food to dogs like chocolate (ice cream and a chocolate bar), avocados, and grapes.

Reception

Bluey has enjoyed a positive critical reception. The series received a seal of approval from Common Sense Media, with reviewer Emily Ashby commending its positive family and social themes. Bluey was praised by Philippa Chandler of The Guardian for its "sharp script" and depiction of everyday family life, while commenting that its Queensland background set it apart from other cartoons on television. Readers of The New York Times's parenting blog submitted Bluey as their Favourite children's show, describing it as charming, smart and "very real". The series was called "laugh-out-loud funny" by Stephanie Convery of The Guardian, who credited its humor to the "quirky behavior" of the child characters. In 2019, TV Week listed Bluey at No. 98 in its list of the 101 greatest Australian television shows of all time. Despite only being on air since 2018, the magazine wrote that Bluey "stole Australia's hearts faster than any other cartoon character" in what it described as a "cute, funny and modern" series. The series was listed at No. 14 in Junkee's list of 50 television programs that defined the decade, in which it was described as "an absolute delight". It currently had a 9.4/10 on IMDb.