It’s been a mind-boggling twenty-five years since the popular show Blue’s Clues debuted. How can that be?!?! Steve, the much-loved original host of the show was abruptly replaced by his “brother” Joe in 2002. Steve has since said that he just felt it was more or less, the right time to leave the show.
For those who never saw the show, Steve, the host, presents the audience with a puzzle involving a large blue animated dog named, you guessed it…Blue. Blue leaves behind clues in the form of objects marked with her paw print. The audience always knew that Steve was about to figure out the puzzle when he retired to his “Thinking Chair” to think things through, and unravel the mystery.
My oldest son was 4 when the show began and he loved it. All my boys did. I can see them, my now adult sons in their matching cotton pjs standing in front of the TV holding their Blues Clues wipe-off Handy Dandy notebooks which were for writing down information about the all-important clues. Never mind that they could neither read nor write. That didn’t stop them from trying to help Steve figure out his mysteries with an earnestness that is reserved for preschoolers. In 2002 after Steve abruptly left, at least for my kids, the show lost some of its allure.
In honor of the show’s 25th anniversary the original host, Steve Burns, has released a video letting us know what he’s been up to since his departure from the show.
In the video he reminds his now twenty-something audience how they used to “run around and hang out with Blue and find clues and talk to Mr. Salt and freak out about the mail and do all the fun stuff?”
Then, “…one day, I was like, ‘Oh hey, guess what? Big news, I’m leaving. Here’s my brother Joe, he’s your new best friend,’ and then I got on a bus and I left and we didn’t see each other for like a really long time? Can we just talk about that? Great. Because I realize that was kind of abrupt.”
Burns goes on to say that he left the show to attend college and that he is currently doing things he loves even though some of the stuff he is doing is really hard like student loans, jobs and families. He also notes that his audience has probably had similar experiences over the years since he left the show.
Burns then goes right for the heart strings telling his fans that he “…couldn’t have done all of that without your help and in fact, all the help that you helped me with when we were younger is still helping me today, right now. And that’s super cool…I guess I just wanted to say that after all these years, I never forgot you. Ever. And I’m super glad we’re still friends.”
It’s good to see you again Steve and to begin to solve the mystery of your departure or at least to get a clue as to why you had to go.
