Every Blue's Clues Season Ranked (Worst to Best)

 

As Steve Burns himself once said, Blue’s Clues is a show that people either know or they totally don’t know. And I was fortunate enough to grow up in the former category.

Blue’s Clues is a show that has managed to do quite a lot despite sticking to a simple formula, and with 6 seasons and 141 episodes under its belt, there have certainly been quite a few changes in quality over the years, and I think a lot of it had to do with the constantly changing landscape of children’s television. We went a long way from 1996 to 2004. But which seasons were the best and which ones were not that great? Well, that’s what I’m gonna answer for you today, for I am ranking all six original seasons from worst to best.

QUICK DISCLAIMER: As I just said, I’m ranking the original Blue’s Clues seasons, so Blue’s Clues & You and Blue’s Room will not be included. Just in case anyone was wondering.

With that out of the way, let’s open the book, and skidoo on in the world of Blue’s Clues.

Yep, most of you probably saw this coming. While the sixth season of Blue’s Clues is not absolutely horrendous or anything like that, it is when the show actually started to feel like it was running out of steam. The biggest example of that is its length.

While all the other seasons had episode counts in the twenties, and later thirties, this season takes the award for “Shortest Blue’s Clues Season” with a grand total of 9, count ‘em, 9 episodes, and while that does make it easily binge-able, it’s quite a downgrade considering what the show has given us in the past.

Also, this is the season when they replaced the So Long Song with the Goodbye Song, which isn’t a bad song, but… come on! The So Long Song is so iconic, being catchy, sincere, and heartwarming all at the same time, while the Goodbye Song feels more generic and corny in comparison. Plus, Joe sang the former all throughout the previous season, so why did they suddenly feel the need to switch things up right then and there?

Not to mention that two of the main characters, Slippery Soap and Mrs. Pepper get barely anything to do, and are absent for the majority of the season, which is also quite a shame.

But the biggest issue I have with season 6 is how it decided to incorporate the Blue’s Clues spin-off, Blue’s Room within its narrative. Now I didn’t really watch any of the Blue’s Room segments for this review, because one, as said in the beginning, I’m only focusing on the original Blue’s Clues show, and two, I really don’t want to hear Blue speak actual words for more than a few seconds. What I want to highlight in this review is how this spinoff affected the show it was being housed by, at the time.

First, the explanation they concoct for this setup kinda goes against the episode that came right before it, “Blue’s First Holiday.” While both episodes do keep the detail that Blue was the odd one out in the litter of puppies she hung around, in that episode, it was shown to us that Blue was a storybook character who decided to leave her book to start a new life with Steve, but in the first episode of this season “The Legend Of The Blue Puppy”, she’s presented more as a legendary figure who was gifted a magical key that we’re just finding out exists, and that Blue never told anyone about it, or tried it out on anything. Not even in their treasure hunt episode where keys played a crucial role in the plot.

But the other and much bigger issue is that as soon as the concept of Blue’s Room was introduced, the season would devote 11 minutes of each episode to it, and that really sucked out quite a bit of enjoyment for me, not just because I wasn’t interested in BR, but because the actual Blue’s Clues parts, you know, the stuff I came here to see, suffered because of it. And by suffering, I mean that they feel rather short. Whenever I watch a season 6 episode, even if it’s a good one, it feels like we’ve finished as soon as we’ve begun, and all of the characters and their episodic activities are on autopilot. They even cut down the Blue’s Clues song to just the beginning and ending parts, and as someone who really likes that song, it just sucks more enjoyment out of it for me.

Give the Loud House credit, regardless of how many introductory Casagrande episodes they made for season 4, at least they didn’t try to cram a Casa story into a Loud story and gave full attention to the spinoff characters in question. Give Thomas credit, at least they only devoted two episodes of their actual show to introduce the concept of their spinoff. Give Sesame Street credit, at least Elmo was the right candidate for Elmo’s World because of his personality and general disposition to kids, not to mention the variety show format SS was known for made it so it wasn’t that much of a detour. But with Blue’s Clues, to devote a big portion of each episode of your main show to a spinoff concept where your main character can speak English when they’ve previously been documented to only bark, I’m sorry, but I just can’t get behind that. This is not what I watch Blue’s Clues for.

But like I said at the beginning, this season isn’t horrible, and it does have its good spots. And since it’s so short, I figured I might as well give you my thoughts on each episode.

-The Legend Of The Blue Puppy: Contradictory origin story and Blue’s Room aside, this episode is just meh. Not a lot happens, it’s just the characters looking for a key, and it’s not as engaging or entertaining as it has been in previous episodes.

-Love Day: I actually think this one is alright. It has the only Blue’s Room segment that I actually watched through (Only because of the live-action Cinderella), though to be honest, it’s kinda sad that they did more with Cinderella in Blue’s Room than in the actual show. Also, nitpick alert, but while the scene with Mr. Salt assuring Paprika that he loves both her and Cinnamon is nice, it feels like it should have come sometime when Cinnamon was actually born.

-Blue’s Wishes: Another alright one. The main issue is that aside from Joe and Blue’s first wish, none of the other wishes the characters make feel fleshed out/played out enough to leave an impact.

-Joe’s Clues: Now here’s one I actually quite like, because it presents us with a switch-up of the usual format, where this time, the host is leaving the clues and we have to help Blue find them. I find it strange that they never did this kind of thing with Steve.

-Skidoo Adventure: Another good one that gives us something we’ve never experienced before: The picture of the Blue’s Clues house that we use to skidoo back home flies away, and we have to go on a quest through the place we skidooed into to get back to it. It’s a cool concept that actually plays out quite nicely. The place itself is imaginative and cool to look at, and the episode feels like it goes at a steady pace. Probably because it doesn’t feature a game of Blue’s Clues.

-Playdates: This is my least favorite episode of the season, and quite possibly the show. Why? Because it feels so useless and unnecessary. The plot of this episode is essentially Joe, Blue, Mailbox, and Periwinkle each wanna have a playdate with us, so they use a spinning wheel to decide who we get to play with and when, and that’s all fine and good… except for the very simple and obvious fact that every single episode of Blue’s Clues is essentially a playdate!  Playdates, by definition, are set times when we go to hang out with friends, and in each and every episode, we go hang out with Steve, Joe, Blue, and everyone else who lives in the Blue’s Clues universe and do stuff with them, so I don’t know why these characters are making such a big deal out of something we’ve been doing since the show began. It has the same energy as SpongeBob's "Best Day Ever" being comprised of things he does on a regular basis. Not to mention that each character's playdate activities are so generic and short that they don’t make any impact whatsoever. (Except for Mailbox letting us deliver the letter for Mailtime. That was pretty nice.)

-The Fairy Tale Ball: This one was alright as well. Not as on par with how Sesame Street handles its fairy tale icons, but alright. I will say that Humpty Dumpty was a rather fresh choice for a character that Blue wanted to meet.

-Soccer Practice: Another one where not that much happens, but the different setting is always appreciated, and it’s always nice seeing Sidetable get more to do.

-Bluestock: And now we come to the last episode of the entire show, and my favorite episode of the season. This episode is pretty much what the title implies: An episode where the characters, as well as some celebrities, get together and sing covers of songs from the show that go harder than they have ANY right to. Tickety and Toni Braxton singing the Planet Song? Amazing. Periwinkle and Macy Gray singing Do the Daisy? Amazing. Mailbox, Joe, and India Arie singing reggae versions of the Mailtime Tunes? A-Freaking-Mazing! And while I don’t like that the Blue’s Clues song was still cut down, it was a nice touch to have Sidetable sing it with Joe. Also, this is the only episode of season 6 where the clues don’t come to life. Because they’re musical clues, Joe instead plays them on a kazoo, and we actually have time to talk with him as to what we think the clues could possibly mean. Considering this was the last episode of the whole series, that’s a pretty big deal. Though, despite my praises, I also think this episode isn’t as great as it could’ve been. For one, I’m not particularly fond of Blue’s song choice. I mean all the other characters got to sing actual songs that were made for the series, and all Blue sings is the oldest public-domain kid song in the book? Come on! Why couldn’t she have sung “There It Is!” or “Silly Hat”, “The Birthday Candle Dance” or any of the songs from the albums? Some other song that would fit in with the theme of “Blue’s Clues Hits.” Same with They Might Be Giants, who didn’t get to sing a Blue’s Clues song either. Also, we were robbed of one final performance of the So Long Song with all the celebrities they brought on for this episode, and that just makes me sad.

So yeah, between its short lifespan, weak episode executions, and devoting needless amounts of time to a spinoff I don’t particularly like, I think you can see why season 6 takes the bottom spot on this list, and I don’t really have any desire to revisit it again.

Before I get into this section, I want to clarify right now that this is just a default placement. The other seasons were just better, and the last one was worse. I think it goes without saying, but if season 1 of Blue’s Clues wasn’t at least a good season, the show would not have been on the air for as long as it was, and I wouldn’t be typing these words right now.

I’ve talked about this before, but Blue’s Clues is Phineas and Ferb before Phineas and Ferb, in that it uses the same formula for every episode, but somehow manages to change the way it plays out each time, and because of that, you understand the show from the get-go. In every episode, we understand that Blue knows something that she wants us to figure out, so we’re going to play a game where we find three things that she smacked her pawprint on and then figure out how they all go together, and the writers knew how to use that fact to their advantage. Each of the 20 episodes managed to tell a different story without feeling like a carbon copy, and I think a lot of that comes from both Steve and the Blue’s Clues world itself.

There’s a reason Steve Burns is such a beloved children’s icon, and that’s because whether he’s mishearing the audience, cracking a joke, making a sock puppet, or doing an Elvis impersonation, Steve is just a fun guy to be around. He’s also a master at talking to people one-on-one, and every time he addresses the audience, it doesn’t feel forced or phoned-in. But Steve is only as good as the universe he’s chroma keyed into, which is why I also give props to the animation team for designing a world that kids could get invested in. I mean, a house that looks tiny on the outside but is large and wide on the inside with all kinds of colorful rooms, sentient household objects, and an assortment of pictures and pocket dimensions that you can jump into at any time? What kind of kid wouldn’t want to live that fantasy?

When it comes to episode quality, season 1 is very consistent. There really is no episode I dislike, and they’re all really fun to watch. If I had to pick my favorite episode it would be the season finale, “Blue’s News”, because it manages to utilize all the main characters in some way, it keeps us on our toes with all the riddles that Steve has to solve, and it all culminates into the birth of Paprika, which is a sweet scene all around.

Other first-season highlights include “Snack Time”, which is a very good introductory episode to the series, “Blue Wants To Play A Game” which introduces one of my favorite pieces of music from the whole show, “What Time Is It For Blue?” which has one of the calmest and sleep-inducing endings in all of television, and “What Story Does Blue Want To Play?” because it gave us Elvis Steve.

But despite all the good the first season did, it does have a few criticizable aspects to it. First off, Sidetable Drawer. The first five episodes did a good job of introducing us to the other characters that populated Steve and Blue’s house, (Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Tickety, Mailbox, Shovel, Pail, and Slippery) and we get a good idea of what each of them is like, but as I mentioned in my Blue’s Clues movie review, Sidetable only got to say one line and open herself so Steve could get his notebook. Seriously, that’s all she does in this season. She wasn’t even mentioned by name until the season finale. Considering how she’s a vital part of the show’s formula, you think the writers would have tried to give her more attention from the get-go, but no, she was a huge afterthought.

Second, this season is the one where the animation errors are at their most visible state. I’m not someone who usually notices animation errors, but when there’s a scene that shows Steve’s floor has a black void at the bottom of itself, as well as a scene where Steve’s missing the bottom half of his body, it’s pretty darn noticeable.

I really thought that I would have more to say about this season… but I don’t. Season 1 of Blue’s Clues is a very solid start to the show. It’s simple enough for kids to understand, but creative and entertaining enough for them to want to see more. But most importantly, it set the bar for other seasons to raise. Let’s talk about how the next season did with raising, shall we?

What’s this? A Joe season ranked higher than a Steve season? Bet you weren’t expecting that, but it’s true, and unlike the previous one, I actually have quite a bit to say about this season. After re-watching it, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this season. It’s not the best, obviously, but it has a lot of good qualities to it.

First off, Joe is great. Not as great as Steve, but he still did a pretty awesome job at hosting. The reason Joe got such a bad reputation was that his audience was a bunch of kids who weren’t emotionally mature enough to handle change. If he had been the host since day 1, I doubt many kids would have complained. He does most of the same things Steve did but still finds a way to stand out and be his own character, and because of that, I think he’s earned his place in the main cast.

Speaking of them, the cast was very evenly distributed this time around. While some do get more screen time than others, no one feels like their outshining each other, and everyone makes an appearance. In fact, one of the best episodes from this season Joe’s Surprise Party, manages to incorporate all of the House Crew, plus Periwinkle, as they take over the titular game to get ready for Joe’s celebration. Though, I wish we could have seen them narrate how to draw each of the clues that were presented to us. (I also wish Steve got his own birthday celebration during his run on the show.)

Side note, Periwinkle was really pushed to the forefront this season. He really felt like an honorary member of the house crew, with how much they focused on him.

The lessons Season 5 taught were probably some of the most complex lessons the show has ever taught. From learning about different kinds of colors, building contraptions, patience, directions, counting to 100, writing, and yes, even body language. As PhantomStrider, so eloquently put it:

“Most adult shows don’t talk about body language, let alone “under 7” shows!”

Some other notable episodes include “Blue’s Big Car Trip”, which is the first episode to take place far away from the house and neighborhood, “Meet Polka Dots”, in which Joe and Blue swap roles, with Joe being absent for a good majority of the run time, as we follow Blue as she interacts with the other characters, "The Alphabet Train", which is a fun alphabet adventure, and “Our Neighborhood Festival”, which was a nice episode about the Blue’s Clues community and serves as a great tribute to the late Fred Rogers.

And what about the theme song? While I’ll always prefer the original intro where we just walk up to the house, while that classic beat plays in the background, “Another Blue’s Clues Day” is a worthy successor and is one I could listen to over and over again.

Next, I want to talk about my feelings on something in particular. 9 episodes of this season would introduce a new change to the format that would be carried into season 6. Instead of Joe drawing the clue in his notebook by himself, the clues would draw themselves, gain sentience and sing about what they are and what the answer could be. What do I think of that? To be honest, I’m pretty split. Yeah, I obviously prefer when the host draws the clues by himself and narrates how to do so, with each clue adding a different musical element to create a harmonious melody. Plus, they only did this for 9 episodes, so I don’t see why the original process had to be changed. But at the same time, the singing clues still provide the audience with the necessary time and opportunities to figure out what the answer might be, (Unlike a certain movie I could mention.) so I can’t complain about it too much.

Another criticism I have are that the pawprint wipe-away scenes feel like they go by too quickly, and Joe hardly interacts with them compared to Steve, but that’s neither here nor there.

And now it’s time to go over the two best episodes this season: The 100th episode celebration and Blue’s First Holiday, which serve as not only episodes but love letters to the show itself. The former as the title would suggest is the characters reflecting on how far they’ve come and how we’ve been there every step of the way, and the fact that Steve came back for it really elevates it to not just any episode. Yeah, some might argue it’s just a glorified clip show, but the fact that the crew put in such effort to commemorate this occasion goes to show that this show meant something to a lot of people. As for Blue’s First Holiday, it serves as an amazing and satisfying origin story, explaining where Blue came from and how she brought the game of Blue’s Clues into existence, stuff that I didn’t even know I wanted to know. Plus, it gives us adorable mini-versions of Steve, Joe, Blue, and the other house characters, and Steve actually makes a collect call to the house to say hello to us. I gotta be honest, I think THIS is where Blue’s Clues should have ended. It just feels like such a good stopping point. Like the show is thanking us for being with them for so long by explaining how it all began. If Blue’s Clues stopped airing new episodes after BFH, I would be satisfied.

Overall, season 5 was a season I enjoyed revisiting, and I’ll definitely do it again in the future. Even though it’s different, it still feels the same.

Okay, we’ve covered one half of the show, now it’s time to cover the other half, with the really good stuff. Starting with Season 4, which just might be the most known/talked about season ever, due to a certain event that I’ll talk about later. But taking said event out of the equation, this season still has a lot going for it.

The first few episodes all centered around imagination, but as Blue’s Clues always does, they manage to do something different in each episode. “Imagine Nation” is about the characters taking what little tools they have and imagining different better things with them, as well as helping Mr. Salt unlock his creativity. “Adventure!” basically documents the characters LARPing, and “The Anything Box” is about all the different things a cardboard box can be used for. Each of these episodes focuses on imagination but they all still manage to feel like different experiences.

But that’s not all, in season 4, we get to learn about bugs, books, and plants, we get to play superheroes, build with blocks, make up dances, coach the characters in backyard ball games, and we even get to spend the day learning how to be a puppeteer. (Which I’m sure muppet fans would appreciate.) The writers hadn’t run out of steam or ideas for this season, and it shows.

In terms of characters, this season is kind of weird, as it seems to divide the cast up and focus on different sets of characters depending on where the episode takes place. If the episode largely takes place inside the house, it’ll most likely feature Tickety, Slippery, and the Spice Family. If the episode largely takes place outside in the backyard, it’ll most likely feature Shovel and Pail. As for Periwinkle, he’s the exception, as he appears in both inside AND outside episodes. He even gets his own episode to introduce to the old city friend he talked about in season three. “¡Un Día Con Plum!” is where we get to meet Plum, a purple bird who happens to be bilingual, which opens the door for us, Steve and Blue to learn how things are said en espanol. It’s a very fun and educational episode, and Plum is far more interesting and enjoyable to watch than Rainbow Puppy.

But if you want a season 4 episode that finds a way to incorporate all the main characters in a meaningful way, look no further than “What’s New, Blue?”, where Steve and Blue make a newspaper and document what each of the house crew has accomplished today. And it’s also a great segue into the next aspect of season 4 I wanna highlight: Episode arcs.

For you see, at the very end of the episode, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper announce that they’re having another child, and that’s what kicks off the birth of Cinnamon saga, which handles the new baby aspect a whole lot better than season 1 did. While Blue’s News is a great episode, it kinda rushed through the whole process of Paprika’s birth. There were never any indications before that episode that Mrs. Pepper was pregnant, and Paprika kinda just appeared at the end. That’s not the case with episodes 5-9 of season 4. Cinnamon’s birth is a gradual process that is not rushed through whatsoever. First, the couple makes their announcement in “What’s New, Blue?”, then in “Blue’s New Place”, one of the side quests is helping Paprika find new big kid toys to play with, while the new baby gets her old stuff. Then the spice couple is made the center of attention in “Mr. Salt & Mrs. Pepper Day”, then the next episode aptly titled “The Baby’s Here!” is when the birth finally happens, and Cinnamon is brought back to the house, and finally “Making Changes” focuses on Steve, Blue and the rest of the gang having to change what they do and how they act to accommodate their new roommate. This is what I meant when I said season 1 set the bar for other seasons to raise because whereas the former just showcased the aftermath of a childbirth, season 4 shows us everything, from the very start to the very end over the course of five episodes, and I think that’s pretty awesome.

But there was one other arc that this season had, and it’s the event I mentioned at the start of this section of the review. An arc so life-changing, it shook an entire generation of kids. You all know what I’m talking about: The three-part season finale, where Joe enters the picture and Steves exits it.

Steve carried Blue’s Clues on his back for the entirety of his run (This season included). He had to, being the host. But since he was a continuously aging man, he couldn’t do it forever, so it only made sense that he’d have to stop at some point. But no matter how good Steve’s sendoff was, a good majority of Blue’s Clues’ audience was going to be left unsatisfied. So how good was it, exactly? Honestly, I’d say pretty good.

Each of the three last episodes tackles a different part of the switch between hosts. The first episode introduces Joe, the second one has him learn how to play Blue’s Clues and receive his own notebook, and the last one explains that Steve is leaving for college and Joe is taking his place. Fundamentally, this is a very linear storyline that covers most of its bases. My only criticism is that I wish they had prepared us a bit more for Steve’s departure.

I mean the first two episodes do a great job of introducing Joe and getting us used to him, but they don’t really foreshadow or imply in any way that Steve is leaving. Rather, they seem to implicate that Joe is now becoming part of the central cast alongside Steve and the others. Like, imagine yourself as a kid watching Joe’s first episode, and you’re thinking “Wow, I didn’t know Steve had a brother, I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of him.” Then you watch “Joe Gets A Clue”, where Joe gets initiated into the titular game, and then you’re thinking, “Wow! Now I have TWO friends to play Blue’s Clues with! This is so cool!” And THEN when you reach “Steve Goes To College” where Steve announces that he’s moving out and leaving to live somewhere else, you think to yourself, “W-What the heck?! I thought Steve and Joe were gonna live together! Why is Steve leaving?! That came out of nowhere!! I’m not ready for this!!!!”

I think that’s the reaction that most kids who watched this episode had, and I don’t blame them one bit. If Steve had mentioned wanting/trying to go to college in more than one episode, or if Joe’s first two episodes showed signs that he was planning to go somewhere soon, I think people would have been at least slightly less reactive as they were.

But even with that, Steve’s goodbye party and the last few minutes of the episode were heartwarming all around, (Though, I wish Paprika, Cinnamon, and Periwinkle could’ve been there.), and in a way, it DID teach us that sometimes people leave our lives, and that’s okay.

But I think I’ve gone on long enough for this one. Season 4 is great. It gave us cool new concepts, great lessons, actual arcs and developments, and is the final hurrah for one of the greatest kid’s show characters of all time. Definitely worthy of third place.

But even so, it’s got nothing on these next two seasons. Starting with season 2, this season took what was there originally in season 1 and beefed it up a significant amount.

We go from trying to find something to go with our snacks, reciting nursery rhymes, and preparing for a friend to come and visit, to Steve dealing with the sniffles, learning how to play certain games, the concepts of dreams, taking care of others, how to relocate lost things, the importance of recycling, fixing things, and we even get to practice basic spelling and mathematics.

Steve is twice as hilarious as he was in the first season and the rest of the cast have more engaging activities for us to help them with. Even Sidetable gets more things to say.

Not to mention, season 2 is where some of the most iconic episodes of Blue’s Clues spawned. There’s “What Experiment Does Blue Want To Try?”, which gave us the earworm known as “The Planet Song” and showed us how to do the cyclone experiment, “Blue is Frustrated”, which does a fantastic job at teaching the audience how to deal with frustration, and is just a funny episode in general, “Blue’s Surprise At 2:00”, which is another funny and iconic episode that teaches a lot about time-telling and how clocks work, “What Does Blue Want To Do On A Rainy Day?”, which is a musical episode that would be perfect to watch on the titular kind of day, and last, but certainly not least, “Blue’s Birthday”, which is probably the first special episode the show ever put out. Aside from making us feel like we’re truly celebrating the little blue puppy alongside the other characters, giving us a banger birthday song, deleted/special scenes, not to mention the first-ever Handy Dandy Notebook variant, and the debut of Blue’s pet turtle, Turquoise, this episode was also advertised very heavily. It had a sweepstakes, a book, a computer game, and everything. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was this episode that had the biggest contribution to Blue’s Clues becoming the smash hit that it did.

The only episode in this season that feels kinda iffy is “Blue’s Sad Day” because Green Puppy, the character who made Blue sad in the first place doesn’t seem to get that much repercussion for their actions towards her and instead kinda gets rewarded for it, but Green gets better as the series goes on, so I can overlook it.

Overall, Season 2 is when Blue’s Clues went from a good kids’ show to a great kids’ show. Improving on its lessons, music, and characters, and making itself known across the world. It definitely deserves the title of second place.

Well, here we are, at my favorite Blue’s Clues season of all time. If Season 2 was a great season, Season 3 was an excellent season. Everything the previous seasons did, season 3 does better, and then some.

First off, characters. Not only does this season give focus to everyone in the house, and not only is everyone as enjoyable as they always are, especially Steve, but it also really likes to bring them all together for multiple occasions. Think Pool Party, Thankful, Blue’s Big Holiday, and of course, the TV/Home Video movie Blue’s Big Musical, where Steve, Blue, and the House crew would all gather together to celebrate something. 

Not just that, but this is the season where Periwinkle makes his debut and I really like how they introduced us to him and got us used to him. It’s sort of like what they did with Joe, except this time, no one was leaving. “Blue’s Big Mystery” gets us excited to find out who he is, with the mysterious fort and us having to find out who built it, then in “Periwinkle Misses His Friend”, we get to learn more about his life before moving to Blue’s neighborhood, and then, we arguably his biggest/most known episode role in “Blue’s Big Musical” where his subplot is one of the central focuses. Periwinkle was introduced, built on, and given time to shine, and I really like it.

Season 3 didn’t just introduce characters, it built off of old ones. Namely, Magenta, who actually gets quite a bit of screen time this season, unlike the previous two. Blue invites Magenta to both her pool and costume party, and then later on, we get to meet Magenta’s owner, Miranda in the episode “Shy” and see what she’s like, and then in the very next episode, “Magenta Gets Glasses”, where we follow Magenta as she… gets glasses, which is a continuity change that stuck for the rest of the show’s run (not counting BC&Y).

But it wasn’t just Blue and Magenta who lived with a live-action human. Green Puppy, Orange Kitten, and Purple Kangaroo were all shown to have their respective human companions as well in Blue’s Big Holiday, (Side brag: I’m IG friends with Orange’s human, Sam.) and they were all fairly enjoyable. Though it’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of them.

The lessons were also at their peak this season. I don’t think any other season of Blue’s Clues went into such topics as neighborhood geography, weight, balance, anatomy, sign language, dinosaurs, environments, how rain is produced, animal behaviors, and most importantly, writing a story with character motivations. They covered a LOT of bases.

Season 3 wasn’t just educational, it was also experimental as well. There were tons of different special intros for 50% of the episodes this season, which helped make each of them a new and exciting experience. “The Wrong Shirt”, which is an episode all about opposites has Steve spending the majority of the run time wearing a brown shirt and green-striped pants, “Nature” has Steve and Blue spend the entire episode outside of the house, complete with a new notebook and Thinking Rock, and “What’s That Sound?” puts much more emphasis on the sounds and noises we hear all the time by taking away the usual intro and outro music.

This season was also home to two special episodes that were icons in their own rights. There was the season premiere “Blue’s Big Treasure Hunt”, which, aside from being a cool concept and fun plotline in general, featured Mailtime at the very start of the episode, a special treasure notebook variant, the land of great discovery, and Rue McClanahan as Steve’s grandma. And there was also Blue’s Big Pajama Party, which sticks out from the other episodes, not just because we get to see the Blue’s Clues house at night, but also because it was built up to with short teaser commercials as the premiere date grew closer. Not just that, but it also featured deleted intro and outro scenes where Steve picks up his bunny slippers from a slipper repair shop run by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and then later after the end credits she stops by to read us and Steve a story called “Where Do Slippers Sleep?” It’s a really rare moment that you hardly see in any episode.

But most importantly season 3 is home to some of my favorite Blue’s Clues episodes of all time. Of course, there’s Blue’s Big Musical, which I’ve already talked about, but we also have “What’s So Funny?” which is a hilarious experience from beginning to end, “Cafe Blue”, which is an episode that makes me hungry every time I watch it, “Inventions”, which not only does a great job teaching us about inventions but contains one of the best meta moments of a show I’ve ever seen, “Blue’s Big Holiday”, which is one of the greatest holiday specials of all time, “Words”, which has one of the best skidoo places ever, “Nature” and “The Wrong Shirt” for their changes to the formula, and “Thankful”, which despite not saying the name outright does a great job at capturing the spirit and aesthetic of Thanksgiving (Though I will say it will never not irk me that Slippery wasn’t included in Steve’s Thankful Book.)

Overall, season three is a culmination of everything I love about Blue’s Clues: Cohesive stories that make sense and are engaging, characters that are enjoyable to be around, a formula that is predictable, but never stale, lessons that are taught in a way for kids to understand, but still have fun with, and catchy tunes that I can listen to all day. You really couldn’t ask for more. While all the other seasons do have their good and great qualities, (even season 6, to an extent.) none of them hit the same way season 3 does. It’s Peak Blue’s Clues, in my opinion, and nothing will ever top it.

Well, that was my list. I hope I’ve been able to open your eyes to how great Blue’s Clues really is, even though I bet most of you reading this knew that already. What do you guys think? Was I accurate? Which season of Blue’s Clues is your favorite? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I will see you next time. Bye!