The pandemic was a tough time for all of us, and the first vaccines did not roll out until the very end of 2021. But in September of that year, things were starting to look up… yes, because the vaccine was approved, but mainly because Steve Burns from Blue’s Clues told us he was proud of us in a fourth-wall breaking video.
Seriously, do you guys remember how frickin’ cathartic that was?
And now, Burns has given us more good news that’s bringing a tear to our eye: the Millennial/Gen Z icon is hosting a podcast — for adults.
“It’s basically a societal requirement at this point that everyone has a podcast,” he begins, speaking directly to the camera (as is his wont). “So why don’t we have one, you and I? … I mean, it could basically be what we’ve always done. You and I have always been about this deep and curious investigation of our world, in search of these little bits of information that lead to greater understanding. … Sounds like a podcast to me.”
This time around, though, Steve’s audience is going to be of voting age, so instead of exploring shapes, letters, colors, and all the things that were important to us back then, he wants to tackle more complex issues.
“It could really be about death and sex and taxes and everything that makes it so weird and wonderful to be alive,” he explains.
Someone cover Blue’s ears. (She’s just a puppy, after all.)
He goes on to explain he wants to create “a podcast that listens,” which has always been Steve’s most important role in our lives: to be an adult, on our level, listening to what we have to tell him.
The podcast will be called Alive, which Burns told The New York Times is a cheeky nod to the fact that there were persistent rumors in the days of the early internet that said Burns was dead under tragic circumstances.
“When a zillion, trillion people all think you’re dead for 15 years, it freaks you out,” he told the Times in an interview last year.
Burns went on to say that he was “very happy to be a counterpoint to the current manosphere.” And so too, it seems, are future listeners. At least judging from the comments section of the announcement video.
“When the millennials and early Gen Z needed him most, he returned,” reads one.
“Steve you kept my now 25 year old daughter alive,” reads another. “She was in and out of the hospital for the first four years of her life. She would not let me leave the hospital unless Blue’s Clues was on and she had her Blue doll. So thank you. I will always support you.”
“I am so f-cking happy that Steve is still taking care of the kids he raised,” cheers a third. “It’s not a host of a children’s show taking care of another generation of children. It’s the den father of one generation still taking care of the same generation he raised, and he acknowledges that we are not kids anymore—that life has not been kind to many of us. … Steve, man, do we have some stories to tell you since the last time we saw each other.”
There’s no firm date for when Alive will be released, but expect to hear the first episodes drop this fall. We’ll be there, sitting in our thinking chairs.
