2018 Dedications

This is my big come back, ladies and gentleman. I haven't done any of these in like a year now. Mostly because I was moved to the kitchen to use this computer. But before we begin, there's been a lot of stuff happening lately. Like my mom just had back surgery, and the deaths of some famous people. I would like to list some.

Stan Lee (1922-2018) He was 95. He was the man responsible for all the Marvel Comics, creating great heroes like Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor. His career was probably best known for all those cameos he had in the Marvel films over the years. I'm not really a Marvel fan, but I think Stan Lee is a person worth mentioning, because he is a legend, a comic book legend anyway.

Charlotte Rae (1926-2018) She was 92. She was a talent actress known far and wide in both TV and movies. Rae was known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and its spin-off, The Facts of Life (in which she had the starring role from 1979–1986). She was also Molly the Mail Woman during the third season of Sesame Street, as well as the voice of Aunt Pristine Figg in Tom and Jerry: The Movie. One of her recent projects before her death was Ricki and the Flash, with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Rick Springfield.

Penny Marshall (1943-2018) was only 75. She started her career as Laverne DeFazio on Laverne and Shirley. And she later went on to direct a few popular film from the late 80's to the early 90's. Including "Big" starring Tom Hanks, "Awakenings" starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro, and "A League of Their Own" also starring Tom Hanks, which also featured Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Geena Davis. She was the sister of the late Garry K. Marshall, who created Happy Days and directed Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve.

Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. He has never spoken because he had ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Hawking lost his voice and only can talk through a speech-generating device. Hawking may be gone. But his speech-generating device is not gone. He was never able to recover from ALS for the next decades, let me tell you.

Harry Anderson (1952-2018) He was only 65 when he passed. I don't know much about him, but I looked up his article, he was the star of Night Court and Dave's World. As well as one of the stars of the 1990 Stephen King miniseries, "IT" which also starred John Ritter, Annette O'Toole, Seth Green, Tim Curry as Pennywise, Dennis Christopher, Richard Thomas, Richard Masur, Michael Cole, and Tim Reid, who also played Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati. And speaking of....

Hugh Wilson (1943-2018) was a writer, director, and producer, best known for created the popular classic sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati. He also created by Frank's Place. He also directed the film comedies Police Academy and The First Wives Club. It's amazing, first we've lost Mary Tyler Moore last year, and now we've lost another MTM Enterprises television legend. Life is so unfair! NEXT!

David Ogden Stiers (1942-2018) was best known for performing many Disney characters over the years, most notably Cogsworth on Beauty and the Beast, as well as a few hours in Pocahontas, Lilo & Stitch, Spirited Away, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was probably more famous for playing Charles Emerson Winchester on M*A*S*H. I have another legend who worked on M*A*S*H, but I'll save him for last.

Steven Bocho was best known for creating all sorts of cop shows, most notably NYPD Blue, Doogie Howser, M.D., Cop Rock, and Hill Street Blues. He also wrote a few episodes of other shows like The White Shadow. Did he write for COPS, Law and Order, or anything else? I'm not sure. One thing I know for sure was that he was the man commonly responsible for all those police dramas.

R. Lee Ermey (1944-2018) R. Lee was a former drill instructor who later went on to become an actor with his strict drill sergeant antics. Most notably in Stanley Kubrick's 80's classic, Full Metal Jacket. He later went on to voice the green sergeant in the Toy Story franchise. Ermey was often typecast in authority figure roles, such as Mayor Tilman in the film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in Prefontaine, Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, Jimmy Lee Farnsworth in Fletch Lives, a police captain in Se7en, Lt. "Tice" Ryan in Rocket Power, and a prison warden in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Stephen Hillenburg (1961-2018) was an animator, director, writer, producer, and storyboard artist, Most notably known for creating the long-running Nickelodeon program, SpongeBob SquarePants. The only other show he did work on before SpongeBob, was Rocko's Modern Life where he also served as a writer, director, and storyboard artist, as well as becoming a producer by the fourth season with creator Joe Murray. Hillenburg may have been gone too soon from returning to his post after ten years of chaos in SpongeBob's production, but the legacy will forever live on, at least until people get tired of SpongeBob. He was only 57.

And last but not least,

Thad Mumford (1951-2018) He was a television writer and producer for several TV shows, beginning with The Electric Company beginning in 1971. At the same time, while still in his 20's he was also a writer for another show called "Good Times." DYNOMITE! When The Electric Company went off the air in 1977, he left to Hollywood to seek his fortune and future, while at that, he met Christopher Cerf, the songwriter for Sesame Street, and he and Cerf wrote a few songs during the late 70's and early 80's, most notably "The Ten Commandments of Health," in which Thad himself sang lead for. After that, he went on to write for M*A*S*H with other former Sesame Street writer, Dan Wilcox. They worked very closely on the show, writing 17 episodes, including my favorite "As Time Goes By," which was actually the last episode they filmed. They also helped write the final episode that aired, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen." He later went on to write for other shows over the years, including The Duck Factory (with Dan Wilcox), Maude, What's Happening?, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Home Improvement, ALF, NYPD Blue, and most notably, "Blue's Clues," where he also served as a producer. He was truly a pioneering African-American writer

For more of Thad Mumford's stuff, I'll link some of that below right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUhJLBk-Q9k (The Ten Commandments of Health)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQjlNbXkFw (MASH Matters Podcast)

And finally, some of the stuff Thad talked about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEIXHSoPsjM (It's about how he got into The Electric Company)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvqOvB_7s-8 (He talks about how he worked on Good Times and a few other African-American sitcoms)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx37uuTjI5A (He explains about writing songs for Sesame Street with Christopher Cerf.

Blue's Clues - "What is Blue Trying to Do?"

Okay, let's review another Season 2 episode of Blue's Clues that aired around early 1999. This one's called, "What is Blue Trying to Do?"

The story is that Steve is trying to put together a puzzle that looks like the actual house they live in, but that's not the important part, the important part here is that Blue is trying to do something with her picture of she and Steve, and we play Blue's Clues to figure out what she's doing. Along the way, we help Slippery Soap make very big bubbles with a lot of encouragement, as well as clean-up Baby Bear's room to find her picture of a castle.

In the end, the answer to all of this is that Blue was writing her name.

What I admire about this episode was that it was the first episode to use the stock audio opening from "Blue's Birthday," as a permanent piece of the show, also, this was the very last episode to use the original "Pawprint!" and "Clue" cheers from the audience, it had been used since Magenta Comes Over! Also, much like "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?" The hair stylists really made Steve's hair look quite similar to his early season 2 look, in fact, in the shot where Steve gets the notebook, his hair was noticeably longer unlike the other shots in the episodes. If I didn't know better, I might think that part was taped much earlier in the season.

The moral of the story is that you should take encouragement and have some perseverance and never give up. Sorry, no Rick Astley references here, I refuse to do that. Also, one of the Sesame Street researchers also served as the content consultant for this episode, that person of course being Valeria Lovelace.

Also, I like how Mailbox was very excited to give Steve the letter before quickly calming down after Steve gets the letter and doing his usual, "You're welcome!"

Next time I review a Blue's Clues episode, I'll be reviewing "Animal Behavior," and "Pretend Time."

One more thing, don't say "CAN'T! CAN'T!" CAN'T!" Say "CAN! CAN! CAN!"

What is Blue Afraid Of?

You scared, bro? You should be, because I'm going to review the Halloween episode for the first season of Blue's Clues, "What is Blue Afraid Of?" Although technically, Halloween is not mentioned, it has a bit of Halloween atmosphere to it. Like for example, the dark sky in the background indicated it might be early evening, and the skidoo sketch into the haunted house. Okay, let's begin.

The plot of the episode is that Blue is (as the title suggests) afraid of something, and we play Blue's Clues to figure out what she's afraid of. Along the way, we look at shadows with Shovel and Pail, look at close-up pictures of food with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, get a video letter about shadow puppets, and finally, investigate the spooky sounds in Boo's haunted house. If you've watched the episode already, you will know that the answer to Blue's Clues was that Blue was afraid of an owl. Can you believe that? What's next? Blue being afraid of Sesame Street's Hoots the Owl? Anyways, my review.

What's really good about this episode is that unlike "Blue's Sad Day," Blue was really up to playing Blue's Clues in this episode, she was also up for it in other episodes about feelings like "Shy," and "Blue is Frustrated." But those are different stories. This episode had a lot of shrieks of terror and laughter! The funny parts of the episode are the scene were Steve pretends to be a vampire casting a shadow in the backyard and going "Bleh." Who is he, Count Dracula?, also, Mrs. Pepper's over the top screams are good, and Mailbox's knock-knock joke was quite clever, and Boo's over-the-top screams whenever Steve says his name are just priceless. JUST PRICELESS. I even like the phone call during the third clue, where the caller constantly says ?Who?" and Steve was like "No, I'm asking you who." Insert Abbott and Costello joke here, please.

Okay, let's wrap things up with my final thought. This episode was funny, with terror, and since it aired on October of 1997, it only airs around Halloween for Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. Hence a rerun of this episode on October 29, 1999 after the episode I wasn't crazy for, "Hide and Seek." In production order, it was episode 18, but in airing order, it was episode 19, and it was the last new episode from the first season until October 1998, when "What Story Does Blue Want to Play?" came along. Like I said, very strange airing order, folks. Pretty eerie.

You can find this episode on the 2010 DVD, Happy Halloween, with all of the other Nick Jr. related Halloween episodes. If you have the DVD, go ahead and check it out if you haven't already.

What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?

Remember back on October 12, 1998 when Nick Jr. aired yet another marathon for Blue's Clues, but this time it was called "Blue's Big Marathon!" And on that day it aired two new episodes, "Blue's Sad Day," and "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?" Now, I didn't really like "Blue's Sad Day" mainly due to the fact that Blue is just so mopey and depressed over the Green Puppy knocking down her block towers. I may have hated that episode, but 12;30/11:30 central was able to make up for it by showing another new episode, "What Does Blue Want to Do on a Rainy Day?"and I think this one was way better than the previous new episode. It aired after a rerun of my other favorite season two episode, "What Was Blue's Dream About?"Now, with all that off my chest, let's get into this review. shall we?

The plot of the episode is that, well, it's raining, hence the title, but Blue and Steve don't mind it very much, and they're in such a musical mood, that Blue decides to play Blue's Clues to figure out what to do today. Along the way, we tap dance our way into the kitchen, play the water xylophone with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, do some clapping rhythms, play a game of "Repeat the Beat" from a video letter delivered by Mailbox, and finally, find the farm animals singing partner for their tunes and rhythm. Now, onto my opinions.

What's fun about this episode is that it's better than Blue's Sad Day, and it has Blue in the Blue's Clues mood, not only that, but the hair stylists in the studio really improved Steve's hair in this episode, it's still short like in "Blue's Sad Day," but it looks quite similar to his earlier Season Two hair style. But anyways, what's also great about this episode was the Open/Close Opera, a parody of the Anvil Chorus, Gonzo, eat your heart out, Mailbox singing along to the Mail Time song, but the best highlight of the episode is the Farm Song, where Steve sings the Birds, Cow, Sheep, Frog, and Pig animal sounds. Jeanne Simpson, who did the choreography for Blue's Birthday, was the choreographer for this episode. She did a fantastic job teaching Steve how to tap dance, hand clap, play the Thinking Chair, as well as the dancing in the skidoo sketch.

Okay, final thought. This is a fun musical, it's funny, visually interesting, and it has a great moral, you can always have fun inside no matter what mood you feel. And this episode really showed us that Steve and Blue didn't mind the rain at all. Same thing with Imagine That! and the Powerpuff Girls episode where they play Powerpuff Girls indoors at home. You can find this episode on the VHS Rhythm and Blue, or on the DVD, "Blue's Big Band," so, get your tapping toes ready for this funny musical episode, that will make you forget all about Blue's Sad Day and remember this episode by heart.

Blue's Birthday

And now, I would like to present a review for the Birthday episode that aired prime-time on Nickelodeon on June of 1998. It aired after "What Does Blue Want to Make Out of Recycled Things?" and before "What Was Blue's Dream About?" Let's give the premise first.

The plot of this special is that it's Blue's Birthday and Steve and the audience are getting ready for the big bash! Along the way, we play Blue's Clues to figure out what Blue wants for her birthday present, also, we finish setting the table, and adding one more balloon to the group, also, we skidoo into the Present Store to buy something for Blue for her birthday. The audience buys her a blue puppy doll, and (spoiler alert) a turquoise turtle named Turquoise, and last but not least, open presents. Everybody was there, including Gingerbread Boy, Baby Bear, Magenta, and many others. Now, let's give it a proper review.

This special is a heck of a lot of fun. It has all sorts of birthday feel to it, comedy, education, and of course, love. Also, I should mention that Mailbox gave Blue a birthday card, and the video letter includes guest stars including Gloria Estefan, who also appeared in Elmopalooza, which came out the exact same year this special did. Other celebrities include, Tia & Tamera Mowry, Amanda Bynes, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Rosie O'Donnell! What a star-studded video letter. Interesting fact: In the video version, the Rosie O'Donnell appearance was cut off for heaven who knows what, and it also had a longer opening and a longer ending with Steve getting a present from Blue, a cookie that thanks him for her birthday.

One thing I should point out by the way is that Steve's hair beginning with this episode is a little bit shorter than last time, in fact the only time in the episode where he retained his longer hair was in this shot right here on the left where he asks the audience if they can help him figure out what Blue wants for her present and to help get ready for the party, and also in the stock late Season One intro. This is strange because the episode that aired after this was "What Was Blue's Dream About?" where he retained the original hair style, I point all this out because Nickelodeon had a very strange airing order. I'd be willing to bet that that shot where Steve gets up after getting the notebook was taped much earlier in production, but that's just me.

Okay, final verdict? It is a good episode, not one of the best, but still pretty good. The highlights are the episode are present time, the video letter, and Pin the Flag on Mailbox, that's big-time birthday comedy right there. But, if I were to re-edit this special and make it into a pledge-drive, I would put in Sesame Street birthday related segments as well, like "A Cat Had a Birthday," Ernie and Bert celebrating the letter U's birthday, Charlie's Birthday at Charlie's Restaurant, "If I Knew You Were Coming," and the biggest highlight of them all, "Put Down The Duckie," the celebrity version, I would also put in the sketch where Kermit talks to Oscar about public television from the Sesame Street pledge-drive special that was also named Put Down The Duckie.

But in the end, it doesn't need to be a pledge drive or have all those things, but that's just me. Go ahead and check the episode out if you want to.

Steve Gets the Sniffles

Now, it's time for me to review my last Blue's Clues episode for now, which is actually the first episode on the second season, Steve Gets the Sniffles. In production order, this episode was the last episode to use the audience shouting "Blue's Clues" during the theme song, minus the Blue's Birthday song. The plot of this episode is that Steve has the sniffles, and we play Blue's Clues to figure out what he needs to feel better, along the way, we rearrange healthy snacks with Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, play doctor with Shovel and Pail, and help Jill finish her story. There will be a few spoilers though, but let's just get to my opinions out of the way, first.

What I like about this episode was that, it's comedic and fun, and something I should mention when I first saw this episode, I thought this was from Season 1, when obviously this was from Season 2, why did I think this? I don't know, perhaps it was made early in Season 2, much like What Does Blue Want to Build?, "Blue's ABCs," and Math!," were. Those four episodes were the only episodes that aired in 1997, the rest was from either 1998 and 1999. And now, back on track, I like the Healthy Snacks songs as well as Steve's dance along with it, and during Steve's verse at the end of the song , he sneezes and says to the viewers, don't you? Another funny thing I should mention is that Jill had a tendency to say a few words two times or even three times, that's pretty funny if you ask me, and perhaps the most funniest, is when Steve sneeze skidoos, and when he returns home, he lands hard onto the thinking chair, because, hey, it was quite a jump. Also, just because Steve's voice was nasally during thinking time, that doesn't mean he couldn't come up with the wrong answer to Blue's Clues. That was the only part of the episode where his voice was nasally, most of this episode, he talked pretty much normally, and he wasn't that infectious or that sick.

The one thing that really baffled my Mom is the fact that the answer to Blue's Clues is vegetable soup instead of chicken noodle soup. I guess the people at Blue's Clues had a grudge against Chicken Noodle soup or something, maybe. Also, here's a fun fact, this was the last episode that was directed by Matt Sheridan, in fact it was the only second season episode he ever directed. He still storyboarded the episode, "What Experiment Does Blue Want to Try?" but he gave his directing job to Paul Zehrer in that episode.

Overall, this episode is pretty fun, It retained the Blue's Clues cheer that the Season one episode "Blue's News" forgot to put in, in production order that is. Anyways, this episode was a clever way to start off the season. And since it reruns quite often even to this day, I recommend you watch this episode if you haven't already.

What Was Blue's Dream About?

Here comes another. This one is my personal favorite season two episode, "What Was Blue's Dream About?" What's strange is the fact that this episode aired right after "Blue's Birthday" where Steve had much shorter hair, minus the intro, I point this out because Nickelodeon had a very strange airing order. But I digress. What's the story? Blue had a dream, and we play Blue's Clues to figure out what it was., along the way, we see what Slippery had a dream about, what Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper dreamed about what Paprika grew up to be, and Mailbox delivering a letter about making dream catchers, and last but not least, Steve and the audience help Sleeping Beauty change her nightmare into a party!

What's great about this episode is that it's fun, it tackles on dreams and how we can use our imaginations to change them. The episode also got funny at times, like for example, Steve mishearing "A clue!" as the viewers telling him to tie his shoes, it's important to note that it's revealed that Steve indeed wears green socks, the other funny part is the part where Steve trips over the second clue, the mat that is, and says :"Oops," as well as him getting the wrong answer about a leotard rolling up and taking a nap. I also like the idea of Slippery Soap's superhero alter ego, which ironically, he would get a superhero alter ego a few years later.

But perhaps the best highlight of the entire episode was of course, the Skidoo segment, where Steve and Blue skidoo into Sleeping Beauty's dream to fix it and make it into a party, changing a monster into a three layered cake (a piece of cake), during scary trees into three balloons, pretty neat, and finally, changing the dark fence into a fence with party hats on them, when all that's done, we get a cool song that unfortunately never released on CD on any of the Blue's Clues CD albums, "Our Dream" a glitzy Disco tune that really helped put Disco back on the map, kind of like how The Angry Beavers' "Beaver Fever" song did. If I didn't know better, I'd say this song looks like something that Christopher Cerf would write, in fact, I wonder if Christopher Cerf actually co-wrote this song with Nick Balaban and Michael Rubin. Oh, well, wild guess or not, we'll never know.

If your a fan of disco, or if your just a fan of Blue's Clues, go ahead and check it out if you haven't already. It's a heck of a lot of fun.

What Story Does Blue Want to Play?

Yep, it had to happen sooner or later. Only this time, I'm going to review this Blue's Clues episode more plain and simple, almost as simple as how co-creator Todd Kessler wrote and directed the whole episode. The basic premise is that episode is that after putting a play of the Three Little Pigs, we play Blue's Clues to figure out what story Blue wants to play next. Along the way, we help some fairy tale characters get back to their own books after a little accident, Mailbox delivering a letter that shows some kids acting out The Three Little Pigs, and a bunny rabbit telling the story of the King and Green-Striped Cookie, complete with Steve imitating Elvis Presley.

What I love about this episode is the fact that the plot is SO simple, too simple, that there's not much dialogue outside of Steve and the audience. Steve's impressions of the Big Bad Wolf and the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk are funny and not to mention, Mailbox's "Fee fi fo fedder! I think that Steve's gonna get a letter. The only thing that really baffles me is that despite this was from Season 1, they didn't air this episode until October 1998, during the second season for crying out loud! Why did they wait so long to air this episode, I hear you ask? I guess will never know.

The highlight of the episode is the ending where Steve sings the So Long Song, Elvis Presley style, complete with the night time version of the music intact, with the backup chorus, and the standard "We can do anything" chant from the audience. And in airing order, this was the last episode to feature that chant. I also like the background music, especially the saxophone at the very end. Complete with the usual bass solos, clapping and drum playing, and the backup chorus doo-wop singing. Fun fact: This episode was originally shown to the public on video in "Story Time" on June of 1998. The one thing that just baffles me is the fact that they waited so long to air it until October of 1998, and I still don't get that, it's just a strange airing order folks. This aired after "What Does Blue Want to Do With Her Picture?" and before "Blue's Sad Day.": strange airing order, folks.

Oh, well, I still recommend this episode if you haven't seen it already.

Blue's Clues - "Magenta Comes Over!"

I know technically, this is a live action show, and I only review cartoons, but I'd figure I'd do it anyway since there's quite enough animation here to put it on the blog. This is my favorite episode of Blue's Clues by the way. It first aired on October 6, 1997 during Blue's Big Monday alongside Tickety's Favorite Nursery Rhyme, and this stands out as one of the best episodes out there. So, let's begin.

The episode begins with Steve and Blue as usual saying hi to the viewers, when the phone rings, it was Magenta and she's coming over today. The viewers get a chance to say "Hi, Magenta," before hanging up. Then, like we predict would happen, Blue places the pawprint on the screen, leading into the game of Blue's Clues beginning.

followed by the standard later Season 1 Blue's Clues opening.

Clue #1 is Steve by he way. He waited so long to be a clue.

Outside, Steve and Blue meet up with Shovel and Pail in a game of hide and seek, the point of this one is that they have to follow their friends footprints so that they can get closer to finding. First, they find Duck, and then they found Snail. This leads to a funny part where Steve walks around and reacts to the footprints onto the ground, he was just checking.

In the kitchen, we help Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper make race cars out of food, too bad our schools never done that with food.

As Steve pretends to drive by, we notice that the second clue turns out to be a smiley face or a smile for short.

Following that, as for the skidoo sketch, Steve helps the Felt Friends play dress-up, simply by having the audience pick out costumes that matches one Felt Friend's costume. Including Baseball and Umpire, Lifeguard and Swimmer, Astronaut and Alien. The third one was my favorite.

It was near the end of the episode, and finally it was mail time, Mailbox greets Steve with a "Hey buddy, hey pal," before giving him the letter. And Steve responds with "Thank you, chum." and Mailbox is like, "You're welcome, amigo."

In the video letter that was directed by Tanya Hamilton, we see a girl's friend named Brian coming over to play. They played with blocks, have snacks (like grapes), and dress-up, heck up to taking pictures and saying cheese, foreshadowing what's gonna happen next.

Mailbox returns with something else. A package. Steve opens the package, and it turns out to be the camera that he's been looking for, also, he notices that the camera is a clue, which means it was time to think what would Blue want to do when Magenta comes over.

First of all, at first Steve made a wild guess that Blue wanted him to make the camera smile. But that's wrong. The correct answer was take a picture and say smile, and they just figured out Blue's Clues!

And Magenta's here!

And everyone gets their pictures taken.

All I can say is do you like this episode like I do, do you think this episode was meant to be a Season 1 finale or something? Did you think it was funny? I thought it was funny and educational. It's a good episode, guys. The plot's over the place, but in a good way. If you have the DVD of Puppy-palooza, do yourself a favor and check it out.