There are many milestones I've experienced as a first-time toddler parent — first words, first steps, and, of course, first time watching Bluey.
Of course, that's not surprising. According to Nielsen, Bluey was the second most streamed show of 2023 with a whopping 43.9 billion viewing minutes on Disney+. Families everywhere love the adventures of Bluey, Bingo, Bandit, and Chilli, and in celebration of the beloved Heeler fam, here are 15 facts you probably didn't know about the show:
1.Show creator Joe Brumm was largely inspired by his own two daughters when he came up with the idea for the show — and he also drew inspiration from his childhood dog who was named Bluey.
2.And before Bluey became the main character who we all know and love, Joe originally planned to center the show around Rusty, a kelpie. Eventually, Rusty would become a side character and one of Bluey's friends on the show.
3.In case you've ever wondered, this is what a Blue Heeler dog looks like in real life.
4.Joe's vision for the show was that it should be something that both parents and kids alike genuinely enjoy sitting down to watch together.
5.But at one point early on in the show's development, he considered pivoting the show to be for adults only and centering the realities of parenthood.
6.Bluey and Bingo's parents, Bandit and Chilli, both have jobs that allude to the point that they are, in fact, dogs. Bandit is an archaeologist (like Joe Brumm's brother), which is a playful nod to the fact that dogs like to dig up bones. Meanwhile, Chilli works part-time at the airport, a nod to the use of sniffer dogs in security.
7.There is a viral theory that the color scheme of the Heelers has a deeper meaning because it's been proven that dogs can see a limited color spectrum of blues and yellows (sound familiar?) but this seems to be just a lovely coincidence.
8.It takes a whopping five months to create a single episode of Bluey — but the production overlaps so that several episodes are worked on at the same time.
9.Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti, who voice Bandit and Chilli only met each other in person for the first time in 2022 — four years after the show premiered.
10.Dave and Melanie told Jimmy Fallon they would love to see a Bluey movie — and I'm pretty sure they're not alone in that sentiment.
11.And you might be wondering about who voices the characters Bluey and Bingo, but the show has been very intentional about keeping the child actors' identities private and they've never been revealed, which is just so lovely to see.
12.The show has such an emphasis on play, and you'll never explicitly see the kids "learning" or "counting" — in fact, the show is a first of its kind for depicting "unstructured childhood play."
13.Each episode of the show is famously seven minutes long, which was the sweet spot between a longer show like Charlie & Lola (11 minutes) and a shorter show like Peppa Pig (5 minutes).
14.The delightful Heeler family games throughout the show (everything from freezing to magic statues to Keepy Uppy) were often inspired by real-life games played by Joe Brumm and his family. However, there is one game that didn't make the cut, which definitely seems to be a blessing in disguise for parents.
15.Finally, it wouldn't be a complete article without mentioning the show's supremely catchy theme song. Composer Joff Bush reflected on creating the now-iconic song, and explained that it was essentially a "game of musical statues."
You can stream (billions of minutes of) Bluey on Disney+.
