Buuuuuuut why should you care..?

After the emotional bludgeoning kids and parents got from the extended, penultimate episode of season 3 ‘The Sign’, some of you might not be ready to talk about Bluey just yet.

Created by Joe Brumm, Bluey is the animated Australian phenomenon that follows the Healer family, dad – Bandit, mum – Chilli, sisters – Bingo and Bluey. These anthropomorphic dogs (blue heelers) have been accruing some incredible viewing figures, an average of 1.19 billion minutes of viewing per week, according to Nielsen’s streaming ratings. And whilst the targeted demographic is presumably preschoolers – it’s been proving incredibly popular with adults too.

One reason why is that it’s particularly wholesome, every show follows a morality arc – being navigated by kids and parents (on screen as well as at home) at the same time. One episode, Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound, reimagines the famous Buddhist tale of Kisa Gotami.

It’s well written and heartfelt; educational but not preachy; at times can be genuinely hilarious (just have a look at the video below); and deals with themes that can be challenging to discuss with young children, in a way they can interact with.

In fact, if you exclude the fact that it occasionally makes parents feel inadequate, and suffer the odd ugly cry, it’s an almost faultless production.

And the great news for UAE-based Bluey fans, is that a live performance version – Bluey’s Big Play The Stage Show is headed for the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi between August 30 and September 1. Tickets are live on Platinumlist and start from 95 dollar-bucks (Dhs).

We don’t know much about the content of the show – but we do know it’s set to include “puppetry, live actors, and iconic sets”. If we were to share our wishlist of what we’d like included – it would probably start and end with Muffin Healer. Maybe Unicourse. And The Grannies.

If you can’t hold on until the summer, the full 150-episode library is available to stream through Disney+, Free with Disney+ subscription (Dhs39.99 per month).

Etihad Arena Abu Dhabi, August 30 to September 1, from Dhs95. etihadarena.ae

Images: Platinumlist