Every evening, my house is like yours.
My partner and I get home from work, tea’s in the oven, household chores remain neglected… and endless Bluey repeats are on TV. A night hasn’t passed recently when Bluey’s not been demanded.
Hours go by with the beloved Heeler family before we finally, reluctantly say it’s bedtime.
But the thing is, there’s no child in our house pleading to stay up. It’s just me and my partner – she’s 27, I’m 30, and we’re childless, but still enchanted and enraptured by this beautiful series.
For those unaware, Bluey is an Australian animated show about a family of anthropomorphic dogs: six-year-old Bluey, her four-year-old sister Bingo, and her parents Bandit and Chilli. Like the majority of kids’ TV, episodes are 8-10 minutes long, mostly self-contained, and feature clear morals and bright colours.
Episodes revolve around Bluey and Bingo’s boundless energy and imagination as their parents try to maintain the household – conflict is sparse. On the surface, there’s little to explain why two fully-grown DINKs (double income, no kids) like us have invested themselves in the series so much.
I usually gravitate towards TV that’s gritty or messy or serious – Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, The Sopranos, Succession, Fargo, Mad Men, Girls. Even my favourite comedies and dramedies tend to be cynical or dour – It’s Always Sunny, Peep Show, The Office (UK), Arrested Development. You get the idea.
I like light, optimistic TV. I can easily lose myself in The Golden Girls, Friends, The Good Place, and The Office (US). But kids’ TV, and shows like Bluey? Not so much. Or so I thought.
It started when a dear friend of ours brought her four-year-old son to our house. He was bored and we’re subscribed to Disney Plus; when you put the two together, you get Bluey.
We expected to be wincing throughout – but that afternoon, our lives were changed. Bluey hit both of us.
Usually my lighter TV viewing is just a tonic to the gritty stuff. But Bluey is more than that – it’s an honest-to-god elixir. With each passing episode, we felt ourselves falling more in love with it.
It was my partner’s suggestion to keep going with it once our friend and her son had left our house, and I’m endlessly grateful to her for encouraging me to stick it out.
I recently re-watched the Bluey episode that has become the beating heart of the series for me: Onesies.
The premise is simple – Chilli’s sister Brandy visits the family after four years away and brings onesies as presents for Bluey and Bingo. As Bingo ‘becomes one with her cheetah onesie’, hijinks ensue. But a big question hangs over the episode: why has Brandy not visited Chilli for so long?
It’s slowly and sensitively revealed that Brandy is unable to have children, and seeing her sister raise Bluey and Bingo was too painful. While the girls chase each other around the garden in their onesies, Chilli and Brandy privately reconnect and find peace.
It’s something Bingo and Bluey don’t understand, but we, as viewers do.
Despite not being as emotionally heightened as episodes like Sleepytime or The Sign, Onesie being the true heart of Bluey is down to those quiet moments between Chilli and Brandy.
A seriously underrated episode with a similarly heartfelt theme is Fancy Restaurant, in which Bluey and Bingo open a ‘restaurant’ at their house and invite their parents Bandit and Chilli to dine.
After Bingo crafts a ‘special’ – consisting of jelly, raw spaghetti, hot dogs, and baked beans – Bandit leaps to Chilli’s aid and humours the kids by wolfing the monstrosity down, so she wouldn’t have to.
The term ‘smoochy kiss’ has entered our everyday lexicon because of its repeated use this episode, but Fancy Restaurant struck us hard when Bandit and Chilli acknowledged that children, work, and their busy schedules have obstructed the romance and care they give to each other.
The episode ends with Chilli rubbing Bandit’s back as he throws up in the garden, the children none the wiser of the emotional journey their parents have experienced.
It’s the first episode I showed to my own parents. Initially, I was concerned that every gag or sweet moment in the episode would be met with silence but their laughter persisted throughout.
Before my parents were charmed by Bluey, I’m not sure they knew how to react when we told them we watched a show for children. Our friends who have kids just agree with us that it’s the best thing in the world.
Bluey is a brilliant show for children. But something every adult knows after watching is that it’s for us too, parent or not.
Because from its sensitive moments come the life lessons handed down to Bluey and Bingo. Much like the Toy Story tetralogy, a story ostensibly about childhood is actually about parenting and trying to do right by the younger generation.
Each episode is self-contained but Bluey’s overarching arc is about Bandit and Chilli trying to ensure the humans they’ve created understand the world and grow to be better people. It argues with its heart on its sleeve that where there’s life, there’s hope.
Bluey and Bingo are the future.
The more I watch it, the more I find myself comparing Bluey to my favourite TV show ever, which I purposely neglected to mention before. A classic comedy-drama that isn’t gritty or dour, but contains the same warmth and sentimentality Bluey has in spades: The Simpsons.
When we watch Bluey, I’m reminded so much of Lisa’s First Word, or Maggie Makes Three, or Marge Be Not Proud, when Homer and Marge’s relationships with Bart, Lisa, and Maggie move to centre stage and the Simpson family unit feels stronger as a result.
Also, tell me you can’t see Homer Simpson in Bandit Heeler.
Bluey shines in the life-affirming moments when it presents the prospect of raising children as something beyond rationality or reason. The ultimate human duty.
My parter and I don’t want children for lots of reasons – that greater calling isn’t for us. But we continue to watch because Bluey shows us part of what parenthood can be.
Above anything else, though, we feel pride watching Bluey, because we know other children out there – including our friend’s four-year-old son – are becoming better people because of it.
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