Calendar

Without a Blue Clue

Blue's Clues Live

A A A Comments By Paul J. MacArthur Thursday, Feb 15 2001

Ever fall asleep while watching a rerun of Taxi on Nick at Nite and wake up to find some guy in a striped shirt talking to a blue cartoon puppy? Out of pure puzzled fascination, you might have watched for a while, trying to figure out what's up with this surreal encounter, before deciding the program is too complicated without your morning jolt of java and quickly flipping over to SportsCenter. Of course, if you have a preschooler, you already know the score: The program is Blue's Clues.

Blue dog in the center and the handy Steve.

Details

Wednesday, February 21, through Sunday, February 25 (713)227-3974

Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana

More About

Every morning kids gather around the TV set to watch Steve (the guy in the striped shirt) and Blue (his cute puppy) establish a theme for the day and try to solve related problems. Blue leaves her paw prints on three objects. Steve discovers the clues, draws pictures of them in his notebook, and then the kids at home try to find a solution. Since the show is targeted at children ages two to five, the same episode is aired every day for a week, because as we know, kids love to watch the same thing over and over and over again. The interactive show stresses learning, but as any parent will tell you, Blue's Clues also has become something of a marketing wonder. Want proof? Try to take a toy Blue out of a four-year-old's hands.

With Blue's Clues Live, Blue and company (including a different Steve, since the real one is busy making episodes of the show) take the stage. Just to make things interesting, Blue and Steve meet up with Goldilocks, the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf and other fairy-tale characters and eventually travel to outer space. Of course, there is a celestial problem to solve along the way. However, Steve and Blue will not help parents solve the biggest problem of all: how to stop their kids from wanting to go to the show five days in a row.

Check out this week's featured ad for Arts