Celebrity Parents Magazine: Steve Burns from Blue’s Clues viral video
UC children’s media expert featured in article on the influence of Steve Burn’s viral video message
Steve Burns was the main, human character on the long-standing children’s show Blue’s Clues — until he wasn’t, leaving the show in 2002 to go to college. Then, on Sept. 9, on the show’s 25th anniversary, Steve surprised his fans — parents and children alike — with a YouTube video explaining his seemingly abrupt departure from the show.
The viral video tugged at a nation’s parental heartstrings and to date has garnered almost 2.5 million views.
“He’s back in this new YouTube video and he is leaning into his character and re-igniting that relationship –—he hasn’t forgotten about them and they haven’t forgotten about Steve,” UC’s children and media expert Nancy Jennings tells Celebrity Parents Magazine.
Jennings, a professor in UC’s School of Communication, Film Studies and Media and director of the UC Children's Education and Entertainment Research (CHEER) Lab, studies the impact of media on the lives of children and their families and public policies and practices involved with children’s media.
“Blue’s Clues was one of the first shows to really use characters like Steve to talk through the screen — break the fourth wall — as an integral part of the show, which allowed children and parents to bond with Steve in a very meaningful way,” she says.
Feature photo at top of Steve Burns and Blue. Photo/Nickelodeon.
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