Behind the Blue Curtain: A Peek Into the Making of Blue’s Clues and Its legacy

Alive with Steve Burns

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture

5.0 • 588 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Angela Santomero and Traci Paige Johnson, the creative forces behind Blue’s Clues, join Steve Burns for a 30-year reunion that goes far beyond nostalgia. They go deep behind the scenes to share never before heard stories. Why did they cast Steve? How the show almost didn’t make it to air. The spinoff you never heard about. They also discuss why pauses mattered more than punchlines, how Mr. Rogers directly shaped the show’s DNA, and the risk of telling preschoolers, “You can do anything.” It’s a deep dive into how it all happened and why the impact still resonates decades later. —--------------------------------------------------------------------- ** if you like this episode, then check out these ** How to be Happier https://youtu.be/onhtAqXVcHA Is Charisma Dangerous https://youtu.be/feh3bAha3P0 ——————————————— Exclusive Offers For Our Listeners: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/alive. Go to bioptimizers.com/alive and use my exclusive code ALIVE15 to get 15% off any order. Sign up and get 10% off at http://betterhelp.com/stevealive. ——————————————— Alive with Steve Burns - Season One Episode 22 | Angela Santomero & Traci Paige Johnson Instagram: @alivewithsteveburns TikTok: @alivewithsteveburns ———————————————— There are a thousand podcasts you can listen to. This one listens back. Alive with Steve Burns continues the conversation you began all those years ago. Back then it was letters and numbers and graham crackers. Now it’s death, sex, taxes, and all the big, messy questions of being alive. Why does money stress us out? Is the American dream dead? What’s the future of truth? Each week, a new guest drops by Steve’s window for a genuine and respectful dialogue between two people just trying to figure it out, together. Funny, tender, and just a little weird, this show invites you to sit down and think with Steve once again and wonder… what it really means to be Alive. You are not alone. You are cared for. If you need someone to listen: National Suicide and Crisis Hotline: https://988lifeline.org/ NAMI Helpline: https://www.nami.org/nami-helpline/ Crisis Text Line: https://www.crisistextline.org/ Keywords: Blues Clues, blues clues behind the scenes, making of blues clues, angela santomero, traci paige johnson, steve burns, alive with steve burns, mr rogers, childrens television, blues clues creators Watch full episodes of Alive on YouTube. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You’ll get ad-free episodes and bonus content from Steve. Just hit the 'subscribe' button on Apple Podcasts, or, for all other podcast apps head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, it is great to see you. Welcome to Alive.
0:15.0	I made tea. Here you go. It's there if you want it.
0:20.0	Um, okay, so can I ask you a question? I made tea. Here you go. It's there if you want it.
0:24.7	Um, okay, so can I ask you a question?
0:29.2	All right, awesome.
0:33.4	What are you most proud of? Okay. Oh, okay.
0:44.4	Awesome.
0:46.2	Yeah.
0:47.5	Right.
0:49.3	For me, it's probably
0:51.3	Blues Clues.
0:53.8	Yeah.
0:58.2	And I'm feeling particularly proud and particularly nostalgic this year because this year blues clues turns 30 which is unfriggin believable to me
1:07.1	because 30 years is not a tv show that feels like a mortgage or a whole ass human being
1:16.2	or something and to think that people still remember that show fondly and carry it with them
1:22.2	um is honestly kind of difficult sometimes for me to internalize or metabolize, you know?
1:30.9	So I thought it would be really cool to lean into all of that.
1:37.1	And so I had a conversation with the original gangsters themselves, the builders, the creators of Blues Clues.
1:46.7	I'm talking, Angela C. Santamaro and Tracy Page Johnson's legends of children's television.
1:55.6	And that was predictively awesome and fun and certainly very nostalgic.
2:00.2	And I think we'll pull back the curtain on the show
2:03.6	in ways that you might not expect so check it out um i'll be here when you get back and i can't wait
	...

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