The Entire Internet Has Feelings About A New Video From Original ‘Blue’s Clues’ Host Steve Burns

If you were a very young kid in the late ‘90s or the early aughts, there’s a chance you you’re a massive fan of Steve Burns. He was the original host of Nick Jr.’s Blue’s Clues, where he led preschoolers through a series of mysteries with the help of his titular blue dog. You may also remember that he left in 2002, after four seasons, replaced by Donovan Patton. No doubt the departure was devastating for many, who’d come to love Burns’ wide-eyed, earnest yet goofy mien as much as his animated canine costar. And nearly 20 years later, Burns released a video, as suddenly as he departed so long ago, hoping to give fans some closure.

The video finds Burns — now 47, bald under a baseball hat, yet still boyishly charming — addressing his now also grown-up fans directly. “You got a second?” he says, before reminding viewers about how they all used to “run around and hang out with Blue and find clues and talk to Mr. Salt and freak out about the mail and do all sorts of fun stuff.” He also addresses how he suddenly left and they didn’t see each other “for like a really long time.”

Burns has repeatedly addressed why he left: He went to college! Because he was that age and someone in the prime of his life can’t be doing shows for preschoolers for forever. But he still feels bad. In the video he admits his departure, in hindsight, was “kind of abrupt,” which he says was “really challenging but great, because I got to use my mind and take one step at a time.” It also allowed him, he says, to do all the things he’s doing now.

Throughout the video, Burns retains the mien of a pre-school teacher, talking directly, in simple terms, as though they were still kids at heart. He even tries to cushion the blow of his admission by pointing out that those watching, too, have likely done a lot since Blue’s Clues debuted 25 years ago. “Look at all you have done and all you have accomplished in all that time,” Burns says. “It’s just…it’s just amazing, right? I mean, we started out with clues, and now it’s what? Student loans, and jobs, and families.” (Although perhaps one of those, at least, may not be something worth celebrating.)

When the video dropped, especially following a hellish pre-Labor Day weekend week that saw weather disasters and multiple nightmarish laws enacted in Texas, it couldn’t help but leave Generation Blue’s Clues eating their feelings.

Some were moved by proxy.

And a lot of people did, indeed, find some closure.

Blue’s Clues debuted in 1996 and lasted until 2004. It was rebooted as Blues Clues & You! In 2019. You can watch Burns’ new video above.

(Via TV Line)