Back in July, former Blues Clues host Steve Burns announced that he would be starting a podcast on the Lemonada Network. He was inspired by the positive reactions to his 2021 “closure” video, and his TikTok. He plans to continue having these conversations on his podcast, sort of like an audio sequel to Blue’s Clues. Well, now we have a release date! Alive will premiere on September 17. It will air weekly on all the usual audio platforms, with a video version being posted on YouTube.

To promote the show, Steve did an interview with People. It was an introspective conversation in which Steve talked about his comeback, why he thinks it’s important to connect with former Blue’s Clues fans, and how he’s aware that there are human beings on the other side of the screen/airwaves.

Continuing the conversation: “I had that viral video during the pandemic [and] I guess since then, I had been kind of thinking I should do something with this access that I did not know I still had with this generation that I have. It seems that there was an opportunity to just continue the conversation — to simply scale it up for adults, which was a revelation to me.” Burns adds that the virality of his social media videos demonstrated that there was a way to break through in this modern era. The new podcast, he says, “feels very much like a public access cable show from the late 90s.”

No Mr. Rogers comparisons, please: “To the degree that I think about Mr. Rogers and making this podcast, it’s more about making sure people know that I am nothing like Mr. Rogers, right?” he says. “That is a weight that I do not wish to carry around, and that is a bar that I cannot possibly — no one could possibly — live up to. That dude should be on our money. Mad respect for Fred Rogers. But he really was like a bodhisattva, like that was his ministry, and he had wisdom to share. And I do believe that he will be remembered as much more than a children’s television show host. I think he will be remembered as a great teacher of human beings, right? I’m just a neurotic bald guy who is sitting next to you, a fellow traveler on the struggle bus.”

Same premise as Blue’s Clues: “It really is kind of the same thing [as Blue’s Clues]. I’m not gonna be speaking to furniture, and there are no magical, felt-puzzle-solving puppies to be found. But this is a podcast about you, and you are the celebrity guest on every episode. I am asking your opinion.”

On finally realizing the importance of BC: “I didn’t even realize how cool Blue’s Clues was until I really started thinking about it in hindsight, all these years later, but it always was about running around with joy and wonder and making an attempt to lead an examined life. About looking around your universe for little bits of information that lead to greater understanding. And then you sit down in a chair with your homie and think about it and talk about it, and that is exactly what this podcast does. So in a way, it’s just scaling.”

The important stuff: Blue’s Clues, he adds, was “always about the important stuff, and the important stuff used to be shapes and colors and letters and numbers and vegetables and graham crackers and stuff, and now it’s student loans and, ‘Oh my God, my parents are old and sick and I’m terrified’ and ‘Why does money freak me out?’ and ‘What is the future of truth?’ and you know, all the stuff that we’re all wrestling with all the time and don’t always think critically about.”

He wants to humanize the media experience: “They tell me that I raised them, which I didn’t, but it’s an interesting thing that they feel that way — we are relating to media, we are absorbing it into our DNA. And that’s why I think it’s imperative that we start showing up as people and we start remembering that there’s a human person on the other side of the screen, always, and that person has a fragile human soul.”

A content creator’s responsibility: “And I personally believe that we have a certain responsibility to those fragile human souls. I think that this technology is about to swallow us whole. I can’t imagine we’ll just put it away, but we need to humanize it in some way.”

[From People]

Steve is such a decent human being. I’m so glad that he’s back in the spotlight, and doing it on his own terms. I love that he’s trying to bring us joy and connection during these trying times. It’s a tough landscape out there for such a sweet soul. Huge swatches of the population have an empathy problem, and the media that they’re being fed is absolutely contributing to that. I love that he mentions that he’s very aware that audiences are made up of human beings with fragile souls. So many podcast hosts and influencers are simply in it for the money at this point and they will say or peddle anything as long as the check clears.

Steve also mentioned that his podcast guests will cover the gamut, ranging from celebrities to elected officials to hospice nurses. It sounds like he’s planning on covering a large variety of topics. I’m sure he’ll talk about each one in a very thorough way. As for not wanting any Mr. Rogers’ comparisons, I respect that completely. I won’t do that, but I will point out that Mr. Rogers famously said to ”Look for the helpers.”. Steve honors his legacy by being one of those helpers. I’m looking forward to Alive and will be checking it out when it drops on the 17th.

A trailer for Alive is out, which previews some of the guests and topics. He’s definitely not shying away from the big subjects, like death, sex, and the American Dream. I’m embedding the trailer below if you want to check it out. I think it’s worth two minutes of your day.

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