The original post: /r/television by /u/CatGirlNya2000 on 2025-12-21 17:55:28+00:00.
I honestly think it’s one of the best preschool shows ever made and probably the best of the 90s and that’s saying a lot since there were ones that (atleast in my opinion) were awesome like Blue’s Clues
Part of why I think Bear is one of the best preschool shows is because it had the magic of The Muppets. It’s very different from The Muppets, but it has that vibe that The Muppets had with some of the shows wacky humor, as well as how sometimes Bear would glance at the screen and say something sarcastic like how The Muppets would do
I also like how gentle and calming the show is, from its background music to just the comfy vibes the series has. It has a great focus on friendship and everyone in the show genuinely cares about one another. They may have disagreements and even arguing, but they show how much they love each other at the end of the day
The show also wasn’t afraid to handle tough issues like how in the Christmas special, it’s about a homeless dog and how Bear and the other critters of the Big Blue House let him stay there. Bear taught the kids so many lessons about empathy and how to prepare for life. This show helped give the tools to prepare for what life brings, teaching children about water, summer, winter, fall, spring, using the potty, home, and there was even an episode that went against gender stereotypes showing that girls can play with “boy” stuff and boys can play with “girl” stuff
The series was even able to have some continuity. Being a preschool show, it wasn’t that much, but episodes would have callbacks and whenever characters learned a lesson, they stuck with the characters and would be built upon for future episodes or like I said, recalled. It was remarkable for a preschool show to have characters that grew as the series went on while still remaining episodic
While Henson had no involvement in the series since he passed away long before the series aired, this show has the magic of Jim Henson all over it. I find it really sad that Jim Henson died
Even the more I think about it, I’m not even sure if there is a preschool show from the 90s that I personally think is better than Bear in my opinion. It’s so magical and has the right balance of being wholesome, funny, and even sometimes emotional and sad, yet uplifting at the same time. Bear in a way was like Mister Rogers meets The Muppets and I mean that in the best way possible