Episodes
So Gotta Be Done has been missing in your podcast feed for a bit (and you better believe Mary and Kate are missing it too!) But of course they haven't stopped talking about Bluey in any/every other aspect of their lives, and for this special crossover, Mary talks about Bluey A LOT. Thank you TONTS host Claire Tonti for sharing the mic, over to her to explain! In a very special episode of TONTS. I deep dive into the wonderful world of Bluey podcast with Bluey expert and podcast host Mary...
Published 03/04/24
Published 03/04/24
It's not often an episode of Gotte Be Done has required reading... but when there's three developmental scientists putting Bluey under the microscope, then of course we're all diving in!  Mary's joined in the wagon by Dr Molly Scott, Research Scientist in Playful Learning at Temple University, Aria Gastón-Panthaki, Research Coordinator for Children's Development at Harvard University, and Doug Piper, PhD candidate in psychology at Georgetown University. The play-hard trio recently penned a...
Published 12/07/23
Gotta Be Done's been on a break, but Mary and Kate just couldn't keep mum for BLUEY FEST! (For international types, that's the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's celebration of five years since Bluey launched... and the top 100 episodes as voted by Australia!) So, the girls have got the somewhat-broken-down wagon back together, for a lap through the trials of trying to pick top five episodes, the delights of being in a Bluey book (Where's Bluey? At Christmas), and what's ahead for the rest...
Published 11/16/23
Recently listener Matthew in London emailed Gotta Be Done to ask when the Pizza Girls recap was coming. And Mary and Kate laughed because they'd totally recorded that back in February 2023... and then stopped laughing, because Mary had forgotten to release it.  So, strap yourselves in kid, for all the late-summer reminiscing, fresh-new-year-misty-eyed-ness... and Muffin dropping the clutch and drifting her way to glory.  Is Pizza Girls the unofficial sequel to Bedroom, and do families need to...
Published 08/31/23
Yep, Gotta Be Done is still talking about Cricket... in this second-half recap, and in Mary and Kate's for real life generally! More music, more obscure cricketenalia, more Rusty love, and the tightrope walk of encouraging your kids without overwhelming them (that Rusty's Dad makes look easy!) Plus, a good guess at when Australia might see the last of Season 3's new episodes... if Gotta Be Done is right, it will be so spooky!  ++ Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Adelaide/ Melbourne mums Kate...
Published 08/24/23
It's more than a year since Bluey creator Joe Brumm told Gotta Be Done a cricket episode was coming... which is even longer than the average game of cricket!  Kate (vessel of cricketing knowledge) and Mary (cricketing knowledge vacuum) explore the whys and wherefores of the deeply weird (but supremely strategic) game of cricket. And how the never-ending, convoluted, global obsession impacts a childhood - theirs, their children's, and theirs again as parents of children! Plus, slips, gullies,...
Published 08/03/23
So Gotta Be Done isn't here to call out annoying habits - but if Smoochy Kiss goes there, do Mary and Kate maybe kind of have to?! From what (on earth) Bandit's doing in his first scene, to best kitchen weaponry that's not too weapony (and how saucepan lids pre-date shields, actually?!), crimes against laundry sinks, boxes big enough for grown-ups, inversion and flipping the chase (music), and whether it's toughening up or softening up that makes a relationship work.  In short, it's just...
Published 07/13/23
Gotta Be Done is back after a break, and redeeming oneself is the theme of this recap - in all the ways. Morning, Wendy! Memories of mud piles and doubts about overly-clean modern life (is Insta to blame??), and is that dirt under fingernails, or potential neural connections?  Oh, and what IS a chow chow? Well if a dog and a lion had a very adorable baby... that's Wendy and Judo!   Also, parents modelling to children is a big theme of Dirt - but hang on, has Bluey been modelling to everyone...
Published 06/29/23
CONTENT WARNING: In this episode, Mary and Kate talk pregnancy loss, infertility, and grief... and life in lockdown, because this is a 2020 throwback. It can get heavy.    Bluey is known for tackling big issues - and in 2023 we know there's definitely a miscarriage storyline in The Show. (Back then and now, there's still plenty of hope, hilarity and happiness to take from this gorgeous episode too.) And in these overwhelming times (i.e, all times!), who doesn't need a helpful checklist on...
Published 06/01/23
Content warning: This episode of Gotta Be Done covers topics around fertility, pregnancy loss and grief.  Onesies broke hearts and healed them again, and Mary and Kate wade into "the messy middle" to work out how.  In summary: Families are hard, children who have complaints about the presents they receive are annoying but predictable, incredible Australian actor Rose Byrne (who plays Brandy!) is lovely (even if she's not who we think she is!) And, two years on, the moving miscarriage...
Published 05/25/23
Gotta Be Done loves doing the slow crawl past a garage sale, and Granny Mobile brings more Bluey delights than a giant bargain table!  Mary and Kate talk the endless possibilities for types of grannies (nobody puts granny in a corner!), the Muffin redemption arc (can toddlers really grow out of their tantrums?!), and weapon-of-mass-destruction qualities of a Glomesh handbag.  Plus the historical details/ The Crown facts captured by royal wedding plates (spoiler alert, they hated each other),...
Published 05/18/23
It's the episode that launched a thousand hot takes, and Gotta Be Done is finally here with a slightly reheated one! Kate and Mary recorded their Exercise recap before ABC and Ludo re-released an updated episode, then recorded more again after the fact - so get ready for many, many thoughts about the challenges of exercising, the niceness (or otherwise) of bosses, and the fact that kids really do copy everything we do.   So, let's play more lawn table tennis! Nice shot!  Big thanks to episode...
Published 05/11/23
Gotta Be Done has confessions to go with Turtle Boy - Mary and Kate have both let their kids take lost toys home. Can this episode undo the damage? Lucky the childhood magic of a park never changes (captured by Rafferty Amor)!  Also, are all kids shows either preachy or mindless violence? (No, some have songs about physics and structural engineering!) Big thanks to episode sponsors mathsonline.com.au in Australia, and mathonline.com in the US!   ++ Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Adelaide/...
Published 05/04/23
He's the all-knowing and all-seeing Series Director of Bluey, and Richard Jeffery has all the panicked 4am wake-ups to prove it! Rich/ Rich J from the Fairytale 80s montage/ Mackenzie's Dad/ RichWOW jumps in the Gotta Be Done wagon to share his Bluey origin story, what director life actually involves, and the true state of Aussie-Kiwi relations behind the scenes at Ludo Studio ("we don't jump on sheep Mackenzie!")  Plus favourite scenes, favourite character, favourite episode - and just how...
Published 04/27/23
"Finally I've got an outlet for what I'm really good at, that is: singing like a cat." There's no shortage of surprises on the new Bluey album Dance Mode out worldwide TODAY - and Joff Bush's feline finesse is high on the list!  Bluey music legends Joff (famously the voice of Cat Squad) and Jazz D'Arcy (famously the singer/songwriter behind Rain/Boldly in the Pretend) jump in the Gotta Be Done wagon to talk through their new album highlights, reveal Bluey secrets (OMG the voice of...
Published 04/20/23
How's it goin', salad dodgers?! Whether you've been dodging salad or not, you might want to know why that's a shout-out to the original Bluey pilot (now leaked!) - and Gotta Be Done wouldn't mind advice on ending the salad dodging by obstinate kiddos, also? Puppets has bigger issues than salad to dodge though - and of course Mary and Kate dive straight in! From voicing your children's toys to who's pulling whose strings, and what makes life a lie (or otherwise, hopefully?!), Unicorse is...
Published 04/13/23
She's played keepy uppy on the stage of Madison Square Garden, floated down Sixth Avenue, and beamed into millions of homes around the globe on the daily - but strap yourselves in kids, Bluey's only getting bigger! And trying to wrangle the worldwide juggernaut and unstoppable tsunami of Bluey partnership requests is BBC Head of Brands and Licensing (ANZ), Kate O'Connor.  BBC Kate jumps in the Gotta Be Done wagon with Kate and Mary, and shares the couldn't-stop-watching awe of her first Bluey...
Published 04/06/23
It's the Heeler history we all need to believe in, and Gotta Be Done is fact-checking and fetishising every glorious 80s moment!  From montages to hazy memories, violent consequences of jinxes and whether child discipline should be depicted for historical purposes, Mary and Kate have a fairytale's worth of half-baked theories.   Also, this Fairytale poster by Bluey animator Mark Paterson, art director Costa Kassab's reimagining of little Bandit and Chilli, and the sun, the moon, the prickles,...
Published 03/30/23
So it's ONE MONTH until the new Bluey album lands - who likes to Dance Mode?! (And second single, the Rain score WITH JAZZ D'ARCY'S LYRICS is dropping on streaming services TODAY, make sure you are following Bluey to hear it!)  Of course Gotta Be Done can't wait to talk about piece of musical gloriousness (out globally 21 April 2023!), but while we wait, we're going back in time to when we deep-dived the original Bluey the Album - with the original Aussie blokes Bluey recap podcast, The...
Published 03/23/23
Are you triggered by time outs? What about televisual content that recreates pandemic lockdown conditions? Unequal distribution of parenting? Or the sight/ thought/ mention of people/ dogs on the toilet? Well, dial in and get ready for Muffin (Cupcake) Heeler levels of outrage - because Gotta Be Done goes there!  So who are the villains when parenting is being hogged? (Inequitable kids!) What are the pitfalls when boundary-setting with kids? (Stripe nails them all!) And what's the...
Published 03/16/23
Nice to meet you Tina... or should Mary and Kate say, SEASON 3'S ASPARAGUS?! Okay so three years on Gotta Be Done has come to the party (animals) of their previously least-favourite Bluey. But what happens when there's another contender??   Tina sparks questions about giving kids responsibilities, rights, riot permission, plus the weaponising of toilet hands and commentary on large ladies.  Will they talk themselves into actually liking it though? She's a whole lotta unlikely! ++ Gotta Be...
Published 03/02/23
We know Bluey is beloved/imitated/talked about the world over.   So when a British mum, talking on a podcast, and channelling all the Bluey in her parenting, suggests a chat - well, it's gotta be done!  Louise Salih is a mum of three and the host of new podcast Mums Work & Chaos. Strap yourselves in kids for plenty of great questions for Gotta Be Done's Mary on this fun cross-over ep. There's furious agreement about the new standard Bluey sets for kids tv/ life in general, deep-dives on...
Published 02/25/23
It was a break that threw up more than a few roadblocks... but at Gotta Be Done, obstacles don't block the path, they are the path!  So Kate and Mary are back, maybe not with a lot of newfound wisdom, but would reading/ swallowing a Little Book of Calm help?  Plus, money-hungry children, force-feeding good qualities or modelling quads, and the gloriousness of Wendy. Remember, great works are performed not by great strength, but by perseverance. Also, somewhat chaotic podcasts and...
Published 02/23/23
So Gotta Be Done has been gone too long, but don't think for a second that Mary and Kate have stopped talking about Bluey!  Thanks so much to amazing Tim at Pub Trivia Experience who hosted Gotta Be Done (original Bluey recap podcast) AND Two Bandits Watching Bluey (original upstate New York recap podcast!) for an epic Bluey showdown! There's musical mysteries, trifficult title cards, character conundrums - and it's brain-meltingly good, by Toutatis!  If you like this ep, Pub Trivia...
Published 02/11/23