My TV Show Review on Clifford's Puppy Days

Greetings, my good pals.

This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, for my 32nd TV show analysis, and the very first to be made in 2021, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Clifford's Puppy Days".

Here's the rundown of it:

Taking place before Clifford and the Howard family move to Birdwell Island, this series chronicles Clifford's adventures in New York City while living there as the world's smallest puppy. And while living in an apartment with Emily Elizabeth and her parents, Clifford hangs out with his lovable friends and meets new ones.

After I did my reviews on "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and "Clifford's Really Big Movie", I decided that it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and review "Clifford's Puppy Days" since it was apparently made to be a prequel to the other two installments. Outside of reading some interesting things about it, the series was also something that I watched as a child. Whenever I turned on the television, I'd immediately stumble on this program. So yeah, this was something I decided to reacquaint myself with out of nostalgia purposes.

Having watched the show around last year via Amazon Prime, and doing so again recently just to be sure on what my thoughts on it were...sadly, I didn't think "Clifford's Puppy Days" was as great as I remembered it being. I mean, it has its positives, but it wasn't something that needed to be made either.

The biggest problems regarding the series involve the writing and direction.

Back when I watched some of the episodes, I noticed that the storytelling wasn't as impactful or strong as "Clifford the Big Red Dog". In a way, it seemed like the show team was at least trying to capture the overall spirit and style of its predecessors, but at the end of the day...whatever efforts that were made by the team caused the show to be too bland and creatively-restrained. Each episode does have a moral to live by, yet they weren't memorable or heartfelt. Now that I think about it, the morals came across as more like a passing thought. There's even humor and emotion, but they were all surprisingly flat in terms of execution. Heck, despite Clifford being a small puppy in this show, the show team rarely took advantage of his size nor did they take any creative risks. Considering the fact that there were many episodes of "Clifford the Big Red Dog" showcasing his backstory, a whole series about Clifford being a puppy wasn't as necessary to make as PBS likely thought.

In addition to this, the new characters were hardly what I'd call compelling. Each of them had great personalities and developments, and their vocal performers were definitely great. But yet, they were openly forgettable regardless.

For me, the most problematic inclusion was that of Daffodil the rabbit.

In the series, Daffodil played the part of Clifford's big-sister figure and was also Emily Elizabeth's first part. Unlike the rest of the characters, though, Daffodil's inclusion made no sense even from a writer's standpoint. Not only does it contradict the fact that Clifford was Emily's first pet in both the previous series and the actual books, but her role openly generated the question of why she wasn't with the Howard family in "Clifford the Big Red Dog". And why she didn't go with Clifford and the Howard family to Birdwell Island. The questions in general are left forever unanswered.

On the bright side, the character of Norville the parrot was pretty interesting. He had more personality and traits than any of the other characters combined, and Henry Winkler portrayed the part so well that he clearly wasn't awarded a Daytime Emmy for nothing. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised Norville wasn't given a show of his own or something.

Plus, the animation for the series was passable.

The overall style matched "Clifford the Big Red Dog", of course. But, it also proved itself to be technically accomplished in its own way. There was definitely a vast sense of technological advancement involved in this series, that's for sure.

In the end, though, "Clifford's Puppy Days" was mediocre with a capital 'M'. Hardly anything about this show was remotely meaningful or inspired, and it's quite apparent that PBS only made it simply to cash in on Clifford's popularity.

So, I rate "Clifford's Puppy Days" two out of five stars.