Todd Kessler
Todd Kessler is an award winning American film and television writer, producer and director. Among his credits are showrunner and co-creator of Nickelodeon's preschool series Blue's Clues and director and producer of the feature film "Keith."
Career
According to author Malcolm Gladwell, who wrote about Blue's Clues in his book The Tipping Point, Kessler worked for Sesame Workshop's "Sesame Street", but found traditional children's television too static and not visual enough. In 1993–94, Kessler, who was then a freelance producer for Nickelodeon, was assigned to work with Peter Schreck on his seminal interactive television experiments in the network's Orlando studio, developing concepts which were later incorporated into Blue's Clues. Kessler was the first creator involved with the show. Angela Santomero and Traci Paige Johnson were brought later on to complete the Blue's Clues team.Blue's Clues, according to Variety Magazine, was "at the forefront of a revolution in kids TV" and was crucial to the growth of Nickelodeon. The innovative and interactive format it created changed children's programming, including its most important influence Sesame Street, which changed its format in 2002 to be more interactive.
