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Parents' Guide to

Ryan's Mystery Playdate

By Emily Ashby, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 5+

YouTube star unboxes friends, not toys, in fun family show.

TV Nick Jr. Comedy 2019
Ryan's Mystery Playdate Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

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age 4+

Based on 81 parent reviews

08Jayden08
08Jayden08 Parent of 3 and 12-year-old
May 9, 2021
age 12+

Don’t Show This To your Kids!!

The Play dates Are Not even Playdates They Just Do Some Mess with a Kid And His Parents. It is Way too Repetitive For Preschool Age Children, And Targets Kids As Old as 5 or 6 Years of Age. It is Not Even Educational, And The Animation Looks Like Someone Put Their Hand in A Garbage Can And Smeared it on the Paper. It’s Intended Audience (2 to 6) is Very Impressionable And Will Be as Messy As this Show And Should NOT Watch This. And It is Also a Cash Grab For Crappy Plastic Toddler Merchandise Stuff, Switch The Channel To PBS Kids or something for Your Kid if You Know He/She is Watching it. And Teach Them They Will Never Always Win like Ryan
MamaMomma94
MamaMomma94 Adult
January 29, 2021
age 4+

This is TOXIC trash for your child.

My 3 year old daughter is obsessed and will try to watch this show for hours or pitch a fit. Reasons why its trash: 1. They are MESSY. Shaving cream on tables, jumping on sofas, painting and making volcanoes near carpets. Just why? What happened to manners? I feel bad for their housekeepers. 2. MATERIALISM CENTRAL. Every time there are new toys and new activity boxes, trips, camping this and that. There are no values taught here except that mom and dad are robots who magically bring toys and then aggressively mess the house and obsessively play with you. 3. QUALITY. How are they even famous? It's the most rehearsed trash I have ever seen. 4. EXPLOITATION: I'm not trying to be mean but their daughters look like they have been forced to do this and the son needs to have a life outside of sitting there in front of a camera. The kid deserves friends and exercise. 5. Their home is NOT family friendly. It gives me the creeps. Glass stairs, white walls, tiles....its like a dollhouse. No one and nothing has a personality. Whatever happened to good old shows where we could show kids who respect their parents, clean up their messes, repurpose things into toys and have LOVE AND EMPATHY. I am so sick of this social media YouTube trash. There are talented brilliant people in this world slaving away years of their lives to study and make relatively good money and then there are these completely village idiot looking, anxious, crap of a couple with ZERO talent who have made millions off making ridiculous dumb videos. I'm not jealous. I'm just a very exhausted mother. I hate their voices. Its every single day that I have to watch that crap camera angles and hear those high pitched voices.
See all 81 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In RYAN'S MYSTERY PLAYDATE, YouTube star Ryan and his parents tackle physical challenges and solve puzzles to earn hints to the identity of a surprise guest. Using elements of imaginative play and creative problem solving, the tasks force Ryan and his parents do things like catapulting mailing packages from one side of the room to the other and retrieving toy frogs from a pool of slime to throw to a waiting partner. After three hints are retrieved, they bring them to the Mystery Guest Box to unveil the day's visitor, who then plays with Ryan.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (81 ):
Kids say (41 ):

As leaps from viral fame to TV fame go, Ryan's is a fairly successful endeavor. The YouTube megastar brings with him his trademark enthusiasm and natural ease in front of the cameras, as well as the likable rapport he has with his parents onscreen. The show also plays on the "unboxing" format that has been Ryan's bread and butter in his viral videos, leaving space for some brief suspense and excitement to build before clues are uncovered and the big reveal exposed.

There's not much substance of note to Ryan's Mystery Playdate, but all of the tasks challenge Ryan and his parents either physically (jumping, rolling, throwing, etc.) or mentally by way of puzzles, and they seem to genuinely enjoy the experience of playing and working together. The bottom line? If screen time with your kids is on the agenda, then watching Ryan and his parents have fun and work together is a decent viewing option.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the appeal (or lack thereof) of a show like this one. Does it entertain you and make you want to watch more? How do the challenges encourage imagination? Problem solving?

  • Kids: Did you know who Ryan was before watching this show? If so, did you want to watch because of that? How are our viewing habits influenced by the stars involved? Who are some of your favorite YouTube stars?

  • How do Ryan and his parents demonstrate teamwork? Do they always work well together? Is working with family more or less difficult than working with other people?

TV Details

  • Premiere date: April 19, 2019
  • Network: Nick Jr.
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Character Strengths: Teamwork
  • TV rating: TV-Y
  • Last updated: February 26, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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