You Can Watch Every Episode of Bob Ross’s ‘The Joy of Painting’ on YouTube
Cooped up indoors, we’re beginning to understand, if we didn’t already, the importance of happy little trees. Bob Ross always knew, which is why we love him, and his TV show, The Joy of Painting. The show aired on PBS from 1983 to 1994, but you can watch the full 31 seasons for free on YouTube now.
If you’ve never seen the show, or if it remains just a vague memory from your childhood, here’s what you can expect: In each episode, Painter Bob Ross paints a picture, usually of a scene from nature. He explains his process as he goes so you can follow along at home.
The show is a cult favorite even among those who aren’t painting along and don’t really plan to paint ever. Ross speaks in gentle voice, and the sounds of his brush spreading, dabbing, and scraping paint across the canvas work as a kind of pre-ASMR.
Although each episode brings a new painting, everything else stays consistent: Ross’s curly hair and button-up shirts, the angle at which he stands before the easel, the affirmations he gives, while painting, about how mistakes are no big deal. The show has a kind, wholesome, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood feel (PBS created soothing musical remixes of both shows on YouTube in 2012).
In the episode “At Dawn’s Light” (Season 23, Episode 7), Ross gives credit to the crew that helps him put together his show. “It only takes a few minutes to paint that opening,” he says, about the preview clip that runs at the beginning of the episode, “but it takes a lot of fantastic people nearly all day to produce that little 30-second thing that you see.”
Find all 403 episodes of The Joy of Painting on the Bob Ross YouTube channel.