Real vs. Pretend: how much do I say?

NicoleWI

DD asks TONS of questions and is very perceptive. I don't want to crush her world if she wants to think some pretend things are real right now, but I also don't want her to be confused. She seems to think that tv show characters are real, and I don't know how to answer the questions she has about them. I.e. do I tell her straight out that the Backyardigans aren't really real? What about dragons and fairies? Believing in some of that stuff is fun and I don't want to be too realistic since she's only 4. She's asked Backyardigan questions like, 

What did they look like when they were babies?

What do their parents look like?

Why do we never see their parents?

When do they put their costumes on for their adventures? How do they get their costumes back off at the end?

And, for Blue's Clues, "How come Tickety can talk? Most clocks don't really talk!" For awhile she would yell, "hi Steve!" and ask if Steve could see us through the tv but she seems to be past that now. 

I had to explain yesterday that Olivia isn't like other pigs (do Olivia and her friends like to get muddy?) and kind of indicated vaguely that she's pretend, but didn't know how far to go with it. 

Oh, and yesterday she asked the nanny if Santa is going to die someday, and what about Rudolph? Yikes!

We ARE doing Santa, Easter Bunny, etc., FYI.