Barney & Friends

***Barney & Friends*** is an American educational preschool television series created by Sheryl Leach for Lyrick Studios and HIT Entertainment, it runs on PBS Kids from April 6, 1992 to November 2, 2010. The series focus about Barney, a purple anthropomorphic _Tyrannosaurus rex_ who gives educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, optimistic attitude. Madison Pettis portrayed Bridget in 2010 episodes.

Reruns aired on Sprout from 2009 until 2015, and have aired since December 17, 2018, under Sprout's new name Universal Kids due to shutdown on March 6, 2025. It also aired internationally and on Peacock for "I Love You, You Love Me" on October 12, 2002, and a non-controversial reboot animated series will be premiered in October 14, 2024.

## History and development

_Barney & Friends_ was created by Sheryl Leach of Dallas, Texas. She came up with the idea of a children's program after noticing that her son outgrew _Wee Sing Together_, and then recognizing that there were no videos to appeal to her son.

One day in 1991, the daughter of Connecticut Public Television executive Larry Rifkin rented one of the videos and was "mesmerized" by it. Rifkin thought the concept could be developed for PBS. Rifkin thought Barney had appeal because he was less neurotic than Big Bird. He pitched it to CPTV president Jerry Franklin, whose preschool son also fell in love with it. Franklin and Rifkin pitched the idea to all of their colleagues with preschoolers, and they all agreed that kids would love a _Barney_ show. Franklin and Rifkin convinced Leach to let CPTV revamp the concept for television.

### Opening sequence

The episodes open with the theme song (over clips from various episodes) and the title card before it dissolves into the school (in seasons 1–6) or park (in seasons 7–14). The children are seen doing an activity, occasionally relating to the episode's topic. They eventually cause Barney to come to life from a plush doll, transforming into the "real" Barney, how he appears in the children's imaginations. Beginning in season 9, Barney's transformation occurs in a clip at the end of the theme song.

### Main sequence

Here, the main plot of the episode takes place. Barney and the children learn about the main topic of the episode, with Baby Bop, BJ, or Riff appearing during the episode and numerous songs themed relating to the subject featured in the series. The roles of Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff have grown larger in later seasons and later episodes venture outside of the school to other places within the neighborhood, and in season 13, to other countries around the world.

### Closing sequence

Barney concludes with the song "I Love You", then the children say goodbye to him and leave. Barney dissolves back into his original stuffed form and winks to the audience. The first story in season 10–11 episodes end with the characters singing "A Friend Like You" instead and Barney remaining alive.

The sequence transitions to _Barney Says_ (in seasons 1–8 and 12 only) where Barney, who is off-screen, narrates what he and his friends had done that day, along with still snapshots from the episode. Barney ends the segment in seasons 1 and 2 by saying "I love you!" before the credits roll. In seasons 3–8 and 12, the segment ends with a pre-recorded clip of Barney saying, "And remember, I love you!" and waving goodbye.

### Dinosaurs

- (voiced by Bob West 1992–2000, and Dean Wendt 2001–2010; people who wore the Barney suit included David Joyner 1991-2001 and Carey Stinson): The main character is a purple and green _Tyrannosaurus_.
- (voiced by Julie Johnson): A green _Triceratops_.
- (voiced by Patty Wirtz): A seven-year-old yellow _Protoceratops_.
- (voiced by Michaela Dietz): An orange six-year-old _Hadrosaur._

### Adults and children

The adults and children on the show often appear as teachers, storytellers, or other characters.

#### Multiple appearances

|Role|Actor/Actress||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Mother Goose|style="white-space:nowrap;"|Sandy Walper, Michelle McCarel, Julie Johnson|
|Stella the Storyteller|Phyllis Cicero||
|Tomie dePaola|Himself||
|Mom|Sandy Duncan||
|Dad|Bob Reed||
|Mr. Boyd|Robert Sweatmon||
|Colleen|Claire Burdette||
|Linda|Adrianne Kangas||
|David|Robert Hurtekant||

### Puppets

A lot of puppets appeared in many seasons. The most notable puppets were:
- Scooter McNutty, a brown squirrel (seasons: 4–6, 1997–2000) performed and voiced by Todd Duffey
- Miss Etta Kette, a purple bird (seasons: 4–6, 1997–2000) performed and voiced by Brice Armstrong; Armstrong also voices Beauregard the Cat in the video _It's Time for Counting_.
- Booker T. Bookworm, an orange worm with interests in books (season 5: 1998–1999) performed and voiced by Earl Fisher

### Children

Throughout the series' run, over 100 children have appeared in the series, with most of them from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Only a small portion of these actors have made notable appearances in media since their roles, including:
- Peyton Alex Smith: played Jamal in Season 10
- Danielle Vega: played Kim in seasons 4 to 6
- Demi Lovato: played Angela in seasons 7 to 8
- Selena Gomez: played Gianna in seasons 7 to 8
- Debby Ryan: played Debby in season 10
- Madison Pettis: played Bridget in season 10
- Jaren Lewison: played Joshua in seasons 12 to 13

## Infobox (television)

- **image**: Barney & Friends logo.svg
- **alt name**: Barney
- **genre**: Children's television series, Preschool
Educational television, Educational
Adventure fiction, Adventure
Musical movie, Musical
- **creator**: Sheryl Leach
Kathy Parker
Dennis DeShazer
- **voices**: Bob West
Duncan Brannan
Tim Dever
Dean Wendt
Julie Johnson
Patty Wirtz
Michaela Dietz
- **open theme**: Barney Theme Song
- **end theme**: I Love You
- **composer**: Bob Singleton (music composer), Bob Singleton
Joe Phillips
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **num seasons**: 14
- **num episodes**: 268
- **executive producer**: Sheryl Leach
Kathy Parker
Dennis DeShazer
Randy Dalton
Karen Barnes
- **location**: Allen, Texas
Dallas, Texas
- **runtime**: 26 minutes
- **company**: Lyrick Studios (1994-2000)
HIT Entertainment (2002-2010)
- **network**: PBS Kids
- **related**: _Barney’s World, Barney's World_