Barney & Friends (Johnsonverse)

Barney & Friends is an American children's television series targeted at young children aged 2–7, created by Sheryl Leach. The show premiered on PBS on April 6, 1992. The series features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, silly and optimistic attitude. Reruns have aired on Sprout since 2005.
While popular with its intended audience, Barney drew severe negative reaction from the older set, who mocked the main character in popular culture through song parodies and comedy routines such as being beaten up by NBA star Charles Barkley on an episode of Saturday Night Live. The anti-Barney phenomenon is the basis of the 2022 Netflix documentary I Love You, You Hate Me. Barney has also received lots of praise from parents for being a wholesome yet engaging show for children that delves into common, kid-friendly topics.
== Origin and development ==
Barney 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. Leach then brought together a team who created a series of home videos, Barney and the Backyard Gang, initially released in 1988. The first three videos starred actress Sandy Duncan.
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 not as neurotic as 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. The show debuted as Barney & Friends in 1992. The series was produced by CPTV and Lyrick Studios (later bought by Johnson Television).
Although the show was a runaway hit, PBS initially opted not to provide funding beyond the initial 30-episode run. When Rifkin and other CPTV executives learned this, they wrote letters to their fellow PBS member stations urging them to get PBS to reconsider. The Lyons Group, meanwhile, sent out notices through the Barney Fan Club, telling parents to write letters and make phone calls to their local PBS stations to show their support for Barney & Friends. By the time of the yearly member stations' meeting, station executives across the country were up in arms over the prospect of one of their most popular shows being canceled. Faced with an atmosphere that Rifkin later described as "like an insurrection", PBS ultimately relented.
For several years, the show was taped at the Color Dynamics Studios facility at Greenville Avenue & Bethany Drive in Allen, Texas, after which it moved to The Studios at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. The TV series and videos are currently distributed by Johnson Home Video, while the TV series is produced by CPTV.
== Episode format ==
=== Opening sequence ===
The series opens with the theme song (over clips from various episodes) and the title card before it dissolves into the school. The children are seen doing an activity, occasionally relating to the episode's topic. The children imagine something and Barney comes to life from a plush doll, transforming into the "real" Barney, how he appears in the children's imaginations.
=== 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 "I Love You" before he dissolves back into his original stuffed form and winks to the audience. After the children discuss what they have learned, the sequence cuts to Barney Says where Barney, who is off-screen, narrates what he and his friends had done that day, along with still snapshots from the episode. Then Barney signs off before the credits roll. Since Season 3, he later appears on-screen by saying, "And remember, I love you," and waved goodbye before the credits roll.
== Characters and cast ==
=== Dinosaurs ===
* Barney (voiced by Bob West from 1992–2000 and since 2018, and Duncan Brannan since 1997; people who wore the Barney suit included David Joyner (1991-2001) and Carey Stinson): The main character is a purple and green Tyrannosaurus in stuffed animal likeness, who comes to life through a child's imagination. His theme song is "Barney is a Dinosaur", whose tune is based on "Yankee Doodle". Barney often quotes things as being "Super dee-duper". Episodes frequently end with the song "I Love You", sung to the tune of "This Old Man", which happens to be one of Barney's favorite songs. Despite being a carnivorous type dinosaur, Barney likes many different foods such as fruits and vegetables, but his main favorite is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk.
* Baby Bop (voiced by Julie Johnson): A green Triceratops, who was originally two years old, but turned three in "Look at Me, I'm 3!". Baby Bop has been on the show since her debut in "Barney in Concert" on July 29, 1991. She wears a pink bow and pink ballet slippers, and carries a yellow security blanket. She sings the song "My Yellow Blankey" to show how much her security blanket means to her. She likes to eat macaroni and cheese and pizza. She is the younger sister of BJ.
* BJ (voiced by Patty Wirtz): A seven-year-old yellow Protoceratops, BJ has been on the show since September 27, 1993. He is the older brother of Baby Bop, whom he frequently calls "Sissy" and occasionally calls by her name. He sings "BJ's Song" about himself. He wears a red baseball cap and red sneakers. He lost his hat in the episode "Hats Off to BJ!". Pickles are his favorite food and he has tried them in various ways, such as on pizza.
* Riff (voiced by Michaela Dietz): An orange six-year-old Hadrosaur, who is Baby Bop and BJ's cousin, Riff has been on the show since September 18, 2006. He wears green sneakers. His theme music is "I Hear Music Everywhere". Riff loves music and it is in almost everything he does. In the episode "Barney: Let's Go to the Firehouse", it was revealed that Riff also likes to invent things; he created a four-sound smoke detector (the first three were different alarm sounds and the final one his voice). He is shown to have an interest in marching bands and parades.
=== Adults and children ===
The adults and children on the show often appear as teachers, storytellers, or other characters.
==== Multiple appearances ====
Role 	Actor/Actress 	Description and Appearances
Mother Goose 	Sandy Walper, Michelle McCarel,
Julie Johnson	The rhyme master herself appears in the episodes "Let's Help Mother Goose", "Honk! Honk! A Goose on the Loose", "A Little Mother Goose", "Barney's Big Surprise", and "Mother Goose/Fairy Tales".
Stella the Storyteller	Phyllis Cicero 	Stella travels all around the world, collecting new stories to tell Barney and friends, among other people. She appeared in many episodes from Seasons 3 to 25 and also appeared in the video The Best of Barney, where she gave Barney a photo album of his friends over the years she made herself. She stopped appearing after Season 25 (which was filmed between June 2020 and February 2021) due to the death of actress Phyllis Cicero in January 2021.
Professor Tinkerputt 	Barry Pearl 	He appeared in Barney's Imagination Island and in the Barney's Big Surprise stage show tour. Professor Tinkerputt did not want to share his invented toys, until Barney and the kids showed him that good things happen when you share. For this reason, Tinkerputt left Imagination Island with Barney and the others and started a new toy factory.
Tomie dePaola 	Himself 	The famous children's author is also a good friend of Barney and usually meets his friends in the episodes he appeared in, which are "Picture This", "It's Raining, It's Pouring", and "Oh Brother, She's my Sister".
Mom 	Sandy Duncan 	Michael and Amy's mother in the first three Barney and the Backyard Gang videos. She later appears in Barney & Friends: Celebrating 30 Years!.
Mr. Boyd 	Robert Sweatmon 	His full name is Grady Boyd and he has a niece named Colleen, a son named Bobby and a dog named Bingo. He worked as a musician in "Classical Cleanup", "Barney's Band", "Come Blow Your Horn!", "Play Piano with Me!", and a janitor since Season 3. He also appeared in The Best of Barney.
Mr. Copeland 	Dell Johnson 	He first appeared in Season 11 and works as a teacher.
Mr. Calloway 	Dean Wendt 	His full name is Dean Calloway. He first appeared in Season 7 and works as a janitor.
Colleen 	Claire Burdett 	Colleen is Mr. Boyd's niece, who comes to town for a visit and is introduced to Barney and the Children. She is a congenital amputee born without her right hand, as is her actress. She appeared in two episodes, "A New Friend!" and "A Perfectly Purple Day".
David 	Robert Hurtekant	David is a boy in a wheelchair who appeared at the beginning of two episodes: "Falling for Autumn!" and "Shawn and the Beanstalk".
=== Puppets ===
A lot of puppets have appeared in many seasons. The most notable puppets are:
* Scooter McNutty, a scatterbrained brown squirrel (seasons: 4–present, 1997–present; performed by Todd Duffey)
* Miss Etta Kette, a wise purple bird (seasons: 4–present, 1997–present; performed by Brice Armstrong from 1997-2010, and R. Bruce Elliott since 2009)
* Booker T. Bookworm, an orange worm with interests in books (seasons: 5 and 7-present, 1998–present; performed by Earl Fisher)
* Haven Huffenpuff, a competitive blue wolf (seasons: 17-present, 2013-present; performed by Kate Bristol)
*Cowan Overmoon, a neurotic cow (seasons: 22-present, 2018-present; performed by Duncan Brannan)
=== 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:
* Danielle Vega: played Kim from Season 3 to Season 6
* Demi Lovato: played Angela from Season 7 to Season 8
* Selena Gomez: played Gianna from Season 7 to Season 8
* Debby Ryan: played Debby in Season 10
* Madison Pettis: played Bridget in Season 10
== Seasons ==
Season 	Episodes	Originally aired 	Originally aired
Season 	Episodes	First aired 	Last aired
Backyard Gang	8 	August 29, 1988 	August 1, 1991
1 	30 	April 6, 1992 	May 15, 1992
2 	18 	September 27, 1993	October 20, 1993
3 	20 	February 27, 1995 	October 6, 1995
4 	20 	November 3, 1997 	November 28, 1997
5 	20 	November 2, 1998 	November 27, 1998
6 	20 	November 1, 1999 	April 14, 2000
7 	20 	September 2, 2002 	November 22, 2002
8 	20 	September 15, 2003	May 14, 2004
9 	20 	September 6, 2004 	May 13, 2005
10 	20 	September 18, 2006	October 13, 2006
11 	20 	September 17, 2007	October 12, 2007
12 	10 	September 15, 2008	September 26, 2008
13 	10 	September 7, 2009 	September 18, 2009
14 	20 	October 4, 2010 	November 2, 2010
15 	20 	October 3, 2011 	October 29, 2011
16 	20 	November 5, 2012 	November 30, 2012
17 	20 	November 4, 2013 	November 29, 2013
18 	20 	September 8, 2014 	October 3, 2014
19 	20 	September 7, 2015 	October 3, 2015
20 	20 	September 5, 2016 	September 30, 2016
21 	20 	September 4, 2017 	September 29, 2017
22 	20 	September 3, 2018 	September 28, 2018
23 	20 	September 2, 2019 	September 27, 2019
24 	20 	September 21, 2020	October 16, 2020
25 	20 	September 20, 2021	October 15, 2021
26 	30 	April 4, 2022 	May 13, 2022
==Movies and specials==
Main article: List of Barney & Friends episodes and videos
*Barney in Concert (1991)
*Barney's Imagination Island (1994)
*Barney Live in New York City (1994)
*Barney's Great Adventure (1998) (theatrical movie starring Trevor Morgan and Kyla Pratt)
*Barney's Big Surprise (1998)
*Barney: Let's Go to the Zoo (2001)
*Barney's Musical Castle (2001)
*Barney's Colorful World (2004)
*Barney & Friends: Celebrating 30 Years (2018)
*Barney Goes to The City (2023) (Netflix movie produced by Chloe Johnson)
==Airings==
Other than the United States, the series has aired in Canada, Mexico and Latin America, France, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Australian based company and distributor Southern Star handled non-US rights to the series from the mid-'90s until 1995 when Johnson revoked the deal after acquiring Lyrick.
Two known co-productions of Barney & Friends have been produced outside of the US. The Israeli co-production Hebrew: החברים של ברני Hachaverim shel Barney (The Friends of Barney) produced from 1997 to 1999 in Tel Aviv, Israel, was the first of these. Rather than dubbing the original American episodes from Seasons 1–3, the episodes were adapted with a unique set and exclusive child actors. The second co-production was broadcast in Korea from 2001 to 2003 on KBS (under the name "바니와 친구들" (Baniwa Chingudeul (Barney and Friends))). This one, however, adapted the first six seasons (including the first three that the Israel co-production did).
==Music==
A majority of the albums of Barney & Friends feature Bob West as the voice of Barney; however, the album The Land of Make-Believe has Duncan Brannan's voice.
Barney's song "I Love You" was among those used by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay detention camp to coerce detainees. The similar use of "I Love You" to inflict psychological stress on Iraqi prisoners-of-war was examined by Jon Ronson in his 2004 book The Men Who Stare At Goats.
==Awards and nominations==
Year	Award 	Recipient 	Result
1993	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series 	Sheryl Leach, Kathy Parker, Dennis DeShazer 	
1993	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Children's Series 	Stephen White, Mark S. Bernthal 	
1994	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects	Ron Balantine, David M. Boothe 	
1994	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series 	Sheryl Leach, Kathy Parker, Dennis DeShazer 	
1996	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series 	Sheryl Leach, Dennis DeShazer, Jim Rowley, 	
1998	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lighting Direction 	Ken Craig, Murray K. Campbell 	
1998	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Sound Mixing 	Ron Balantine, David M. Boothe, Gary French 	
1999	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing 	Jim Rowley, Fred Holmes, Steve Feldman 	
1999	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing 	Ron Balantine, David M. Boothe, Gary French 	
2000	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing 	Ron Balantine, David M. Boothe, Gary French 	
2001	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing 	Ron Balantine, David M. Boothe, Gary French 	(tied with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire)
2003	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Sound Mixing – Live Action and Animation 	Patrick Sellars, Neal Anderson 	
2006	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing 	Jim Rowley, Fred Holmes, Steve Feldman 	
2008	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design/Styling 	Lisa Odette Albertson, Traci Hutton, Lyle Huchton	
2009	Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design/Styling 	Lisa Odette Albertson, Traci Hutton, Lyle Huchton	
==Reception==
Several people have concluded that episodes contain a great deal of age-appropriate educational material, including Yale University researchers Dorothy and Jerome Singer, who called the program a "model of what preschool television should be". Others have criticized the show for a lack of educational value, as well as being repetitive.
The show is often cited as a contributing factor to the perceived sense of entitlement seen in millennials, who grew up watching the show. One specific criticism is:The creator and performer of the San Diego Chicken mascot, Ted Giannoulas, called Barney a "ubiquitous and insipid creature" in a 1999 court case.
Barney & Friends ranked No. 50 on TV Guide's 2002 list of the 50 worst TV shows of all time. The show has also been parodied in many forms; see Anti-Barney humor.
In a 1993 newspaper article, Jerry Franklin, the head of Connecticut Public Television, which co-produced Barney at the time, was quoted thus:
Howard Blumenthal, producer of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, said “Even the most knowledgeable people … can't really understand why that [Barney] phenomenon happened and another didn't".
Tim Johnson admitted to feeling divided with his opinion on the show before Johnson got ahold of the series, as while he understood that all episodes were made with good intention, some episodes seemed "too optimistic and escapist" to him, with him believing that some of the lessons the episodes taught weren't very good ones, like how the Season 1 episode "Oh, What a Day!" manages to contradict its attempt at validating emotions by suggesting that a person should be happy and smile when things go wrong, particularly showing in the musical number "S.M.I.L.E." (which also suggests that smiling in itself can make you happy, which isn’t true); his sister Chloe agreed with this opinion.
==See also==
Category:Johnsonverse