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Origins
The show originated from the home video series, Barney & The Backyard Gang, which was produced by The Lyons Group from 1988 to 1991. The first three videos of the series starred actress Sandy Duncan. As the Backyard Gang video series was becoming only a moderate success outside of Texas (where it was considered successful for a local video series), Leora Rifkin, the daughter of Larry Rifkin (former head of Connecticut Public Television), got a Barney video from a video store in Prospect, Conn...
2000s
By the mid-1990s, Barney & Friends was facing increasing competition from other children's television shows, and networks. In 1997, it's status as the #1 children's show on PBS was taken by newcomer, Arthur, and by 1998, was ranked down to third place, due in part to the breakout success of Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues. The show eventually shot back up to No. 1 in September of that year.The show went on a short hiatus after the sixth season.
2010s
The show was intended to last until 2013, however, the show went on hiatus and ended in 2010 with season fourteen, a season compiled of episodes from seasons ten and eleven with new content in between and a new version of the theme song. On October 24, 2011, Mattel bought out HiT Entertainment, the owners of the Barney franchise, for $680 million. On October 6, 2015, 9 Story Media Group announced a long-term partnership with HIT Entertainment, the now subsidiary of Mattel, to distribute pre-s...
Changes
The format of Barney & Friendsremained intact until the early to mid-2000s, where changes were being made to appeal to international broadcasters globally. In season nine, the format involved interruption by the dinosaurs doing various segments in front of a white background. In season ten, the format was cut down to episodes broken into twelve minute segments, with the dinosaurs having larger roles, and the cast of children being reduced to background characters. In season eleven, the curric...
Dinosaurs
1. Barney- the main character, a two hundred million year friendly 6-foot purple tyrannosaurus-rex who comes to life from a plush toy by way of children’s imaginations. 2. Baby Bop- a green three-year-old Triceratops who's BJ's sister, She serves as a vehicle for portraying the behaviors and activities typical of a 2-to 3-year old, the age of much of the viewing audience. 3. BJ- Baby Bop’s seven-year-old brother who was introduced in season two. He is an active, impulsive Protoceratops who es...
Children
The children in the cast of each episode represent various ethnic backgrounds with diverse interests and abilities. A various cast of children have been featured in the series throughout the years. See: Kids
Puppets
1. Scooter McNutty- a lively, brown, furry squirrel, appearing in seasons four, five and six, who has mishaps and misadventures that are the result of acting first and thinking later. 2. Miss Etta Kette- a lavender-feathered bird, appearing in seasons four, five and six, who teaches children about manners and being kind to others. 3. Booker T. Bookworm- an orange worm with interests in books, who only appeared in season five. See Also: Puppets
Streaming
Seasons of Barney & Friendsare available on a variety of streaming or direct purchase video services. The following is an overview of which seasons have been available to stream on streaming platforms.
Focus on Education
The show utilizes both original and children's songs to convey various preschool topics using imagination, engaging them with music and emphasizing friendship in a loving environment. Vice-President of Content Development, Mary Ann Dudko, Ph.D.states that "Each Barney episode emphasizes language and cognitive development, physical activity and social interaction...in each episode, young viewers are invited to use their imaginations in problem-solving situations." Yale researchers Dorothy and...
Music
Stephen Baltes Bates and Philip Parker wrote the lyrics of the Barney & Friends theme song, with some lyrics coming from Barney & The Backyard Gang. The melody was taken from the tune "Yankee Doodle". The first three seasons of the show were arranged by Bob Singleton. From season four until season fourteen, Joseph Phillipsarranged the music. The music for the series was prerecorded, while the dialogue was live when taping an episode. If there were one or two on camera children singing, it wou...
Writing
Barney & Friends has used many writers in its long history. During the production of season one, the series only used two writers, Stephen White and Mark S. Bernthal. White and Bernthal would be assigned a topic and write a first to final draft in a week or less. Both, as well as the future writers, were freelancers who worked from their homes, and had occasional meetings with the Barney producers. An educational packet would be given to White and Bernthal, which featured information from the...
Books
Main Article: Barney Books As early as spring 1993, Barney books were already on the mass market and were self-published through Barney Publishing. By late 1993, the first five Barney books had each surpassed a million units.Barney books were self published all the way until HIT Entertainment bought the franchise in 2001. From there, some books were re-released through Scholastic and HIT Entertainment. In 1996, seven Barney books made it onto Publisher's Weekly All-Time Bestselling Hardcover...
Home Media
Main Article: Barney Home Video
Live Events
Main Article: Barney Stage Shows In 1994, a stage show Barney Live! At Radio City (released on video as Barney Live! In New York City) was performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The complete run of the show was the second fastest sell-out in Radio City history, after Bette Midler, as it had sold out performances. Following the run at Radio City, the purple dinosaur went on national tours, starting with Barney's Big Surprise in 1996 up until 2011 in the US with Barney Live in Con...
Reboot
On October 6, 2015, 9 Story Media Group announced a long-term partnership with HIT Entertainment, the now subsidiary of Mattel, to distribute preschool series Barney & Friends and Angelina Ballerina, as well as as relaunching both properties for a reboot that was slated to debut in 2017 with fifty-two eleven minute episodes (for both properties).Production never occurred for either one of the properties.
Some episodes of the television series were encoded with signals that enabled the ActiMates Barney doll to interact with the program. During this time period, some reruns of Season 1-3 episodes rem...According to Pia Hamilton, a typical 30-minute episode took four days to complete. Rehearsals were normally on Mondays, and filming took place Tuesdays-Thursdays.Barney & Friendscost $105,000 per half hour to produce.Barney & Friends is an American children's television series targeted at children aged 2–5, created by Sheryl Leach. The series first aired on PBS on April 6, 1992, and features Barney, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable and optimistic ...
- 14
- 268 (list of episodes)
- April 6, 1992 –, November 2, 2010
- PBS
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What is Barney & Friends about?
Barney & Friends: Created by Dennis DeShazer, Sheryl Leach, Kathy Parker. With Julie Johnson, Patty Wirtz, Jeff Ayers, Bob West. From pretending to be a pilot on a make-believe airplane to pretending to be a pirate in search of buried treasure, Barney's friends discover that creativity lets them soar in the wings of imagination!
Barney, America's favorite purple dinosaur, and his young friends share adventures featuring songs, dances and games that make learning fun. Barney and his dino-pals, Baby Bop, BJ and Riff...
