Barney the Friendly Dinosaur

Barney & Friends

Barney & Friends
Barney & Friends season 3 logo
Format	Children's television series
Created by	Sheryl Leach
Starring	David Voss (1988-1990), (1991-2001), (1994, 2002-present), and Josh Martin (1999-2002) (Barney suit) Bob West (1988-2001), Duncan Brannan/Tim Dever (1999-2002), and Dean Wendt (2002-present) (Barney voice) Dao Knight (1991), Jenny Dempsey (1992), Jeff Ayers (1993-present) (Baby Bop suit) Julie Johnson (Baby Bop voice) Jeff Brooks (1993-2004) and Kyle Nelson (2004-present) (B.J. suit) Patty Wirtz (B.J. voice) Adam Brown (Riff suit) Michaela Dietz (Riff voice)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	248 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Production company(s)	The Lyons Group (1992–2001) HiT Entertainment (2001–present) Connecticut Public Television (1992–2005) WNET New York (2006–present)
Broadcast
Original channel	PBS
Picture format	NTSC (480i) (1992-2008) HDTV (1080i) (2009-present)
Original airing	April 6, 1992
Status	On Hiatus
Chronology
Preceded by	Barney and the Backyard Gang

Barney & Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1–8. The series, which first aired in 1992, features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus Rex who conveys learning through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, optimistic attitude.

Since September 18, 2009, the show has been on hiatus.

Origin and development

Barney was created in 1987 by Sheryl Leach of Dallas, Texas. She came up with the idea for the program while considering TV shows that she felt would be educational and appeal to her son. Leach then brought together a team who created a series of home videos, Barney and the Backyard Gang, which also starred actress Sandy Duncan in the first three videos. Later, Barney was joined by the characters Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff.

Although the original videos were only a modest success outside of Texas, Barney became a major success only when the character and format were revamped for the television series and were picked up by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), debuting as Barney & Friends in 1992. The series was produced by Lyrick Studios (bought by HIT Entertainment) and Connecticut Public Television. For several years, the show was taped at the Color Dynamics Studios facility at Greenville Avenue & Bethany Drive in Allen, after which it moved to The Studios at Las Colinas in Dallas, Texas. Currently, the series is produced in Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The TV series and videos are currently distributed by HiT Entertainment and Lionsgate, while the TV series has been produced by WNET since 2006. Sheryl Leach left the show in 2002 after HIT Entertainment bought Lyrick Studios.

Formula of the Episodes

Opening sequence

The series opens with the theme song (complete with clips from various episodes) and the title card before it dissolves into the school. The children are seen doing an activity (usually relating to the episode's topic). The children imagine and Barney comes to life from a plush toy, transforming into the "real" Barney.

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 to other countries around the world in Season 13.

Closing sequence

Barney closes up with "I Love You" before he dissolves back into his original stuffed form. After the children discuss a bit about what they had 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, himself, appears on-screen saying "And remember, I love you" before the credits roll.

Criticism

Although the show has been criticized for its lack of educational value, Yale researchers Dorothy and Jerome Singer have concluded that episodes contain a great deal of age-appropriate educational material, calling the program a "model of what preschool television should be."

One specific criticism is:

It is ranked on TV Guide's List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time at #50.

Cast

Dinosaurs

Barney the Dinosaur

The main character is a purple and green Tyrannosaurus Rex in stuffed animal likeness, who comes to life through a child's imagination. His theme song is "Barney Is a Dinosaur," which is sung to the tune of " 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 Barney's favorite song of all time . 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. He also loves Marching bands and parades.

Baby Bop

A three-year-old green Triceratops , Baby Bop has been on the show since July 29, 1991 (from the video "Barney in Concert"). She carries a yellow blanket, and sings the song "My Yellow Blankey" to show how much it means to her. She likes to eat macaroni and cheese and pizza. She wears a pink bow and pink ballet slippers. She is B.J.'s little sister.

B.J.

A seven-year-old yellow Protoceratops, B.J. has been on the show since September 27, 1993. His theme song is "B.J.'s Song". He wears a red baseball cap and red sneakers (as heard in the lyrics of his theme). He lost his hat in the episode Hats Off to B.J.!, and sometimes says stuff to hide his fears (for example, in the episode Barney's Halloween Party, he was shocked by the paper spiders and after learning they were fake, he said "I knew that, sort of."). Pickles are his favorite food and because of that, he actually has had them in different ways like pickles (also with pepperoni, peppers, pineapple, and peanut butter) on a pizza, as shown in the episode Barney's Adventure Bus. He is Baby Bop's older brother.

Riff

Referred as Cousin Riff by Baby Bop, he is an orange six-year-old hadrosaur, who is Baby Bop and B.J.'s cousin. He wears green sneakers. His theme music is "I Hear Music Everywhere." Riff loves music and it's 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 own voice). He is shown to have an interest in Marching bands and Parades .

Adults

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

One-time guests

Multiple appearances

Children

Over the years, more than one hundred children have appeared as cast members on the show. Barney & Friends mostly uses local talent based in and around North Texas and the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex. Some notable children who have appeared on Barney & Friends and in other Barney media include:

Crew

Movies and specials

Airings

Besides the United States, the TV show has aired in Canada, Mexico and Latin America, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan (On English-based DVDs under the name "Let's Play with Barney in English! (バーニーと英語であそぼう！ Bānī to Eigo de asobō!)" and on television as simply "Barney & Friends (バーニー&フレンズ Bānī ando Furenzu!)" ), the Philippines, Turkey, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Two known co-productions of Barney & Friends have been produced outside of the US. The Israeli co-production (החברים של ברני Hachaverim shel Barney (The Friends of Barney)) produced from 1997–1999 in Tel Aviv, Israel, was the first of these. Rather than dubbing the original American episodes from Seasons 1–3, the episodes are adapted with a unique set and exclusive child actors. The other co-production was one shot in South Korea from 2001–2003, airing 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). It was done in a similar manner as the Israel production.

Music

A majority of the albums of Barney and Friends feature Bob West's voice as the voice of Barney, though the recent album The Land of Make-Believe (like every album starting with Start Singing with Barney) has Dean Wendt's voice.

Barney's famous song "I Love You" (as well as songs from Sesame Street and Metallica) has been used by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to coerce the detainees.

See also

References

External links

• HIT Entertainment official website
• Barney & Friends on PBS Kids
• Barney & Friends on Treehouse
• Barney & Friends on Sprout
• Barney & Friends at the Internet Movie Database

Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_%26_Friends