A spring morning, 1992, in Everett,WA(although this TV program was being filmed from Houston,TX). A little Black child, almost 6 years old walks into the master bedroom. He flips the switch of the Hitachi television and turns it to PBS(most likely KCTS because this is the Seattle area). I remember this morning because when I flipped the channels, I saw this purple, plush, loving, cuddly dinosaur(but the TV made him look red). The name: Barney. I nice way to start off a laid back West Coast morning.
Wait a minute!! A dinosaur? Dinosaurs aren't suppose to be plush. Dinosaurs aren't suppose to be loving cuddly and monochromatically in the purple range. Dinosaurs are scary, violent, flesh-eating creatures. For crying out loud, the root word of dinosaur(from the Greek words deinos and sauros) means "terrible lizard". Dinosaurs are suppose to be scary, and even further, dinosaurs are suppose to be gone from this earth. Last time I checked, the dinosaurs that we're familiar with are long gone, leaving only their dusty bones.
Oh well, whatever. Barney is, in my opinion, one of the most iconic figures of a 90's childhood. He represented not just a television show, but a whole other world, a world where not much bad ever happened. It was a world with unconditional love, a place where everyone loved each other. It was a world where we kids learned about stuff ranging from safety, bugs, places all over the world, to airplanes, being healthy, and learning that we are all special in some way, form or talent. It was a safe place where we were kept from the worst of what existed out there. There are some who may call it indoctrination. I call it teaching great things. If it talked about the love of Jesus Christ, and taught more about what to do in the real world, it would be a great Christian children's show. Still, it had subtle ways of how to deal with the real world. Teaching children to care for the environment, to be nice to one another, to help people. It dealt with some real world things(not alot of controversial things though) in a way where kids could understand it and not be made cynical and angry, like some of use adults are now.
I will remember how he would sing(along with everyone else), the "I Love You" to the tune of "This Old Man". I remember one episode Lucy(in the season one episode "Hola Mexico") sang the song in Spanish.
One thing I loved about the show was being influenced to use your imagination. It sparked a certain creativeness. Many things you want to do, but don't have the resources to do it with. You just simply used your imagination when you were a child. It was how you learned. It was how I learned certain things.
Many of the episodes I will remember is "Hola Mexico", where Lucy gets a letter from her grandfather in Mexico, which was in Spanish. I remember getting exposed to beauty of the culture in Mexico and learning some new words and hearing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song in Spanish, as well as the "I Love You" song in Spanish. Other episodes I will remember is "Happy Birthday Barney", where Kathy can't find a gift to give to Barney, so she tries to give her teddy bear away. Kind of a sad, but touching moment. I learned the Tagalog word for Happy Birthday, which is Maligayang bati. I learned that from the character Min, who is of Filipino descent. The Splash Party episode was interesting, teaching kids to mind their manners, of all places, a splash party, where one would not expect to worry about manners. Oh well, gotta learn somewhere. I also remember the season where characters Tina and Derek left, but then came back for a return visit. They had both progressed to another grade level.
Currently, the show is on a hiatus. I haven't watched the show since I was 9 or 10. I don't remember much of the show after that. I didn't know until about 2 or 3 years ago that Selena Gomez had been on the show. I wouldn't have known anyway. It was 2002-2003. By then I was 16-17. I was watching alot of documentaries and a few sitcoms. My tastes had differed. Still, I look back on those days in the early 1990s and see an era of what I found to be quality television. It was something that could be appreciated because cynicism didn't exist.
Ironic that it has been named among the 50 worst shows ever. Well, not so ironic when you think about it. People will hate on Barney and Friends. I just remember the show for what it was back in the 1990's. I don't think I would recognize it much today because none of the originally characters are there now, all of them are probably in their late 20s to early 30s. They could come back for a 20th anniversary reunion. I say it would sound nice.
As much as this was a 90's thing for me, the original idea dates back to 1988 when it started as Barney and the Backyard. It was in Dallas,Texas by Sheryl Leach, who wanted to create an educational program that would appeal to her son. It was originally a Texas thing, but PBS found out and in 1992, Barney AND Friends was born. So it wasn't officially started in the 1990s, but Barney and Friends was definitely something of the 1990s.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/12/entertainment/main515057.shtml
Wait a minute!! A dinosaur? Dinosaurs aren't suppose to be plush. Dinosaurs aren't suppose to be loving cuddly and monochromatically in the purple range. Dinosaurs are scary, violent, flesh-eating creatures. For crying out loud, the root word of dinosaur(from the Greek words deinos and sauros) means "terrible lizard". Dinosaurs are suppose to be scary, and even further, dinosaurs are suppose to be gone from this earth. Last time I checked, the dinosaurs that we're familiar with are long gone, leaving only their dusty bones.
Oh well, whatever. Barney is, in my opinion, one of the most iconic figures of a 90's childhood. He represented not just a television show, but a whole other world, a world where not much bad ever happened. It was a world with unconditional love, a place where everyone loved each other. It was a world where we kids learned about stuff ranging from safety, bugs, places all over the world, to airplanes, being healthy, and learning that we are all special in some way, form or talent. It was a safe place where we were kept from the worst of what existed out there. There are some who may call it indoctrination. I call it teaching great things. If it talked about the love of Jesus Christ, and taught more about what to do in the real world, it would be a great Christian children's show. Still, it had subtle ways of how to deal with the real world. Teaching children to care for the environment, to be nice to one another, to help people. It dealt with some real world things(not alot of controversial things though) in a way where kids could understand it and not be made cynical and angry, like some of use adults are now.
I will remember how he would sing(along with everyone else), the "I Love You" to the tune of "This Old Man". I remember one episode Lucy(in the season one episode "Hola Mexico") sang the song in Spanish.
One thing I loved about the show was being influenced to use your imagination. It sparked a certain creativeness. Many things you want to do, but don't have the resources to do it with. You just simply used your imagination when you were a child. It was how you learned. It was how I learned certain things.
Many of the episodes I will remember is "Hola Mexico", where Lucy gets a letter from her grandfather in Mexico, which was in Spanish. I remember getting exposed to beauty of the culture in Mexico and learning some new words and hearing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song in Spanish, as well as the "I Love You" song in Spanish. Other episodes I will remember is "Happy Birthday Barney", where Kathy can't find a gift to give to Barney, so she tries to give her teddy bear away. Kind of a sad, but touching moment. I learned the Tagalog word for Happy Birthday, which is Maligayang bati. I learned that from the character Min, who is of Filipino descent. The Splash Party episode was interesting, teaching kids to mind their manners, of all places, a splash party, where one would not expect to worry about manners. Oh well, gotta learn somewhere. I also remember the season where characters Tina and Derek left, but then came back for a return visit. They had both progressed to another grade level.
Currently, the show is on a hiatus. I haven't watched the show since I was 9 or 10. I don't remember much of the show after that. I didn't know until about 2 or 3 years ago that Selena Gomez had been on the show. I wouldn't have known anyway. It was 2002-2003. By then I was 16-17. I was watching alot of documentaries and a few sitcoms. My tastes had differed. Still, I look back on those days in the early 1990s and see an era of what I found to be quality television. It was something that could be appreciated because cynicism didn't exist.
Ironic that it has been named among the 50 worst shows ever. Well, not so ironic when you think about it. People will hate on Barney and Friends. I just remember the show for what it was back in the 1990's. I don't think I would recognize it much today because none of the originally characters are there now, all of them are probably in their late 20s to early 30s. They could come back for a 20th anniversary reunion. I say it would sound nice.
As much as this was a 90's thing for me, the original idea dates back to 1988 when it started as Barney and the Backyard. It was in Dallas,Texas by Sheryl Leach, who wanted to create an educational program that would appeal to her son. It was originally a Texas thing, but PBS found out and in 1992, Barney AND Friends was born. So it wasn't officially started in the 1990s, but Barney and Friends was definitely something of the 1990s.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/12/entertainment/main515057.shtml
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