Barney (franchise)

Barney is an American media franchise targeted at children aged 2–5. Centering around the titular character Barney, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable and optimistic attitude,   the franchise consists of three series: Barney & the Backyard Gang (1988—1991), a direct-to-video series consisting of only eight episodes; Barney & Friends (1992—2010), a television series that ran on PBS Kids; and Barney's World (2024), an upcoming, fully computer-animated series to air on Cartoon Network's Cartoonito and to be streamed on Max. The franchise is currently distributed by 9 Story Media Group, under license from Mattel Television.

While popular with its intended audience, Barney drew severely negative reaction from the older set, who mocked the title character in popular culture through song parodies and comedy routines such as being beaten up by NBA star Charles Barkley on a Saturday Night Live episode. The anti-Barney phenomenon is the basis of the 2022 Peacock documentary I Love You, You Hate Me. Barney has also received immense praise from parents for being a wholesome yet engaging franchise for children that delves into common, kid-friendly topics.

Barney & the Backyard Gang
Barney & the Backyard Gang is an American direct-to-video series produced by The Lyons Group and released in periodic installments from August 29, 1988, to August 1, 1991. The series led to the launch of the children's television show, Barney & Friends, which aired on PBS Kids from April 6, 1992, to November 2, 2010. The first three episodes from 1988 and 1989 include Sandy Duncan as Michael and Amy's mother. (At the time, Duncan was starring on the NBC sitcom The Hogan Family.) Music for the Barney & the Backyard Gang videos was created by Stephen Bates Baltes and Phillip Parker (as with the television series), and Lory Lazarus wrote the first original song produced for Barney, "Friends Are Forever", sung by Duncan. In the first five videos, "I Love You" was sung at the beginning. Although "I Love You" was sung at the end of Barney Goes to School and Barney in Concert, and later frequently sung at the end of all episodes of Barney & Friends, it was not featured at the end of Rock with Barney. The series was a regional success, but only a moderate success throughout the rest of the country. Then one day, in 1991, Larry Rifkin, then head of Connecticut Public Television, rented a Barney video for his daughter Leora. He liked the concept and talked to Leach about possibly putting Barney on television through the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Rock with Barney was the last video in the series before the television show debuted a year later. Also, only four of the kids from the videos (Michael, Derek, Tina, and Luci) were carried over to the television show.

Barney & Friends
Barney & Friends ran on PBS Kids from April 6, 1992, to November 2, 2010 along reruns until 2014. Episodes from seasons 1 through 9 (as well as seasons 12-13) last for 30 minutes, while episodes from seasons 10-11 (as well as season 14) are split into 15-minute segments. Like the Barney & the Backyard Gang episodes Barney Goes to School and Barney in Concert, "I Love You" was sung at the end of all episodes of Barney & Friends, with the exception of the primary segments of Seasons 10-11 and 14, which end with the characters singing "A Friend Like You" instead and Barney remaining alive. Reruns aired on Sprout from 2005 to 2015, and from December 17, 2018, to January 25, 2020, on Sprout's successor network, Universal Kids.

I Love You, You Hate Me
A two-part documentary miniseries titled I Love You, You Hate Me, which centers on the anti-Barney phenomenon, was released on Peacock on October 12, 2022. It features interviews with various cast and crew of Barney & Friends and Barney & The Backyard Gang, alongside fans and critics of the Barney franchise, offering first-hand accounts of the Barney phenomenon. A trailer was released on September 28, 2022.

Barney's World
On February 13, 2023, Mattel announced that Barney would return as a computer-animated series, being co-produced by Mattel and the Canada-based studio Nelvana, with the deal also including the possibility of animated films and YouTube content to feature the character. The new series will be aiming for a 2024 delivery window. This was seen as part of a larger trend of Mattel successfully reviving franchises such as Monster High and Masters of the Universe, along with an overall development that included films based on its toys such as Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, and Major Matt Mason.

On May 9, 2023, the title of the series was revealed as Barney's World, which had been picked up for distribution by Warner Bros. Discovery, with it airing on Cartoon Network via Cartoonito and streaming on the new-rebranded Max.

Barney's Great Adventure
The first feature-length film, Barney's Great Adventure, follows Barney, along with three young children named Cody, Abby, and Marcella (played by Kyla Pratt), as they discover a magical egg in a barn. After learning that the egg is a dream maker, Barney and the gang must return the egg to the barn before it hatches. The film was written by Stephen White, directed by Steve Gomer, produced by Sheryl Leach and Lyrick Studios and released by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment on March 27, 1998, at Radio City Music Hall in New York, USA and worldwide on April 3, 1998, in the North America at the height of Barney's popularity. The film was shot in Quebec, CA. The film received negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, only grossing $12 million against a budget of $15 million. This was the third and last film to be produced by Lyrick Studios before it was acquired by and folded into HIT Entertainment on June 6, 2001. It is also the only theatrical Barney film (several years until the upcoming second production), as all other Barney films were just direct-to-video productions.

Cody, Abby, and Fig Newton, along with Abby's best friend Marcella Walker, are dropped off to the Newton's grandparents' farm in Upstate New York for a whole week during summer break. As Cody believes there's nothing exciting at the farm, Abby and Marcella rub a Barney doll in his face. Cody starts a game of "keep-away" by taking the Barney doll and running off with it. The two go after Cody, who hides the doll in the bathroom. The girls catch up with Cody, who tells them to use their imagination and laughs when he thinks that nothing happened. However, the doll comes to life as Barney takes the girls to play in the barn. Cody refuses to believe in Barney, and claims that real dinosaurs don't talk. That night after dinner, the whole family is outside the front porch where Cody further discusses how Barney was in their barn and was not just a little doll. Grandpa then sings "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" to Grandma before he goes back inside with her and Fig. Right on cue, Barney appears after Fig and their grandparents went back inside and they sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" before Abby and Marcella go back inside to play in the attic. Barney then gives Cody advice to wish upon a star. Cody takes his advice and wishes for a real adventure that summer and to do things no one else has done before. A shooting star deposits an egg in the barn, and Cody discovers it the next day. Barney and the kids go tell their grandparents about this, but Barney gets distracted when he hears Fig cry. Grandma suggests to Abby and Marcella that they go see Mrs. Goldfinch. Cody finds Barney in the baby room and takes him to see his grandparents, but Abby and Marcella take Cody and Barney to see Mrs. Goldfinch, who tells them that the egg is a dreammaker. Cody accidentally knocks the egg off the table which lands on a birdseed truck. Barney and the others recover it through a parade as the egg avoids being cracked by the people in the parade. Barney's friend B.J. catches it when it almost lands on the ground, but tosses it away. Barney and the gang chase the egg through a French restaurant where Barney sings "If All the Raindrops", a circus where Barney and the kids sing "We're Gonna Find a Way", and finally, they fly through the sky to continue their pursuit of it. However, they eventually make it back to the barn in time. All the while, Baby Bop is looking for her blanket and B.J. and Baby Bop arrive just in time to see the egg hatch. After they return the egg to the barn, it finally hatches into a koala-like being named Twinken who shows everyone Abby's dream, then Barney's. Cody apologizes to Barney for being mean and says that he's cool. Barney accepts his apology and tells Cody he thinks he's cool too and the two share a hug. Twinken shows everyone a magical fireworks display which lands in Barney's arms. Barney begins to sing "I Love You", and the rest of the cast sings with him. Baby Bop gets sleepy, which prompts B.J. to decide they are ready to go home. The film ends with Twinken sitting next to Barney who has reverted into his doll form.

Second Barney film
On October 18, 2019, Mattel Films announced that a second Barney film was to be produced. On July 2, 2023, it was announced that the Barney film from Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya would be aimed at adults and discuss the presumed disenchantment within the Millennial generation. An executive from Mattel said the adaptation would be "surrealistic" and similar to Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.

Video game
Barney's Hide & Seek Game is a video game that was released for the Sega Genesis on June 1, 1993, by Sega in North America and in 1993 by Tec Toy in South America. It was based on the children's television series Barney & Friends, and it is the first and only video game in the Barney franchise. Educational concepts taught in the game include counting, matching, and problem solving. There is a self-play feature that guides the player to the objective without input from the player. The voice of Barney was recorded by Bob West, who also did it on the television show. There are more than one hundred words and two hundred phrases spoken by Barney. In this game, the objective is to move Barney around four themed levels and locate five children and five presents that are hiding throughout the level. Should the player find all the children and presents in different levels, they would be rewarded with a "special surprise". During the surprise, the purple balloon pop and confetti and streamers fall from above onto excited children, as well as Barney and Baby Bop. Players cannot lose in the game, even if they did not retrieve all the objects and find all the missing children in the level.

Theme park attraction
A Day in the Park with Barney was a live children's show at Universal Studios Florida based on the children's television show, Barney & Friends, that opened in 1995 on the former site of The Bates Motel Set used in Psycho IV: The Beginning. It also had a "Barney's Backyard" playground area with a chance to meet Barney in a meet and greet session after the main show in the Barney Theater. It was one of the few places where Barney's original voice actor Bob West was heard and one of Universal Studios' attempts to appeal to the younger generation.

On March 16, 2020, due to the ongoing worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its spread to Florida, A Day in the Park with Barney had temporarily closed alongside the rest of the Universal Orlando Resort. It reopened during the resort's reopening in June 2020, but was closed again on August 9, 2020, which was temporary at the time. On February 3, 2021, Universal Orlando announced that the show was permanently closed, effective that day with attendance declining over the years. The entire Barney courtyard was removed of its theming and the indoor theater and stage was repurposed to DreamWorks Destination, an indoor meet-and-greet with characters from DreamWorks Animation franchises, such as Po from Kung Fu Panda, Princess Poppy from Trolls, King Julien from Madagascar, among others from each franchise.