A lot of us probably remember watching Barney & Friends on PBS when we were kids. But what I never understood is how PBS used to stop airing episodes/seasons of the show once they're more than a few years old. The seasons of Barney & Friends are as follows:
- Season 1 (30 episodes, 1992)
- Season 2 (18 episodes, 1993)
- Season 3 (20 episodes, 1995)
- Season 4 (20 episodes, 1997)
- Season 5 (20 episodes, 1998)
- Season 6 (20 episodes, 1999-2000)
- Season 7 (20 episodes, 2002)
- Season 8 (20 episodes, 2003-2004)
- Season 9 (20 episodes, 2004-2005)
- Season 10 (20 episodes, 2006)
- Season 11 (20 episodes, 2007)
- Season 12 (10 episodes, 2008)
- Season 13 (10 episodes, 2009)
- Season 14 (20 episodes, 2010)
Now, here's what I mean:
- When Season 4 started airing in 1997, PBS removed 15 episodes of Season 1 and 5 episodes of Season 2 from the broadcast schedule rotation.
- When Season 5 started airing in 1998, PBS removed another 15 episodes of Season 1 and 5 episodes of Season 2 from the broadcast schedule rotation.
- When Season 6 started airing in 1999, PBS removed the entirety of the remaining 28 Season 2-3 episodes from the broadcast schedule rotation.
- When Season 8 started airing in 2003, PBS removed the entirety of Seasons 4-6 from the broadcast schedule rotation.
- When Season 12 started airing in 2008, PBS removed the entirety of Seasons 7-9 from the broadcast schedule rotation.
Why do you think PBS kept removing episodes like that? Why not just have the entire series airing reruns on rotation, like they do with SpongeBob or The Simpsons?
Even when they started airing old Seasons 4-6 episodes on PBS Kids Sprout in 2005, and later old Seasons 1-3 episodes in 2007, not all episodes were featured, and those that were ended up being removed from reruns once again in 2011. What is it about 1990s Barney & Friends that makes them not want to show it today?
I (18M) legitimately don't understand what was so annoying about Barney & Friends. The kids could have made an effort to sound more genuine with how they talked, but it's all right for 2-6 year olds.
I used to watch it when I was a kid and it's still holds a lot of nostalgic value for me. My parents never held any content for it. In fact, they'd often watch it with me (willingly).
Besides, the only place you would find the actual show is either on PBS Kids, or those DVD/VHS movies they made. I don't think seeing advertisements/merchandise everywhere should really be a reason to be annoyed.
Maybe I’m biased because I loved Barney so much as a toddler and therefore have a soft spot for it. Because of that and how happy the show made me as a child, it makes me pretty sad that people call him creepy, scary, stupid, etc. I watched Caillou as a child too, but unlike Barney, I do get why people can’t stand him. But Barney? I don’t think I’ll ever understand why people don’t like him. I wanted to be his best friend when I was little. Sorry if this all sounds really stupid lol.
Barney & Friends was a 26-minute TV show aimed at kids ages 1-8 that aired on PBS Kids. It was produced by Hit Entertainment, a very famous children's studio.
Since Barney & Friends was on PBS, it didn't earn any advertising revenue for Hit Entertainment, nor did PBS have to pay for the airing rights to the show. That's what happens when a show is on free, public TV.
However, Barney also had a series of 52-minute straight-to-DVD movies that would usually cost around $10.99 to buy in retail stores and would almost never be aired on TV.
Hit Entertainment produced these movies and sold them to people for money, meaning that they were earning a profit from them. Unlike Sesame Workshop, they're not a non-profit. They're a for-profit business.
So essentially, their business model was to produce the Barney & Friends TV show and air it for free on PBS Kids as a form of free advertising. Then after a bunch of kids see the show, produce a Barney movie and release it on DVD, generating a profit from sales.
Somewhere around my third rewatch and this feeling has never been stronger. I really don't like them together at all. Ted & Robin broke up, and that should have been it. Realistically dating your best friend's ex is weird but in the sitcom world are looking over that, but knowing how the show ends I just wish they would have never dated in the first place. I never saw much chemistry between them, I liked them as friends before when she was his wingwoman and they enjoyed laser tag together. Their relationship sucks, ugh it's come to a point the whole show might be ruined for me
He may act like a Dick, but i Always helping everyone. Like how he paid for Lillys and Marshals honeymoon. He knew what he was doing. He knew they would't Accept the money. He found reason too. He got Them back together overall. Like My 15th watch through. Only seeing that for real now.
Barney started out in a series of 8 straight-to-video movies called Barney & The Backyard Gang released from 1988 to 1991. But those didn't really take off outside of Dallas, Texas, the place where Barney is produced. Disney Channel did air them from 1990 to 1992, but back then they were still a premium cable channel (like HBO) that a lot of homes simply didn't have.
It just so happened by chance that a producer at CPTV, a PBS station in Connecticut, rented one of these movies for his daughter and liked it so much that he approached the producers and PBS about making a half-hour Barney & Friends TV show, which premiered in 1992.
Originally, PBS only ordered 30 episodes and cancelled the show after the first season, feeling that they had enough episodes to rerun consistently. However, the stations were all pissed that they were losing a show that was becoming so popular, and a fundraiser was held to save the show. Barney & Friendswas later renewed for a second season of 18 episodes, which aired in 1993, and the rest is history. Barney & Friends would go on to have another 200 episodes aired across 11 seasons. lasting until 2009.
Straight-to-video movies were also still produced, usually being the length of two TV episodes and featuring additional characters and settings. The last of these was released in 2014.
From there, Barney's popularity, and hatred, grew exponentially. There were just as many people over the age of 5 destroying Barney toys, parodying him on TV, and making up malicious songs about him as there were kids under the age of 5 who were watching his show on PBS, buying his toys and straight-to-video movies, and attending his live shows.
Why was there such a huge vendetta against this character?
I'm sure no one really cares all that much about this, but Barney was a big part of my early childhood, and looking back at it now it's easy to see how this was the case.
Barney & Friends was a 26-minute TV show aimed at kids ages 1-8 that aired on PBS Kids. It was produced by Hit Entertainment, a very famous children's studio.
Since Barney & Friends was on PBS, it didn't earn any advertising revenue for Hit Entertainment, nor did PBS have to pay for the airing rights to the show. That's what happens when a show is on free, public TV.
However, Barney also had a series of 52-minute straight-to-DVD movies that would usually cost around $10.99 to buy in retail stores and would almost never be aired on TV.
Hit Entertainment produced these movies and sold them to people for money, meaning that they were earning a profit from them. Unlike Sesame Workshop, they're not a non-profit. They're a for-profit business.
So essentially, their business model was to produce the Barney & Friends TV show and air it for free on PBS Kids as a form of free advertising. Then after a bunch of kids see the show, produce a Barney movie and release it on DVD, generating a profit from sales.
Barney & Friends was a 26-minute TV show aimed at kids ages 1-8 that aired on PBS Kids. It was produced by Hit Entertainment, a very famous children's studio.
Since Barney & Friends was on PBS, it didn't earn any advertising revenue for Hit Entertainment, nor did PBS have to pay for the airing rights to the show. That's what happens when a show is on free, public TV.
However, Barney also had a series of 52-minute straight-to-DVD movies that would usually cost around $10.99 to buy in retail stores and would almost never be aired on TV.
Hit Entertainment produced these movies and sold them to people for money, meaning that they were earning a profit from them. Unlike Sesame Workshop, they're not a non-profit. They're a for-profit business.
So essentially, their business model was to produce the Barney & Friends TV show and air it for free on PBS Kids as a form of free advertising. Then after a bunch of kids see the show, produce a Barney movie and release it on DVD, generating a profit from sales.
