Barney

All four of my children watched this show during their preschooler years. I have a two-year-old who watches every day and owns a couple of videos.

This show is about using your imagination. It teaches musical skills. It teaches the alphabet, numbers, memorization, and good behavioral techniques. When the show originally aired it was all imagination. Barney was a stuffed toy owned by a girl named Tina who imagined she was back at school playing with her friends and classroom toys. Now it has evolved to a treehouse in the center of a park and the focus is friendship. Thanks to everything decent this show has to offer, my kids have grown up more intelligent and they are not afraid to show off their knowledge and talents.

Bottom line - my kids are happier because of Barney being a part of their lives. That makes this show TOPS in my book!

"Barney and Friends," the notoriously stupid kids' show about a big cuddly purple dinosaur who makes kids use their imaginations, has been the brunt of so many jokes since it started airing (my favorite spoof of it was Animaniacs' "Baloney & Kids," in which Baloney, the numbskull orange dinosaur, is taunted and has anvils dropped on his head). There are too many things wrong with this show for me to discuss here, so I'll just say my favorite ones:

(1) All the kids look like they are (and they probably are) preteens and teenagers, and this dopey purple idiot is teaching them things like the alphabet, counting, colors, shapes, and everything else every 5-year-old should know. If this were real life, the kids (or, should I say, teens) would throw stuff at Barney and laugh, instead of sitting in awe while he teaches them the difference between indoor and outdoor voices.

(2) I know that using one's imagination is important, but here, Barney needs to tell them to imagine. It's as if they can't imagine so much as a rock without saying, with Barney's instruction, the magic words "Shimberee, shimberah, shimberee, shimbeRAAAAHHHH!"

(3) The show's methods of teaching lessons to the 2-to-5-year-old crowd are really lame. The dialogue is so banal that I can't see how even the cast members believe any of this junk. And the lines are not unintentionally hilarious enough to inspire a chuckle in a cynic like me. Except for one notable exception, the "5 Senses" episode, which contained lines such as the following (all said in amazed tone of voice):

"This rock is smooth...but it's hard!"

(banging on sand) "This sand is hard. (picking it up) But now it feels soft. (rubbing it in hands) But now it feels scratchy!"

(surprised/delighted even beyond usual "Barney" standard) "This chair is hard!!!! But the cushion is soft!!!!!!!!"

So if you want a good educational show for your kids, turn on "Sesame Street" or "Mr. Rogers." They are much better than this baloney.

I have been watching this since my 9 year old nephew was just a year old. Over the years, and now that my own children watch it, I see it differently. My son really remembers the things that Barney and Friends teaches and I am thankful. It's almost like Barney confirms the things I teach my son and they seem to sink in better (say manners). I have noticed that even at my age, I have favorite characters and can see the obvious difference between the original shows when it was The Backyard gang, and the new shows. Since this is meant for kids and it really gets down there with kids, it seems that parents and other grown ups who find it annoying, should just leave the room. I personally didn't start liking the show until I sat down with my nephew and watched it with him, singing and dancing with him. He had so much fun seeing me do what they were doing! Yay for Barney!

I have to admit that I do not like Barney. BUT, everyone who has commented, remember that the show is aimed at PRESCHOOLERS, not you! My son is 3 years old and loves it. This show encourages his love of music and singing. It has helped him learn how to use his imagination. The songs and characters might drive me nuts sometimes but I cannot fault a show that encourages imagination. I have to admit as much as the song "I love you" used to drive me nuts, I love the fact that every time my son sings it/hears it, "With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you", he runs over to wherever I am and hugs and kisses me like the song says. It encourages children to care about one another. (To those of you who keep saying it is mind numbing and restricting--WATCH IT WITH A PRESCHOOLER! See what they get out of it). I should say that Sesame Street is still my all-time favorite kids show, but don't knock the show unless you have a pre-schooler and have watched it with them.

Now, the first thing I should tell the readers - I'm on the autism spectrum so it's okay for me to sometimes watch kids shows when I'm 21 and childless. That will help you refrain from yelling at your device screen that I must be out of my mind (or at least I hope it will). A few years ago my sister's children were watching a recent episode of Barney, and my reaction was like that of many people: "God this is so DUMB." But I fondly remember watching Barney as a child, and even on my eighth birthday there was a miniature Barney toy in/on the cake, and I got a BJ doll that year too:) But I eventually grew up just like everyone does and by the time my sister's tots were around my enjoyment of Barney was years behind me. But a little while ago I found some 1995 episodes on YouTube, and yesterday when I watched one of them, instantly I felt like the 4-year-old I was at that time, a very pleasant nostalgic feeling indeed. I'm going to watch that episode again now. I give this show a 6 out of 10 because the newer episodes don't compare to the ones I watched when I was young...Goodbye now.