Leah Gloria

A thought-provoking exploration of the spectacular rise and fall of Barney the Dinosaur’s furious backlash — and what it says about the human need to hate. From Barney-bashing to frat parties to homicidal video games, something in American society broke into a million pieces, and it’s never been put together again… or is this just who we were all along?

Barney & Friends is an American children's television series aimed at children from ages 2 to 5. The series, which first aired on April 6, 1992, features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, optimistic attitude.

Barney and the Backyard Gang is a direct-to-video series produced by The Lyons Group and was produced from October 13, 1988 to October 20, 1991. This series launched the stardom of the PBS television show Barney & Friends. Music for the Barney and the Backyard Gang videos was created by Stephen Bates Baltes and Phillip Parker. 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. Rock with Barney was the last video in the series before the television show debuted. Also, only four of the kids from the videos (Michael, Luci, Tina and Derek) were carried over to the television show.