It was the University of Nebraska's Barney bashing event,” Avallone says. (Of course, Barney was only happy, as opposed to other kids shows that had different characters with varying emotions, like Oscar the Grouch.) Still, the juxtaposition makes for good TV. The older kids didn’t understand Barney or didn’t want to. Barney and Friends existed in a space that not even Electric Company and Sesame Street could claim - as those shows worked with children from preschool on up to grade school. Barney targeted two and three year olds and when kids got around four-years-old? They aged out. But those key, formational Gen X years were the same years that a new generation became the first in the nation to have a show geared specifically at them: pre-school children. Some went on to great fame, like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.īecause nothing exists in a vacuum, the series also examines the overall cultural movements of that time period, from the creation of the Jerry Springer Show and our addiction to those fights to the irony-popularity of Beavis and Butthead and our national embrace of Nirvana. Many of the kids who were in the film became like family. The web of Barney fellowship is clearly deep. “Lori? She's actually married to Dean Wendt, who is the other voice of Barney after Bob West left.” He really connected in a way with these kids that was unreal.”Īs for the wide reach of the interviews, like the Leach babysitter? And as weird as that might sound? It worked. And honestly, the way he talks about it, he was trying to bring up his energy and put it right through the television. What he was doing before Barney was all more about meditation, energy work and all that sort of stuff. He didn't really have business until later in life. “But the way he explained this! He never – he was never doing it as Barney. “Whatever the word sex is used, especially around a character like Barney, people get worried,” says Avallone. “Barney and sex don’t go together,” Joyner says in the series. In fact, he had to sign an NDA promising not to talk about his link to tantric practices while playing Barney. The documentary details that Joyner had always been a practitioner, and had disclosed that prior to being hired by Leach. In later years, media made a big deal out of Joyner being a tantric sex specialist. Joyner brought a physiucality to the role that mesmerized children in the live shows. Key interviews in the series include an interview with David Joyner, who was the second actor to play Barney after the first was conscripted by the Army. So, there was a natural relationship there, adds the director. It wrapped just about a month ago and was quickly sold to Peacock, which is owned by NBC Universal, which in early 2021 closed its own Barney’s World Showcase at Universal Studios. It was pitched in 2020 and filmed during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. And I was like, ‘Ah, maybe, maybe there's something here.’” And he told me he got a death threat from a nine year old on his email. “Barney came out early internet, right? Yeah. “I mean, one of the first people I spoke to was Bob West, the voice of Barney, and he was great,” says Avallone. This is normal for a good documentary, but what’s interesting here is that so many people were willing to come out and talk about the phenomenon of that purple dinosaur backlash. In fact, the director had so many interviews in the can - nearly 50 - that many of the interviews from folks later in the series or who were part of the traveling Barney show were unable to make the final cut. Or was it the family scandals, which came after showing how Barney creator Sheryl Leach’s husband discussed leaving his job to become a stay-at-home dad to a son - Patrick Leach - who grew up and eventually wound up serving jail time after shooting a neighbor in the chest.Įveryone from the actors who first portrayed Barney to Bill Nye the Science Guy to Al Roker to Springer producer Burt Dubrow to the Leach family babysitter were consulted and had plenty to say in Avallone’s series. In the documentary, the pianist for the show lovingly plays the song but also recoils from it. According to the documentary, some people assigned sexuality to the dinosaur and were angry that a T-rex was declawed and made “cute.” Was it the endless happy music? Perhaps. But was it the soft purple costume? Maybe.
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