Barney & Friends

Barney & Friends is a children's television show produced in the United States, mainly aimed at preschoolers, starring a large purple dinosaur named Barney.

Criticism and Anti-Barney humor

:See also Anti-Barney Humor

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The show has been criticized as excessively sappy and optimistic; song lyrics such as "With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you/Won't you say you love me too?", as well as the often overexaggerated delivery of its young actors, have sometimes made it the target of parody. Soon after the show debuted, vicious editorial cartoons and song parodies showing Barney getting killed appeared. Most of them were made up by children; one of the most popular is "I Hate You", which is still a favorite at elementary schools everywhere. Barney has also been parodied in many older children's cartoons or in adult animation. For example, there is a Barney look-alike in The Simpsons season 9 episode "The Joy of Sect", and there is an Animaniacs episode that features a orange dinosaur similar to Barney, named Baloney, who is shown getting physically abused. Additional criticism was lobbed at the educational value of the content. Critics have contended that Barney was not intended to teach anything, but instead to sell merchandise and openly encouraged parents to use the program as a "babysitter" for their children, a criticism that would be repeated years later over programs such as Teletubbies. Despite this criticism and ridicule, the show is still one of the most popular television shows among young children.

Related Topics:
Parody - The Simpsons - Animaniacs - Teletubbies - Television shows

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