Word: barney
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...reason that we hate Barney isn't that he spends all his ill-gotten PBS gains on crack whores and heroin. It's because he's freakin' annoying. Although I have to admit, it was delightful to see the word "peccadilloes" in print. --Josiah J. Madigan...
...minutes of peace, so it would be nice if there were shows that actually did small children some good. Under these circumstances, a parent might even regard TV as something positive rather than as a form of sedation. But are there such shows? And are any of them not Barney...
Parents can take heart: the amount of programming for preschoolers has exploded, and much of it is both entertaining and beneficial. The old standbys--Mister Rogers, Sesame Street and Barney--remain, but dozens of other shows are now on the air or are scheduled to appear in the coming months. On the Disney Channel, there is Bear in the Big Blue House, which features a 7-ft. bear and his puppet friends; the WB network is showing Channel Umptee-3, a cartoon that Norman Lear is helping produce; a new Captain Kangaroo is in syndication; Nickelodeon schedules five hours...
...that stage of life; and, finally, producers have discovered that a preschool show can make a lot of money. "The success of some preschool shows in driving licensing and product sales is extraordinary," says Marjorie Kaplan, who oversees children's programming at the Discovery Networks. "When something like Barney comes along, it changes what the world can expect from preschool success. People tend to fish where the fish are." The creators of Barney caught a lot of fish: he has sold 44 million videos, 34 million books and countless Barney and Baby Bop plush toys...
Blue's Clues does meet Anderson's criteria (he was a consultant). Shown on Nickelodeon, it is the highest-rated show for preschoolers on commercial television; among all shows for the age group, it comes in third behind Barney and Arthur, a cartoon about an aardvark that was developed mainly for older children. Blue's Clues has a rigid structure: in each episode, a young man named Steve (played by Steven Burns, who could not be more likable) tries to figure out the answer to a question. Blue, his animated pet dog, provides clues by putting his paw print...