Barney And Friends: How PBS Shaped The Purple Dinosaur?
“Medium is the message”
Barney & Friends: How PBS shaped the purple dinosaur?
Presented By:
Bavley Farid
Ahmed Mortada
Adnan AbuSalem
Mahmoud Zidane
Advised By:
Dr. Sreya Mitra
Introduction
The “Medium is the message” is a phrase by Marshall McLuhan. It means that the medium on which the message is delivered directly affects the message creating a symbiotic relationship between them. The creator of the hit TV show Barney and friends, Sheryl Leach, came with the idea of the show to teach important ideologies to her son. She used dance and songs to portray important messages her son would appeal to. Connecticut Public Television executive Larry Rifkin thought that Barney would be perfect for development on PBS. PBS is mainly concerned …show more content…
with educational themes for most of their shows. Barney and friends was aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Bearing in mind that PBS is a non-commercial as well as non-profit broadcasting distributor; the initial funding of the show only included its first season.
Parents were encouraged to send letters to local PBS stations to maintain the show on its channels. Unlike shows on commercial broadcasters, the sole purpose is profit, and if a show is not achieving targeted values, the show is immediately cancelled regardless of its fan base.
The Medium: Non-Commercial Broadcast
Public Broadcast Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor. It was founded at 1970 by Hartford N. Gunn Jr. It is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is an independently non-profit operated organization. Moreover, it's the most prominent provider of television programs to public television stations in the United States. Although, PBS is not responsible for all …show more content…
programming carried on public television stations but in the mid-2000s PBS have consistently placed the service as the most-trusted national institution in the United States. PBS has more than 350 member television stations, mostly owned by educational or non-profit institutions or groups that belong to a local public school district. PBS is not considered as a network but as a program distributor that provides television content and related services to its member stations. Each station is charged with the responsibility of programming local content such as news, interviews, and public affairs programs for their individual market that supplements content provided by PBS and other public television distributors. PBS member stations pay fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization. By this relationship, PBS member stations have greater latitude in local scheduling than their commercial broadcasting counterparts. Scheduling of PBS-distributed series may vary greatly depending on the market. This can be a source of tension since stations seek to preserve their localism, and PBS strives to market a consistent national lineup. However, PBS has a policy of "common carriage," which requires most stations to clear the national prime time programs on a common programming schedule to market them nationally more effectively.
Participating stations
Most PBS member stations have produced at least some nationally distributed programs. Current regularly scheduled programming on the PBS national feed is produced by a smaller group of stations, including:
• WGBH-TV (Arthur, NOVA, Masterpiece, Frontline, etc.)
• WNET (Charlie Rose, Nature, PBS NewsHour, etc.)
• WETA-TV (PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, etc.)
• WMPT (MotorWeek)
• KLRU (Austin City Limits)
• Oregon Public Broadcasting (History Detectives)
Since PBS is affiliated with non-profit organizations, funding comes from subsidiaries, making censorship a major issue before broadcasting shows. This makes the content of the shows an important aspect while choosing the shows aired by PBS’s member stations.
The Message: Barney and Friends
Barney and friends is an educational American Television show created by Sheryl leach and it targets children from ages 1 to 8. The show, which was originally aired on April 6th in 1992, gives the center stage to the main character Barney a purple T-Rex played by josh martin (Barney’s suit) and Dean Wendt (Barney’s voice). Barney portrayed educational messages and conveyed them through songs and simple dances throughout all of the episodes of the show. The show’s content involved songs, adventures, stories, games, friends, and many other activities that make each episode rich with fun and educational plots. There are a total of 13 aired seasons to date, starting from 1992 till 2009. All the episodes of the show have a fixed format that is strictly followed which includes Opening sequence, main sequence and closing sequence.
1. Opening sequence
The episode begins with the theme song of the series played over several different clips from various episodes. The title of the episode appears on a small T.V. and then it dissolves. As the show begins the children are seen engaged in an activity, usually related to the title of the episode. The children then go into a state where they imagine incidences and all of a sudden the real Barney appears from a small doll.
2. Main sequence
The main plot of the episode occurs here where Barney and the children along with several other characters such as baby bop, B.J. and riff learn about the main topic of the episode. 3. Closing sequence
Here the episode is concluded by Barney’s famous song “I Love you” followed by him dissolving back into the stuffed doll form and he winks at the audience. Occasionally, the children are seen discussing what they have learnt but usually the episodes ends with some snapshots from the episode with Barney in the background narrating what he and his friends have learnt for the day.
Ever since 1992 every episode of Barney and friends had an educational theme.
It is simply a school portrayed in a Television series frame. The different topics discussed in this show are very basic due to the fact that the show is meant for children of ages 1 to 8. The education presented in the show varies, with every episode, which has its own theme that highlights one or multiple concepts. These concepts vary, and include learning how to count, making friends, identification of colors and shaping, and other elementary yet fundamental lessons that children should know. Others include social skills, good manners, cooperation, problem-solving, and language development. Barney then plays, sings, and recites poems and other activities in order to teach young children, with these educational concepts. This is what made Barney and Friends perfect for
PBS.
For example, in an Episode called “Eat, Drink and be healthy” Barney teaches the children the different food types and the importance of each one and also how food is important to human body. Another Episode titled “Caring Means Sharing” 2 of the children in the cast called Cathy and min argue about whose turn it is to play with the stuffed Barney doll, and then Barney appears and starts teaching them about sharing with others. Barney also taught children about Alphabets using a very interesting technique in the episode called “Alphabet soup”. During the episode, Cathy and Min need to learn how to read and to do so another child called Derek thinks of a mystery word and he begins to write it one letter at a time. As Derek does so, Barney and the other children start doing activities and singing different songs using each letter written by Derek.
Airing times of the show
The timings of which Barney and Friends show was aired, varies with the countries it is aired in, but the show is typically aired at afternoon times (12-2pm). The time when preschoolers are back from school.
Global Airing
There were other co-productions shot around the world. One was shot in South Korea airing on Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), another non commercial broadcast. On KBS they adapted the show with new kids rather than dubbing the original episodes. This indicates the importance of Barney and Friends as an educational treasure to kids worldwide thus preserving it.
Anti Barney Humor
Many individuals thought Barney was boring and non-educational. The show became affiliated with many satiric jokes including a famous Nike Commercial by Charles Barkley showing a faceoff between Godzilla and the purple dinosaur. The show also becam affiliated with many cocaine incidents were individuals would hide drugs in Barney shaped dolls, slowly decreasing the reputation of the show even if there was no direct contribution from the show itself. These could be the possible reason behind the cancellation of the show from the PBS Network. It no longer served its educational purpose, but rather became a suspicious figure.
Educational Shows on other Networks VS Barney
There are other educational shows on networks other than PBS. The following examples discuss how the medium altered kids’ shows from one network to the other.
1. Schoolhouse Rock! (ABC)
The show began as a commercial advertising venture by the Madison Avenue advertising agency. The idea started as a way to help kids understand mathematics, grammar, science, history and civics through music, after noticing that kids could easily memorize rock music lyrics. Barney and Schoolhouse Rock! Share the same theme of teaching kids through music. Morals and manners were only discussed over the non commercial broadcast of PBS on Barney and Friends. While Barney tackled moral and educational messages, Schoolhouse Rock! tackled the child’s intellect. On PBS, a fully dedicated medium for education, Barney was allowed a total of 30 minutes of running time, but Schoolhouse Rock! on abc was only allowed 3 minutes of air time.
2. Beakman’s World (CBS)
The program starred an eccentric scientist who would perform comical yet educational experiments about electricity, density, flatulence and others. The show was originally aired on The Learning Channel (TLC) a cable network in national syndication. In its beginning TLC primarily focused on reality-style series, not a typical children themed medium. The show was later moved to Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). On CBS the show was allowed an airing time of 22 minutes very much similar to 30 minutes offered to Barney on PBS. However, Barney appealed to the softer nature of kids, educating them through song and dance. CBS, a profit oriented organization, needed to grab as much audience as they can. Being a comical and entertaining didn’t only attract the younger kids, it also attracted teenagers making it a family show.
3. Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego (FOX Kids)
The show’s basic premise had the ACME Detective Agency trying to stop the thief, Carmen, and her gang. The show followed the detectives trying to find clues to find which earth Carmen is in. The script for every episode had to be approved by Broderbund Software, the creators of the video game. Their concern was the excessive use of violence in kids’ shows such as X-Men and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The differences between this show and Barney and Friends are very clear. The quality of educational material is very minimal in the FOX Kids shows since it is a profit oriented organization seeking a larger audience.
Barney & Friends: How PBS shaped the purple dinosaur?
Presented By:
Bavley Farid
Ahmed Mortada
Adnan AbuSalem
Mahmoud Zidane
Advised By:
Dr. Sreya Mitra
Introduction
The “Medium is the message” is a phrase by Marshall McLuhan. It means that the medium on which the message is delivered directly affects the message creating a symbiotic relationship between them. The creator of the hit TV show Barney and friends, Sheryl Leach, came with the idea of the show to teach important ideologies to her son. She used dance and songs to portray important messages her son would appeal to. Connecticut Public Television executive Larry Rifkin thought that Barney would be perfect for development on PBS. PBS is mainly concerned …show more content…
with educational themes for most of their shows. Barney and friends was aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Bearing in mind that PBS is a non-commercial as well as non-profit broadcasting distributor; the initial funding of the show only included its first season.
Parents were encouraged to send letters to local PBS stations to maintain the show on its channels. Unlike shows on commercial broadcasters, the sole purpose is profit, and if a show is not achieving targeted values, the show is immediately cancelled regardless of its fan base.
The Medium: Non-Commercial Broadcast
Public Broadcast Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor. It was founded at 1970 by Hartford N. Gunn Jr. It is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is an independently non-profit operated organization. Moreover, it's the most prominent provider of television programs to public television stations in the United States. Although, PBS is not responsible for all …show more content…
programming carried on public television stations but in the mid-2000s PBS have consistently placed the service as the most-trusted national institution in the United States. PBS has more than 350 member television stations, mostly owned by educational or non-profit institutions or groups that belong to a local public school district. PBS is not considered as a network but as a program distributor that provides television content and related services to its member stations. Each station is charged with the responsibility of programming local content such as news, interviews, and public affairs programs for their individual market that supplements content provided by PBS and other public television distributors. PBS member stations pay fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization. By this relationship, PBS member stations have greater latitude in local scheduling than their commercial broadcasting counterparts. Scheduling of PBS-distributed series may vary greatly depending on the market. This can be a source of tension since stations seek to preserve their localism, and PBS strives to market a consistent national lineup. However, PBS has a policy of "common carriage," which requires most stations to clear the national prime time programs on a common programming schedule to market them nationally more effectively.
Participating stations
Most PBS member stations have produced at least some nationally distributed programs. Current regularly scheduled programming on the PBS national feed is produced by a smaller group of stations, including:
• WGBH-TV (Arthur, NOVA, Masterpiece, Frontline, etc.)
• WNET (Charlie Rose, Nature, PBS NewsHour, etc.)
• WETA-TV (PBS NewsHour, Washington Week, etc.)
• WMPT (MotorWeek)
• KLRU (Austin City Limits)
• Oregon Public Broadcasting (History Detectives)
Since PBS is affiliated with non-profit organizations, funding comes from subsidiaries, making censorship a major issue before broadcasting shows. This makes the content of the shows an important aspect while choosing the shows aired by PBS’s member stations.
The Message: Barney and Friends
Barney and friends is an educational American Television show created by Sheryl leach and it targets children from ages 1 to 8. The show, which was originally aired on April 6th in 1992, gives the center stage to the main character Barney a purple T-Rex played by josh martin (Barney’s suit) and Dean Wendt (Barney’s voice). Barney portrayed educational messages and conveyed them through songs and simple dances throughout all of the episodes of the show. The show’s content involved songs, adventures, stories, games, friends, and many other activities that make each episode rich with fun and educational plots. There are a total of 13 aired seasons to date, starting from 1992 till 2009. All the episodes of the show have a fixed format that is strictly followed which includes Opening sequence, main sequence and closing sequence.
1. Opening sequence
The episode begins with the theme song of the series played over several different clips from various episodes. The title of the episode appears on a small T.V. and then it dissolves. As the show begins the children are seen engaged in an activity, usually related to the title of the episode. The children then go into a state where they imagine incidences and all of a sudden the real Barney appears from a small doll.
2. Main sequence
The main plot of the episode occurs here where Barney and the children along with several other characters such as baby bop, B.J. and riff learn about the main topic of the episode. 3. Closing sequence
Here the episode is concluded by Barney’s famous song “I Love you” followed by him dissolving back into the stuffed doll form and he winks at the audience. Occasionally, the children are seen discussing what they have learnt but usually the episodes ends with some snapshots from the episode with Barney in the background narrating what he and his friends have learnt for the day.
Ever since 1992 every episode of Barney and friends had an educational theme.
It is simply a school portrayed in a Television series frame. The different topics discussed in this show are very basic due to the fact that the show is meant for children of ages 1 to 8. The education presented in the show varies, with every episode, which has its own theme that highlights one or multiple concepts. These concepts vary, and include learning how to count, making friends, identification of colors and shaping, and other elementary yet fundamental lessons that children should know. Others include social skills, good manners, cooperation, problem-solving, and language development. Barney then plays, sings, and recites poems and other activities in order to teach young children, with these educational concepts. This is what made Barney and Friends perfect for
PBS.
For example, in an Episode called “Eat, Drink and be healthy” Barney teaches the children the different food types and the importance of each one and also how food is important to human body. Another Episode titled “Caring Means Sharing” 2 of the children in the cast called Cathy and min argue about whose turn it is to play with the stuffed Barney doll, and then Barney appears and starts teaching them about sharing with others. Barney also taught children about Alphabets using a very interesting technique in the episode called “Alphabet soup”. During the episode, Cathy and Min need to learn how to read and to do so another child called Derek thinks of a mystery word and he begins to write it one letter at a time. As Derek does so, Barney and the other children start doing activities and singing different songs using each letter written by Derek.
Airing times of the show
The timings of which Barney and Friends show was aired, varies with the countries it is aired in, but the show is typically aired at afternoon times (12-2pm). The time when preschoolers are back from school.
Global Airing
There were other co-productions shot around the world. One was shot in South Korea airing on Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), another non commercial broadcast. On KBS they adapted the show with new kids rather than dubbing the original episodes. This indicates the importance of Barney and Friends as an educational treasure to kids worldwide thus preserving it.
Anti Barney Humor
Many individuals thought Barney was boring and non-educational. The show became affiliated with many satiric jokes including a famous Nike Commercial by Charles Barkley showing a faceoff between Godzilla and the purple dinosaur. The show also becam affiliated with many cocaine incidents were individuals would hide drugs in Barney shaped dolls, slowly decreasing the reputation of the show even if there was no direct contribution from the show itself. These could be the possible reason behind the cancellation of the show from the PBS Network. It no longer served its educational purpose, but rather became a suspicious figure.
Educational Shows on other Networks VS Barney
There are other educational shows on networks other than PBS. The following examples discuss how the medium altered kids’ shows from one network to the other.
1. Schoolhouse Rock! (ABC)
The show began as a commercial advertising venture by the Madison Avenue advertising agency. The idea started as a way to help kids understand mathematics, grammar, science, history and civics through music, after noticing that kids could easily memorize rock music lyrics. Barney and Schoolhouse Rock! Share the same theme of teaching kids through music. Morals and manners were only discussed over the non commercial broadcast of PBS on Barney and Friends. While Barney tackled moral and educational messages, Schoolhouse Rock! tackled the child’s intellect. On PBS, a fully dedicated medium for education, Barney was allowed a total of 30 minutes of running time, but Schoolhouse Rock! on abc was only allowed 3 minutes of air time.
2. Beakman’s World (CBS)
The program starred an eccentric scientist who would perform comical yet educational experiments about electricity, density, flatulence and others. The show was originally aired on The Learning Channel (TLC) a cable network in national syndication. In its beginning TLC primarily focused on reality-style series, not a typical children themed medium. The show was later moved to Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). On CBS the show was allowed an airing time of 22 minutes very much similar to 30 minutes offered to Barney on PBS. However, Barney appealed to the softer nature of kids, educating them through song and dance. CBS, a profit oriented organization, needed to grab as much audience as they can. Being a comical and entertaining didn’t only attract the younger kids, it also attracted teenagers making it a family show.
3. Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego (FOX Kids)
The show’s basic premise had the ACME Detective Agency trying to stop the thief, Carmen, and her gang. The show followed the detectives trying to find clues to find which earth Carmen is in. The script for every episode had to be approved by Broderbund Software, the creators of the video game. Their concern was the excessive use of violence in kids’ shows such as X-Men and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The differences between this show and Barney and Friends are very clear. The quality of educational material is very minimal in the FOX Kids shows since it is a profit oriented organization seeking a larger audience.