The first Barney home videos were released in 1988. Leach organized a sales team (dubbed “Mom Blitzers”) to sell the videos to toy and video stores across the country. In 1991, a Barney video was rented from a Connecticut video store for four-year-old Leora Rifkin, the daughter of Larry Rifkin. Rifkin happened to be the executive vice president of programming for Connecticut Public Television. Rifkin’s daughter’s enchantment with the video led to a phone call to Leach inviting her to put Barney on public television.
Friends features Barney’s friend Baby Bop, her big brother BJ, and a culturally diverse cast of children who have fun learning about friendship, sharing, cooperation, respect for others, good manners, self-esteem, and good health and safety habits. At the conclusion of each episode, Barney reviews and summarizes the episode’s educational concepts. According to Educational Research & Development Director, May Ann Dudko, Ph.D., “Each Barney episode emphasizes language and cognitive development, physical activity and social interaction.” Dudko adds, “Interesting, meaningful, and relevant topics are selected to present educational concepts appropriate for, and eagerly embraced by, the target group of children ages two to five.” The educational value of Barney & Friends has been documented by a Yale study that revealed as many as 150 teaching moments per episode. The Yale study concluded by describing Barney & Friends as, “nearly a model of what a preschool program should be.”
Barney & Friends is produced and owned by Lyric Studios, a U.S. based entertainment company that distributes television shows, movies, home videos, DVDs, CDs, cassettes, book and toys. On February 9, 2001, Lyrick Studios announced that it was merging with HIT Entertainment, one of the global leaders in children’s entertainment, based in the United Kingdom.
