TVLine Items: Barney Documentary, Fraggle Rock Trailer and More
Peacock is putting the spotlight on an iconic purple dino: The streamer has started production on a three-part documentary that “examines the rock star-like trajectory of Barney the Dinosaur, the beloved character who captured the hearts of millions of children and then became the target of hate and rage across pop culture, the early Internet and playgrounds around the world,” per the official release.
The documentary will feature exclusive interviews and archival footage to present “first-hand accounts of the Barney phenomenon from the cast and crew to its most outspoken critics.”
The children’s program Barney & Friends aired on PBS for 14 seasons, from 1992 to 2010.
Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…
* A new season of Dirty Jobs, to again be hosted by Mike Rowe, will premiere Sunday, Jan. 2 at 8/7c on Discovery (and stream on discovery+).
* The D’Amelio Show — starring social media stars Dixie and Charli D’Amelio, along with their parents Marc and Heidi — has been renewed for a second season at Hulu.
* Chicago Fire has promoted longtime executive producer Andrea Newman to co-showrunner alongside Derek Haas, our sister site Deadline reports.
* Kristian Bruun (Orphan Black) and Colton Dunn (Superstore) have joined Netflix’s untitled CIA drama starring and executive-produced by Noah Centineo, our sister site Variety reports.
* Apple TV+ has released the first teaser for Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, premiering Friday, Jan. 21, 2022:
* Netflix has released a trailer for F Is for Family‘s fifth and final season, premiering Thursday, Nov. 25:
Which of today’s TVLine Items pique your interest?
What damning information are we going to learn from the Barney & Friends documentary? Every single actor who participated probably developed nightmares and mental issues from appearing on that show.
Why did Barney become the target of “hate and rage”?
A lot of people were annoyed by Barney, but I don’t think anyone hated him. Except the parents who had to watch the show.
You answered your own question. But, speaking as someone who grew up in the era, also older siblings who had to deal with younger siblings who loved Barney. To some extent all children’s programs for that age are annoying, but something about Barney was just especially annoying. It was common to want to destroy anything Barney-related on the playground or scream and moan like you’re being tortured whenever your parents or your friends’ parents would put Barney on for younger siblings (and remember that most of us only had one TV! We could be playing Sega!).
I watched the Fraggles with my kids and now I can watch them with my grandkids.
I am happy they will be back! I hope the kept their 30-minute work week.