Love it or hate it, the new doco on “Barney & Friends” ‘I Love You, You Hate Me’ shows an unexpected side to the business of putting a kid’s show together.
The new doco series by director Tommy Avallone, titled “I Love You, You Hate Me,” documents the PBS series “Barney & Friends” which ran for a whopping 14 seasons between 1992 and 2010.
I somehow missed the craze that was “Barney & Friends”, maybe it’s my age, maybe, I just have a strong dislike for clowns or anyone who dresses up as large relics purporting to be kid-friendly. However, chances are there is someone in close proximity to you that is well-versed in all the Barney songs and obsessively watched it as a kid.
For those who didn’t, and for those who did, there’s a new doco being aired, that shares insights from behind the scenes, and the process of what it takes to get a kid’s show off the ground and into the homes of millions of viewers. It also explores the phenomenon of Barney Bashing – the backlash from adults who kinda hated him, that led to Barney-bashing frat parties, hate groups, and violent video games.
The docu-series has shared some surprising insights, for starters who knew that Barney’s personality was based on Bruce Willis’s character from the 80’s TV show Moonlighting?
The original “Barney & Friends” head writer Pat Reeder reasons that Willis’ performance evokes a similar lightheartedness to what Barney would seek to achieve among a different demographic.
“Kind of a fun, wise-cracking kind of guy who lit up the room,” Reeder describes in terms of his initial vision for the character’s personality.
“That didn’t really survive the re-writes,” Reeder continues. Reeder’s bold ideas ultimately resulted in his termination from the project, via a letter that said he possesses “a creative spirit that cannot be contained.”
That’s a real shame in my book, we love a good wise cracking hard-boiled PI take on anything.
Another ‘surprising ‘ fact, the guy in the suit, well, at least the one who played Barney the longest of any actor, David Joyner also worked as a tantric sex instructor.
Joyner wore the Barney costume for a good decade between 1991 and 2001, but his side interest in the study of tantra, started a year prior.
In 2004, after he left the show, Joyner started his own practice, which combines Hindu and Buddhist traditions developed in ancient India that blend spirituality and sexuality via yoga, massage, and spiritual healing.
“When people hear tantra, they think about sex,” Joyner says in the documentary. “Tantra is much more than that. I am a tantric energy healer.”
Joyner’s eccentric lifestyle was exposed with the release of the 2018 VICE article, which contains quotes from Joyner like, “When you go down on a woman (orally), it should be just like you’re saying grace, like blessing the food you’re about to receive.”
Word in the office, everyone here, is like, sure we already knew that. But did you know that Moonlighting was a thing? Bet ya didn’t know that.
