Barney really was a dinosaur sensation. Now, he gets the true-crime treatment

There is a moment in “I Love You, You Hate Me,” a two-part documentary charting the rise and fall of Barney the purple dinosaur, in which a lawyer is asked why parents hate Barney so much.

“Have you seen it?” he replies.

That sizes up nicely the way that a lot of people feel about Barney, the star of a staggeringly popular kids' show in the early 1990s, with his cloying songs and it's-all-good manner. Pre-school kids loved him. But many people hated him — hated him enough to create a group called the Jihad to Destroy Barney.

It’s a bizarre story, all told; the fact that a lawyer is one of the people interviewed gives you a clue of how sideways things go. But the documentary “I Love You, You Hate Me,” which streams on Peacock beginning Oct. 12, is a little bit all over the place. It wants to be both a cultural study and a true-crime saga, and it strains at the edges to make that connection.

Barney became huge. So did the backlash unleashed against him

Still, if you are of a certain age, the footage of the show will make you smile warmly or retch, depending. And any story that includes drugs, crime, outrageous rumors and Tantric sex classes will attract some attention.

Sheryl Leach created the show after noticing that there weren’t a lot of good video options for her young son, Patrick, to watch. After several false starts, she hit upon Barney, whose gooey goodness attracted small children like a magnet — almost hypnotically, as several people point out.

"Barney" the show and especially Barney the character became massively popular. A backlash was inevitable. Full disclosure: I was part of it. Young, with no children and confident that I knew every damn thing, I wrote a scathing newspaper column ridiculing Barney and the people who loved him.

I was deluged with calls and letters from people, some literally crying, saying that I didn’t understand: The time their kids were transfixed by Barney videos was the only time they got to themselves. Most of these messages were worded in considerably stronger language.

Live and learn. When I had kids I showed them Barney videos, for the same reason. Although it didn’t make me like him any better.

Eventually, the backlash extended far beyond smart-aleck newspaper columns. Colleges had destroy-Barney parties. Charles Barkley elbowed him in the face on “Saturday Night Live.” The show’s cast and crew got violent threats.

We see ample evidence of this and hear from several people who worked on the show, as well as other observers. The best and most interesting is Steve Burns, the star of “Blue’s Clues,” who talks knowingly about what made Barney so popular, and why some people couldn’t stand him. If everything is relentlessly positive all the time, it’s impossible for anyone over the age of three or so to relate.

Steve from 'Blues Clues' and Al Roker weigh in on the Barney phenomenon

The documentary tells the concurrent story of the impact on Leach, who declined to be interviewed. The film is structured, as with a true-crime documentary, with reveals. So if you are not familiar with how Leach and her family were affected, I won’t spoil that here (even if it’s not effectively done). Suffice it to say that several people talk about how fame and fortune come with a price — not just for Leach, but for other people who worked on the show.

And remember: the lawyer.

Eventually, the documentary settles back down into a "What’s-it-all-mean-man?" conclusion. The gist, from people like Burns and Al Roker and several people who worked on the show, is somewhat idealistic: that the hatred went too far, that we could use more of Barney’s message of unconditional love, not less.

It’s a nice thought. Someone should make a show about it.

'I Love You, You Hate Me'

Streaming on Peacock on Oct. 12.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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