Barney and Friends is a television show aimed at children aged 1-8. The lead character is an anthropomorphic t-rex named Barney who leads children and other large puppets in song and dance routines that teach basic concepts and ideas to small children.

Voiced by Bob West and Dean Wendt, Barney was first introduced in 1987 in a series of home videos called Barney and the Backyard Gang. Although only moderately successful in the local area in Texas where it was introduced, the series was picked up by PBS in 1992 as Barney and Friends and instantly became quite popular nationwide. Today, Barney and Friends has had international success in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Philippines, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and South Korea.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_&_Friends

Ironically, despite major financial success, Barney and Friends is ranked on TV Guide's List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time at #50.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/12/entertainment/main515057.shtml Songs from the show have also been used as detainee torture techniques by interrogators in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3042907.stm