Dive into the dark side of Barney the purple dinosaur with the upcoming docuseries I love you, you hate me. NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock has just released the official trailer for the docuseries that focuses on major issues that went on behind the scenes of the popular children’s show unbeknownst to the families whose little ones were watching at home. I love youyou hate me will be available for streaming on October 12, and you can check out the new trailer below.
The official synopsis for the series reads:
I Love You, You Hate Me is a limited series that chronicles the rise and fall of Barney the Dinosaur’s raging response — and what it says about the human need to hate. From Barney bashing to college parties to murderous video games, something in American society broke into a million pieces, and it’s never been put back together…or is this just who we’ve always been?
The trailer offers a look at some of the resistance that was generated against Barney when the series arrived in the early 1990s. As the titular dinosaur sang songs about loving each other, he came under fire from adults who didn’t care about the series. Even long before the days of social media, Barney became a “target of hate.” There were people who sent death threats and other cruel messages to the artists who had portrayed Barney.
“As [creator Sheryl Leach’s] beloved character went into the stratosphere, people couldn’t accept that this was just a show. And so, let the bashing begin,” said former Barney actor David Joyner, via People.
Fellow ex-Barney Bob West also said, “They were violent and explicit, death and breakup of my family,” he shared. “They would come looking for me and they would kill me.”
Barney was hated by many, but why?
“Barney came on television when I was only 10 years old, and I honestly didn’t understand it,” director Tommy Avallone says of his own take on the dinosaur. “As a teenager, I asked my aunt for one of my birthdays to give me a Barney- costume so my friends and I could beat him up in front of the camera.”
Feeling that the hatred he had for Barney as a child was unfounded, Avallone now says: “Several years later, when he made this docuseries, it feels good to be on the other side and no longer be a Barney hater. Now that I have kids of my own, I understand all the love that went into making the purple dinosaur.”
I love you, you hate me begins streaming on October 12, 2022 on Peacock.