Barney Goes To School; Barney's Campfire Sing-Along; Waiting For Santa

In the sing-along category, which these three programs belong to, I'm not ashamed to admit that I have enjoyed such jewels as The Animal Alphabet and Lamb Chop's Sing Along Play Along. Shari Lewis is a veritable sparkplug of imagination and infectious enthusiasm which easily carries over to young and old, alike. Barney, the "magic" dinosaur, by way of contrast is a thundering bore. The format for each of the Barney programs is simple. Not, that's not fair; many excellent programs feature a simple format. Correction: the format is imaginatively lazy. In Barney's Campfire Sing-Along, the "backyard gang" (whose most notable attribute is that they are a meticulously, even mathematically, chosen cross-section of the ethnic population) join barney on a soundstage which is supposed to represent a natural environment but looks just like a soundstage. He wiggles his tail, and presto!, the kids have camping outfits, supplies, etc. (This is a trademark of the series; then kids seldom do for themselves--Barney is the ultimate fantasy provider.) Next, the kids take a hike (at about the same time, my kids also took a hike, looking for something better to do), stopping every so often to burst into "spontaneous" lip-synched songs about turtles, frogs, and ants, using traditional tunes with new lyrics. I'm sure you can figure out what the other two tapes are about from the titles. Throughout the three programs, the grating Barney drops a few pearls of wisdom: the basic message being to beam out love undiscerningly--it doesn't matter whether your love signal strikes another human being or a rock. He also laughs after virtually everything he says, no matter how mundane--and this seems to be his primary function: a walking "laugh track." All of the programs are overproduced to the point of confusion. At least once or twice in each show, one of the gang will offer to "teach" a new song to rest of the gang members--whereupon the entire group springs into song with oodles of choreography thrown in to boot. (One has to wonder if the "teaching" is being done with telepathy--but again, it's just laziness; it's as if the sharing of a new song were a vestigial limb of reality that the glitzy producers forgot to lop off.) For my money, the series reaches its zenith at the opening of Barney Goes to School, the newest entry. The beginning is an unadulterated ad for a "Barney" plush toy for a mere 20 spot. Now Mattel makes no bones about the fact that its shows are there to sell toys--but even they wouldn't be this brazen. To be fair, the Barney series has received kudos from TV Guide, Redbook, and Video Review, among others. Either these people don't know diddly about children's video, or I've missed the boat entirely. If you're uncertain, check one out and decide for yourself. I can't recommend these. (Available from most distributors.)