I can't say what audience this show is targeted to, but like all form of entertainment; it has a target audience. And that is what this show is: entertainment. It should not (in my opinion) be touted as educational. I saw another's post speak of dangerous lessons being learned, such as strangers are just friends waiting to be met. This is a positive message, but to express it without the quality of discernment can have negative effects. Therefore it is entertainment; it illustrates a world apart from reality without concern or responsibility for it's message. It is children's fare. But due to society, it is pressured into the category of education. It is featured in a block of other educational shows, especially one which seek to teach children about emotions and appropriate responses in real world situations. But it teaches fraudulent lessons, as outlined above. It is like grade school history books and lessons showing pilgrims and Native Americans as friends (how it may have started), and then just glossing over the inevitable betrayal. This lessons later have to be unlearned to teach a more accurate and respectful(at least to the Native Americans) version of history. And that will have to be repeated for Barney as well. The children of Barney's audience will learn, on their own or through a guiding hand, that Barney is not educating but merely entertaining. And this may be why people hate the show. It could be that those who enjoyed as a child feel lied to now, due to the ambivalent attitude of authority placing it in an educational arena. Or it reminds others of similar lies, that outcomes hurt them or a loved one harshly, and they see the same pattern in the show's over-simplified, sugar-coated "message".
This is just a television show, a form of entertaining media. And entertainment is a lie to illicit a response or emotion, without the stress of the real world event. It is a tool to fight off boredom. It contains lessons; not all positive or strictly negative. But the lessons of Barney should not be automatically considered correct. They are teaching an entertaining lie, and it should be viewed as such. Therefore, is see the ones truly responsible for the animosity are the program directors who set the program among educational fare, when it is actually just a television show.
But this is just one Otter's opinion.
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