The eighth season of Barney & Friends premiered on the PBS children's block, PBS Kids from September 15, 2003 to May 14, 2004 and consisted of twenty episodes. This season continues to display Barney coming to life through a child's imagination, whenever he is needed for something, helping his friends, through educational themes tailored for toddlers, which is the viewing audience.
Continuing off of season seven, this season continues to take place at the park. This season brings back all of the main characters from the previous season, adds a new child to the cast by the name of Jackson and serves as the debut for Mr. Brantley, the ice cream man.
This season was announced alongside season seven in a deal between PBS and Lyrick Studios, the former owners of Barney & Friends, in 2001. The contract agreed to forty episodes for 2002 and 2003,[1] with 2003 seeing the second half of that deal come into fruition with HIT Entertainment, the new owners of the series at the time.
Production
Despite the second half of the season airing on PBS in May 2004, all 20 episodes were filmed and produced between 2002 and 2003. Production and filming for this season ran from July 22, 2002 until February 7, 2003.
Casting
This season marked the final appearances of Mr. Boyd, Mario, Sarah, Beth, Angela, Gianna, Scott, Tony, Colleen, and Bingo. Although leaving the cast after this season, Mr. Boyd would later re-appear in the new content of The Best of Barney, Mario would later reappear in Sharing and Sarah would later reappear in The Whole Truth.
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato left the series after this season's production because the management felt they were too old to continue their roles in the series.
In January 2003, after she left the series, Hayden Tweedie became part of the original cast of the Barney's Colorful World! tour, reprising her role as Sarah. Apart from that, Katherine Pully was also asked to take part in the tour to reprise her role as Beth, but she declined and eventually returned for a guest appearance in the Season 10 episode, "Mother Goose", as Polly.
Cast
Behind-the-scenes photo, taken in 2002
Another behind-the-scenes photo taken in 2002
Dinosaurs
- Barney (Voice: Dean Wendt, Costume: Carey Stinson) [20/20]
- Baby Bop (Voice: Julie Johnson, Costume: Jeff Ayers) [9/20]
- BJ (Voice: Patty Wirtz, Costume: Kyle Nelson) [10/20]
Children
- Nick (Grayson Lee Vanover) [10/20]
- Mario (Zachary Soza) [9/20]
- Whitney (Kayla S. Levels) [9/20]
- Beth (Katherine Pulley) [8/20]
- Sarah (Hayden Tweedie) [8/20]
- Gianna (Selena Gomez) [7/20]
- Kami (Makayla Crawford) [7/20]
- Jackson (Daven Wilson) (debut) [6/20]
- Scott (Alex Wilson) [5/20]
- Tony (Zachary Fountain) [5/20]
- Angela (Demi Lovato) [4/20]
Adult
- Mr. Boyd (Robert Sweatman) [4/20]
Guest Appearances
- Joan Jenkins (played Miss Jo in "Here Kitty, Kitty!")
- Steve Jones (played Mr. Brantley in "It's Hot! It's Cold!")
- Claire Burdette (played Colleen in "A Perfectly Purple Day")
- Georgia Foy (played Officer Phillips in "Who's Your Neighbor?")
- Craig Boarini (played Mel the Mailman in "Who's Your Neighbor?")
Episodes
| # | Episode | Written By | Directed By | New Barney Songs | Original Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Stephen White | Jim Rowley | "A Swing is a Beautiful Thing" | September 15, 2003 |
| While waiting for a special fountain delivery, Barney and the children discover the delights of the park. | |||||
| 2 |  |
Mark S. Bernthal | Jim Rowley | September 16, 2003 | |
| While learning about on and off, Barney and his friends help Baby Bop costumes for her teddy bear. | |||||
| 3 |  |
Michael Anthony Steele | Ben Vaughn | "The Sharing Hen" | September 17, 2003 |
| Mr. Boyd is holding a toy drive in the park. When Baby Bop is reluctant to donate her toys, Barney and his friends help teach her the importance of sharing. | |||||
| 4 |  |
Perri Verdino-Gates | Martha W. Chang | "Lookie! It's a Cookie!" | September 18, 2003 |
| Barney and the children help Miss Jo find her cat, "Cody". | |||||
| 5 |  |
Cheryl Ammeter | Fred Holmes | September 19, 2003 | |
| Mario needs help writing his own fairy tale. To get some inspiration, Barney and his friends act out some of their favorite fairy tales. | |||||
| 6 |  |
Michael Anthony Steele | Fred Holmes | "In the Kitchen" | September 26, 2003 |
| Barney sets up an imaginary winter and summer wonderland in the park to help his friends learn the difference between cold and hot. | |||||
| 7 |  |
Perri Verdino-Gates | Ben Vaughn | "A Perfectly Purple Day" | October 3, 2003 |
| Barney and the kids plan a special surprise party for Colleen using her favorite color: purple. | |||||
| 8 |  |
Michael Anthony Steele | Jim Rowley | October 10, 2003 | |
| Mr. Boyd is holding a toy drive in the park. When Baby Bop is reluctant to donate her toys, Barney and his friends help teach her the importance of sharing. | |||||
| 9 |  |
Stephen White | Fred Holmes | "PIANO" | October 17, 2003 |
| Barney and his friends learn about pianos after finding Mr. Boyd and Bingo working on a player piano. Throughout the day, they learn about the different kinds of pianos. | |||||
| 10 |  |
Michael Anthony Steele | Ben Vaughn | "Gonna Play Baseball" | October 24, 2003 |
| Barney and the children learn what it takes to be a good friend after accidentally hurting BJ's feelings for forgetting to add him in a drawing. | |||||
| 11 |  |
Cheryl Ammeter | Jim Rowley | May 3, 2004 | |
| Barney and the kids help Baby Bop learn how to count to 10 by taking her on a make-believe shopping trip in the caboose. | |||||
| 12 |  |
Cheryl Ammeter | Fred Holmes | "Toss It Out a Window" | May 4, 2004 |
| Nick complains that he is the smallest of the group. From observing things in the park to a creative retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, Barney and his friends discover everyone is special, regardless of size. | |||||
| 13 |  |
Mark S. Bernthal | Jim Rowley | May 5, 2004 | |
| Barney and the children learn about different cultures by visiting booths in the parks' international festival. | |||||
| 14 |  |
Perri Verdino-Gates | Jim Rowley | May 6, 2004 | |
| A make-believe neighborhood in the caboose prompts Barney to teach the kids all about different community helpers. | |||||
| 15 |  |
Michael Anthony Steele | Ben Vaughn | May 7, 2004 | |
| Barney and the kids help Nick find squares in the park for his homework assignment. | |||||
| 16 |  |
Michael Anthony Steele | Jim Rowley | May 10, 2004 | |
| After learning about different kinds of road vehicles, the kids build a bus to take them to their favorite neighborhood spots. | |||||
| 17 |  |
Cheryl Ammeter | Fred Holmes | May 11, 2004 | |
| After certain situations leave Barney's friends angry, he helps them learn how to deal with negative emotions. | |||||
| 18 |  |
Stephen White | Jim Rowley | "I Love Birthdays" | May 12, 2004 |
| It's Barney's birthday, and his friends are throwing him a special surprise party for him. | |||||
| 19 |  |
Perri Verdino-Gates | Fred Holmes | "I Can Be Anything", "What If You Could Be in the Spotlight?" | May 13, 2004 |
| Barney and his friends plan a special talent show in the park. | |||||
| 20 |  |
Stephen White | Jim Rowley | "The Hopping Song" | May 14, 2004 |
| Barney helps the children to learn about how animals make their homes in the park. | |||||
Release
Broadcast
- When this season and Season 7 re-aired, they featured the "Barney... A Helping Hand for Growing Children" segment instead of the "Barney Says" segment.
- The second half of the season was aired in Germany in December 2003.
Home media
Sharing is Caring was a home video with the episodes "Sharing Is Caring!" and "A Picture of Friendship" featured from this season that was released August 11, 2009.
Streaming
The entirety of this season became available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on July 29, 2016. Due to a content deal between streaming service Tubi and 9 Story Media Group, the entirety of this season also became available to stream on Tubi on April 9, 2021.[2][3][4] and on The Roku Channel in March 2022.
Trivia
The children's cast of the eighth season of Barney & Friends alongside director Jim Rowley on the set of the episode "It's Your Birthday, Barney!".
- This season marked:
- The final season until season twelve, to include the "Barney Says" segment.
- However, this is the final season that uses the "Hey everybody, it's time for Barney Says!" introduction.
- The only season to use a previous season's theme song.
- The only season in which "Everyone is Special" was not performed, though it can be heard as an underscore in some episodes.
- The final season to use the funding credits recorded by Mera Baker (Keesha), from earlier Barney years.
- The final season until season twelve, to include the "Barney Says" segment.
