Season 8

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 and brings back all of the main characters from the previous season as an prolongation of the same, 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 December 2002.^[2]

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 apart of the original cast of the Barney's Colorful World! tour, reprising her role of Sarah. Apart from it, Katherine Pully was also asked to take part in the tour to reprise her role of Beth, but she declined^[3] and eventually returned for a guest appearance in the Season 10 episode, "Mother Goose", as Polly.

Cast[]

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 Pully) [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	"A Fountain of Fun"	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	"On Again, Off Again"	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	"Sharing Is Caring!"	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	"Here Kitty, Kitty!"	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	"Once Upon A Fairy Tale"	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	"It's Hot! It's Cold!"	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	"A Perfectly Purple Day"	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	"Day and Night"	Michael Anthony Steele	Jim Rowley		October 10, 2003
		Beth explains to her friends about her recent sleepover. After the kids wish to see night time, Barney transforms the park from day to night.
9	"Play Piano With Me!"	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	"A Picture of Friendship"	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	"A-Counting We Will Go!"	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	"A Little Big Day"	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	"A World of Friends"	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	"Who's Your Neighbor?"	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	"Squares, Squares Everywhere"	Stephen White	Fred Holmes		May 7, 2004
		Barney and the kids help Nick find squares in the park for his homework assignment.
16	"Let's Go For A Ride!"	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	"That Makes Me Mad"	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	"It's Your Birthday, Barney!"	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	"It's Showtime!"	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	"At Home In The Park"	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.
• Similar to Season 7, the first five episodes aired from Monday to Friday from September 15-18, 2003, while the next five would air on Fridays from September 26 to October 24, 2003. The last 10 remaining episodes aired from Mondays to Fridays from May 3-14, 2004.

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 on 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.^[4][5][6] and on The Roku Channel in March 2022.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• 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 fifth season to use two Barney dolls.
  • 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 10 to have title cards displayed before the theme song ends.

References[]