That's why every time I see Dora or Barney, I just cannot help thinking why children would rather watch that stuff. The format is so terrible with very little value in them that all those shows can do is sell, sell, sell (toys that is). Sorry for sounding so negative about them, but I truly think that Sesame Street deserves the credit for everything it has done.
Every time I see Barney, I cannot help but think... this guy's still on the air? Sure, I'll admit, it came out around the time my sister was a baby and she watched it. I initially didn't mind it. But 2 weeks or so in, I saw the show was repetitive, cheap looking (and feeling), and Barney had absolutely no personality. And the educational "value" was singing enough times to warrant multiple sound tracks. Why this is still on the air and still popular (his movie bombing should have signaled the end of his career, like most of those movies tend to do) is completely beyond me. I neither find him enjoyable nor engrossing, not even from a 2 year old's perspective. Even Dora has some appeal, due in part to her being a not Caucasian so that automatically makes her a role model. But an old 90's hasbeen?
I don't think it's gone downhill at all. It's just trying to survive as much as possible due to the amount of other competitive children's shows that have made shows for preschoolers in that kind of format, like a so-called purple dinosaur and Latin-American girl.
I need NEED to get that book (Street gang)... but didn't they have a section about how they got in this new team that basically wanted to turn it into one of the dozens of Barney Clones out there? I think by "Down hill" we mean that the show unfortunately followed the downward sloping trend that other 1990's preschool shows were caving into at the time. Remember, in 1969 there was no Nick Jr. or Playhouse Disney. Pop unfortunately won the battle and effected the series, sure... Elmo has to be the "star" of the show so 2 year olds can keep interest in it. But THIS is a show that launched so, so much. An international sensation that even expanded into missions of peace (sure they sort of backfired in the Middle East). For that alone, they should get all the recognition and credit they deserve.