Barney is SOOOO the conformist cousin of Sesame Street. No wonder all these parents were complaining about those old Sesame Street segments where kids were playing around construction sites. There are kid's programs I have trouble with, but my top three most hated would be Barney, Teletubbies and Blues Clues (the FIRST of the talk slow and loud to kids shows). Just for their contributions (or rather blights) to our culture.
Still, I never got the appeal of Cailou. I'm too worried there's a reason why he's bald and talks slowly and like a character from a 90's Adam Sandler movie.
I try VERY hard not to be a decade snob when it comes to a certain type of entertainment... but there's was something magical about the 1980's period for edutainment shows for younger kids. I'm dating myself here, but anyone remember Zoobile Zoo? I LOVED that thing so much. Even kinda liked Disney's Adventures in Wonderland (even though that was a little later) since it just had that same vibe to it. And I LOVED Reading Rainbow and Square One Math... then Barney came, and EVERYTHING had to be a Barney ripoff... even Sesame Street had to change completely, losing some of that city feel.
I really disliked Big Comfy Couch (various reasons, don't want to list them all), and when I found out the main character clown was the voice of both Jubilee from the 90's X-men and Lydia Deetz from the animated Beetlejuice, something in me died a little... didn't help at all that I had embarrassing to mention 10 year old crushes on them.