The new trailer for the Barney revival looks like the purple dinosaur is primed to take over the hearts and minds of children once again, assuming their millennial parents let them watch it when it premieres on the 2024 TV schedule. This is because, many online are bent out of shape about a major change made in the animated Barney's World, and I'm shocked to say my feathers are ruffled as well. I shouldn't care as much as I do, but I can't get over the fact that "BJ" has a new name.
Those who watched Barney & Friends growing up or the riveting Peacock documentary I Love You, You Hate Me about the children's show almost surely remember the sibling duo, Baby Bop and BJ. Now, the yellow triceratops is back and hanging with Barney and the kids in this animated series, but that's no longer his name. This time around, he's going by Billy, as you can hear in the trailer above.
I likely won't be watching Barney's World, and my child has likely aged out of having any interest in it, and yet, I can't help but be bothered by BJ's name change. The character was never referred to as Billy in the original series as best I can gather, though I did learn he was named after the father of Barney creator Sheryl Leach, Billy Joe.
At first, I thought I was alone in being bothered by the name change, but it turns out there are a lot of people upset about this. Here's just a small sample of the reactions on X after the trailer dropped:
- Baby Bop and WHO????? - @missnikinikita
- Who the FUCK is Billy??? - @royal_bobby24
- MANE. WTF IS DIS SHIT HERE!?!? And they usin BJ goverment name!?!? Naaaaawwwwwwww Naaawwww Naw. - @I10Podcast_AJD
- reject modernity (billy), embrace tradition (bj) - @emma_chapple
- BABY BOP'S BROTHER'S NAME IS "BJ" NOT BILLY - @annemeownie
It turns out I'm not the only person on the internet who was shocked that "BJ" is now "Billy," as plenty of people made the fact that they're bothered by it known. In fairness, Barney remains a popular enough franchise for Daniel Kaluuya to get a live-action movie made about the character in development, so clearly, some people still have a soft spot for it decades later.
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Those who love the classic series Barney & Friends can still watch the show with a Peacock subscription, and hear the dinosaur's original name. However, while I'm frazzled about the change too, I'd argue the new series premiering on October 14th for those with a Max subscription and on the 18th for those with Cartoon Network is worth checking out.
Variety reports that the series has 52 episodes, all clocking in at eleven minutes each. Obviously, it's not as long as the original episodes, but that may be because Gen Alpha is more conditioned to short-form content these days. It's also worth noting that M. Night Shyamalan's Trap breakout star Jonathan Langdon will be voicing Barney, which has convinced me to watch for at least an episode or two.
However, I'm still confused about the name change though, and why it was changed over the wilder name choice of "Baby Bop."
Time will tell if Barney's World has the same impact as the original series and if people will get used to "Billy" over the name BJ. However, for now, the internet is upset about it, and so am I.
