Barney the Dinosaur

Barney has helped children for 20 years now (HIT Entertainment's press room)

When you think of childrens TV heroes, you probably think of the likes of Mr. Rogers, the late Captain Kangaroo and even the Muppets. For me, the first character who comes to mind for me is Barney. Yes, that singing purple dinosaur who plays with kids on his show. Though I may not watch the show much on PBS anymore, Barney is still concidered a hero to me due to helping me through my childhood.

Barney was created in 1987 by Sheryl Leach and Kathy Parker. With help from Dennis Deshazer, they got the first Barney videos up and running. It wasn't until Barney & Friends debuted on April 6th 1992 that Barney became a superstar dino. My story doesn't begin until early 1993. My grandpa put on Barney & Friends and I was hooked instantly. Since then, I've been collecting Barney items and may have the world's biggest Barney collection outside of HIT Entertainment.

But enough about me, back on why I think Barney is my hero. To me, a hero is someone who does good things for people and helps them out when in need. Barney has done that on numerous occasions. He visits kids in hospitals on all his tours and has tought generations of kids, some even with their own kids now.

In addition, though Barney is one the most hated childrens characters I know, he's also one of the most popular ones. All the comments that say he's gay or rumors made up about Barney and such are things I never listen to, and for a good reason. Even when I'm old, Barney's legacy will never die off. So I salute my purple friend to bring 20+ more years and possibly rival Sesame Street in age (he's already halfway there).