Barney and the Backyard Gang is a direct-to-video

Direct-to-video

Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

 series produced by The Lyons Group

HIT Entertainment

Hit Entertainment is a British-American entertainment distribution company established in 1989, and originally the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions called Henson International Television...

 and was produced from October 13, 1988 to October 20, 1991. This series launched the stardom of the PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 show Barney & Friends

Barney & Friends

Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...

.

The first three episode from 1988 and 1989 include American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress Sandy Duncan

Sandy Duncan

Sandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan is an American singer, dancer and actress of stage and television, recognized through a blonde, pixie cut hairstyle and perky demeanor...

 as Michael and Amy's Mother. Music for the Barney and the Backyard Gang videos was created by Stephen Bates Baltes and Phillip Parker (as with the television series), and Lory Lazarus wrote the first original song produced for Barney, "Friends Are Forever", sung by Sandy Duncan.