Barney Time

Since the 50th anniversary of the first Flintstone episode was 30 September, and the first Andy Griffith episode premiered 3 October, 1960, I thought that it would be a good time to dust this one off. Although I wrote this almost ten years ago, it is one of my favorites. bd

Getting older is not the same as getting old..... at least not before you turn 50. I'm here to tell you that it's iffy afterwards. I can remember when "old folks" used to predict the weather with their aches and pains. I laughed then, but it's not nearly as funny as it used to be because I'm beginning to be my own weather channel myself.

When I say Barney, who comes to mind? The answer says a lot about your age and upbringing. I asked the question of a young guy in my office. Without hesitation he said "that purple Dinosaur that the kids watch." He probably watched ol' Barney himself growing up. The purple Barney made his debut in 1987 on PBS and, as far as I know, has been there ever since.

Anyone born between the late 1950s and mid-60s would probably say "Barney Rubble, of course." Along with his wife Betty and son Bam-Bam, this Barney lived next door to Fred, Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone from the fall of 1960 till 1966. Actually, they live on in syndication and on the cartoon channel, as well as a couple of theme parks.

My generation would definitely say Barney Fife who still lives in syndication all over the world. Although he was on "The Andy Griffith Show" for only the first 5 years of the 1960-1968 series, he was certainly a key player. If you have cable, you can probably find an episode playing right now. I have friends that argue that the episodes without Barney are no good. Others say that if it is in color, just turn it off. Still other folks won't watch anything on television that is NOT color. These folks are missing more than Barney and I'm sure would name one of the other Barneys when asked the "Which Barney" question. My guess is that they would say, "The purple one."

"The Andy Griffith Show" has certainly endured the test of time. Teachers use the show in classrooms. There are even Sunday school classes that use the episodes as a basis for lessons.

Ask the Barney question to those of my mama's generation and you will probably get "Barney Google". Barney Google made his debut in 1919 in the comic section of the newspaper. I couldn't pick Barney Google out of a police line-up. Google (the search engine) tells me that Barney is still an infrequent visitor to Snuffy Smith, but how should I know. The only thing I can tell you about Barney Google is that the favorite cheer of my high school Principal was:

"Barney Google, Andy Gump, we've got Dublin up a stump, WOOOOOOA Sparkplug!"

It would be years before I knew that Spark Plug was Barney Google's horse.

The group that we should really feel sorry for is those born between 1968 (when "Andy" went into syndication) and 1987 (when the purple one made his first appearance on PBS.) These folks are very frustrated people. I suspect that a good many of the problems we have today are caused by these “in-between Barney” folks.

This is not to say that the “Purple Barney” crowd is a problem-free lot. Let’s just say I have my doubts about ANYONE who has spent a whole lot of time watching some guy dressed up in a heavily padded fuzzy purple get-up complete with dragging tail and green tummy. I can’t imagine that THAT Barney will be in (rerun) syndication 34 years after it left first-run TV, nor will any Sunday school lessons ever be based on an episode.

I am unabashedly from the “one bullet” Barney crowd. When I see Ron Howard (Opie) on TV with no hair, or Andy all wrinkled and gray, I can hardly believe that it has been so long. They have gotten so much older. Aunt Bee Floyd and Barney are long gone. They taught us so much. Of course, time hasn’t done that much to me. I could go on, but my bifocals are acting up, it’s time for my medicine and my knees tell me it is about to rain. I’ll just close for now by asking you which Barney comes to your mind?