The Unbearable Blandness of 'Barney'

What made Barney, the purple dinosaur and nineties kids’ TV sensation, so infuriatingly loathsome? Was it his doofy voice and inane giggle, coming at you like a low-watt Pillsbury Doughboy? His menacing rictus and unnerving hat-band strip of teeth? His shameless abuse of nursery rhymes? His indifference to the anxious smiles on his young friends’ faces as they all danced in lockstep to “Indoor-Outdoor Voices”? The short answer is yes, it is all those things, and, as a result, he and his show inspired an acute degree of animosity; a new two-episode docuseries from Peacock, “I Love You, You Hate Me,” dares to investigate.