The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 84

2HTHE WICHITA EAGLE Sunday April 5 1992 TV Week CURTRIGHT Soap star finds her role is similar to personal life Hill II nnmnnlmw tic areni compering with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles We are veiy old-fashioned and kind of homey to the adult eye but watch what happens when you give us to a Sheryl Leach educator eryone is Every episode was researched by early childhood and multicultural educators and then written to promote and enhance the social intellectual and physical development she said But Barney is the catalyst encourages children to use their Imaginations ss they go on adventures and discover the world around them The children have fun and they learn by doing Barney provides experiences that are child-initiated" Music is a key element she said The songs are not only fun but they help develop listening and language skills "Songs are selected that have repetition both in lyrics and in motion Repetition is the key ingredient for learning especially with preschoolers The choreography is designed to be easily Imitated and performed by the While the show is aimed at preschoolers ages 2 to 5 the young actors are older up to age 11 feel the need to have young children for preschoolers to identify with but children also look up to older children We tried to have a little something for One of the keys she raid is that like to watch real kids doing real things" As an educator Leach worries about children becoming passive from watching television Kit she insisted "Barney be part of the problem "If you have an Interactive program like ours the kids get involved the parents get involved teachers get Involved It's not a question of television being the problem but of the programming" Beb Outright's rnedh rnhswi appears Sundays Tuesdays Wednesdays and Saturdays From Page IH an ex-educator and from my roots I strongly care about the educational aspect of the programming" said Leach who taught Inner-city kids fin1 six years "But very very careful that the entertainment value is always there If the television was on and the children get up and walk away from it no matter how educationally sound a program might be it would be lost" Leach who has a master's in early childhood development and her partner field-tested the original videos by shoving them to preschoolers and writing down their reactions That's how they developed their "edutainment" balance "Our educational philosophy is that children learn the most through handson creative play We focus on the development of the total child Barney truly celebrates children and childhood He fosters creativity through Imaginative play He stresses positive They apparently touched the right nerve because the eight the Backyard Gang" videos have sold 532000 copies in just under four years "We competing with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles We are very old-fashioned and kind of homey to the adult eye but watch what happens when you give us to a The videos came to the attention of Larry Rifkin executive vice president of programming for Connecticut Public Television when his 4-year-old daughter Leora chose one in a video store He decided it would make a good PBS series and he and Leach received a $235 million public television grant to develop it By Dana Kannady Associated Press Brooke English the poised successful journalist juggled a love life and complicated family ties for 16 years in doseknit Pine Valley Turbulence often surrounds her friends and family but Brooke is rock-solid At the moment pausing thoughtfully on the stairs in a local restaurant recalling something in her past before she rejoins her ex-husband at their dinner table an emotional moment As she stares wistfully into space the red light on the ABG-TV camera abruptly goes oft Her reverie is broken Brooke English emits a shriek my next she yells careening down the stairs and across the set Flinging open the flimsy prop door she grabs a script hidden outside After scanning it she stashes the script under a table and runs back to assume her position mi the stairs She purses her lips the red light goes on and Brooke English is very much back in control Or so it seems The woman who's really in control is Julia Barr a 404sh actress who lives in Englewood NJ with her husband and daughter Since 1976 Barr has worked in character as Brooke English for 12 hours a day four or five days a week on seenuhnost popular soap opera "Ail My About 7 million people watch the show every day (noon weekdays on KAKE Ch 10) Barr spends almost as much time during one week being Brooke En- Julia Barr portray Brooke English on ABC series glisfa as she does Julia Barr Even her friends she says slip and call me Soap work is demanding A sitcom like the tapes 26 episodes every year Soaps like "All My churn out 260 episodes annually Barr who won a Daytime Emmy Award for best supporting actress in 1990 says she chose to stay with the show all these years because she wanted a secure job during her daughter's childhood Both Barr and Brooke English have been married twice and both have given birth to a daughter 12 (AMC) 150 Crossways Park West Woodbury NY 11797 (516) 364-2222 RADIO AM 900 KSGL 950 KJRG 1070 KFDt -1240 KNSS -1330 KFH 1410 KQAM -1480 KZSN FM Christian music ReNgkxis Country NGWalaDySpOflS Favorite oldies Nostalgia country The episodes were filmed in Allen Texas where Leach lives totally lost my identity Everywhere I go people say There goes Barney's mom' People come up and they look in my face and the first they they say to Tve got a new Barney she said "And Patrick who is now 6 feels that Barnoyh his brother part of the family" There are some differences between the videos and the television series which totals 30 episodes to be spread over a 13week period In the videos Barney takes four kids on adventures to different places For television Barney will squire seven kids around a school classroom and playground The reason Leach says is the underlying idea that education is fun allows us to send the message to preschoolers across America that learning is fun school can be an exciting place and to spark that wonder and enjoyment of learning" Show themes run from specifics such as manners shapes and crdors and alphabet fun to abstract concepts such as fear sharing and "ev Where to write or call for information Networks ABC Audience Relations ABC Television 77 66th New York NY 10023 (212) 456-7777 CBS Pres Information 51 52nd New York NY 10019 (212) 975-3163 NBC Ress Information 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York NY 10020 (212) 664-2304 Wichita 3 (KSNW NBC 833 Main PO Box 333 Wichita 67201 (316) 265-3333 4 and 24 (KSAS Fox) 316 WSst Wichita 67203 (316) 942-2424 8 (KPTS Public broadcasting) 320 21st P0 Box 288 Wichita 67201 (316)838-3090 10 (KAKE ABC affiliate) 1500 West PO Box 10 Wichita 67201 (316) 943-4221 12 (KWCH CBS affiliate) 2815 37th PO Box 12 Wichita 67203 (316) 838-1212 Wichita Cable 2 36 (Wichita Public Schools) instructional Materials Center 3850 Hydraulic Wichita 67219 (316)833-2078 5 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