Far from 'a great big hug,' a new 'Barney' doc explores love, hatred and tragedies

Sixty-five million years after the Mesozoic, we entered a new dinosaur era: Barney.

The green-bellied purple dinosaur modeled kindness in educational direct-to-video movies and a 1992-2010 PBS series, "Barney & Friends," aimed at kids. For those who missed its heyday, a costumed actor taught his young friends life lessons, problem-solving skills and how to be their most "super-dee-duper" selves.

Barney's Tyrannosaurus hex reportedly captured 2 million viewers at its peak in 1996-97, but enraged a segment of the population that called for his violent extinction. Take the series' polarizing "I Love You" tune. "Won't you say you love me too?" Not everyone did.

"Really, nothing feels more stimulating than nursing a giant grudge," Rob Curran, founder of the I Hate Barney Secret Society, says in Peacock's two-part documentary "I Love You, You Hate Me" (now streaming). "Nothing feels more stimulating than nursing our angry temper."

The documentary, directed by Tommy Avallone, traces the origins of the friendly dinosaur and examines the Barney bashing that resulted, featuring interviews with the actors who voiced and donned the purple suit, the show's crew, its former child stars – but not its most famous alumni, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato – and Steve Burns, the former host of Nickelodeon's "Blue's Clues."

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Death threats and the attacks on Barney

Barney was more than a (dino)sore subject. People dressed like him were assaulted.

Travis Fox headed a Barney-bashing event at the University of Nebraska in 1993, complete with a Barney piñata and stuffed Barneys to beat with mallets. "This one doesn't have any eyes left," Fox says in the documentary, holding one of the plush victims. "I actually watched somebody eat the eyes right off of this doll."

The show's music director, Bob Singleton, says he felt so intimidated by threats he unlisted his phone number. "I got actual death-and-dismemberment-of-my-family emails," he says.

Bob West, the voice of Barney from 1988-2000, tells USA TODAY that he received threats from middle school students, which he dismissed.

"The majority of the emails were very positive, but every once in a while somebody would say something like, 'I'm going to find you, and I'm going to kill you,'" West recalls. "But when I would respond to them, most of the time they would just apologize and say, 'I'm so sorry. I didn't realize there was a real human being on the other end and that someone would read it.'"

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Tragedies befalling Barney creator Sheryl Leach

Sheryl Leach created the character in 1988 after recognizing a lack of programming for her 2-year-old son, Patrick. In a 1993 interview with National Public Radio, Leach confessed her son, then 7, had "a love-hate relationship" with Barney.

Leach left "Barney" in 1998 to spend more time with her son, the same year she and Patrick's father, Jim Leach, separated. Jim died by suicide when Patrick was 18, according to the documentary. In 2013, when Patrick was 27, he shot a neighbor he clashed with near his Malibu property. Brenda Lee, deputy district attorney with Los Angeles County's district attorney's office, assessed Patrick as "paranoid and very tightly wound."

Patrick's neighbor survived. Patrick, who declined to be interviewed for "I Love You, You Hate Me," pleaded no contest to assault with a semiautomatic firearm and shooting from a vehicle causing great bodily injury. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but his sentence was commuted after five years.

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Drugs and alcohol: The lengths kid actors went to distance themselves

Pia Hamilton, who played Min, one of the kids on the series, says in the documentary that she was teased by peers. Leah Montes, who portrayed Luci, also says she was mocked, and drank and smoked to shake her "Barney" image.

An image makeover for Hope Cervantes (Tosha) included black clothes and black lipstick. She referred to herself as Black Death and leaned on "drugs and alcohol to cope."

Rickey Carter (Derek) says he also began using drugs and mingling with a rough crowd. In 2004, an associate attempted to rob Carter at gunpoint in a car. When Carter tried to exit the vehicle, the person shot Carter in the back, paralyzing him. (He eventually learned to walk again.)

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Steve Burns talking to camera just like on 'Blue's Clues'

Burns' presence adds warmth to the documentary for those familiar with his turn hosting "Blue's Clues" (1996-2002). Burns and Barney shared success and obstacles. Burns was falsely rumored to be the victim of a fatal car accident or drug overdose.

"We're not going to be able to interview Barney the dinosaur," Avallone tells USA TODAY. "So here's this person who means so much to us in our childhood telling us what he went through."

Burns, 49, creates a special moment for viewers when speaking directly to them, just as he did on "Blue's Clues."

"I think we all have a Barney," he says. "Like you, right?"

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peacock's Barney documentary 'I Love You, You Hate Me': What to know