Barney and the Backyard Gang is a direct-to-video series produced by The Lyons Group and was produced from October 13, 1988 to October 20, 1991. This series launched the stardom of the PBS television show Barney & Friends. The first three episodes from 1988 and 1989 include American actress Sandy Duncan as Michael and Amy's Mother. Music for the Barney and the Backyard Gang videos was created by Stephen Bates Baltes and Phillip Parker, and Lory Lazarus wrote the first original song produced for Barney, "Friends Are Forever", sung by Sandy Duncan. In the first five videos, "I Love You" was sung at the beginning. The series was a regional success, but only a moderate success throughout the rest of the country. Then one day, in 1991, Larry Rifkin, then head of Connecticut Public Television, rented a Barney video for his daughter Leora. He liked the concept and talked to Leach about possibly putting Barney on television through the Public Broadcasting Service. Rock with Barney was the last video in the series before the television show debuted. Also, only four of the kids from the videos were carried over to the television show.