Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

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Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was a children's television show created and hosted by Fred Rogers which was produced by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania public broadcaster WQED and Rogers' not-for-profit production company Family Communications, Inc. (originally Small World Enterprises prior to 1971).

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Alternate names

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is sometimes referred to as MisteRogers' Neighborhood. This was the original name of the series from its debut February 19, 1968 until May 1, 1970. In common vernacular, the show is often referred to as merely Mister Rogers.

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History

The show began in 1962 as MisteRogers' Neighborhood, a 15 minute program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (Ernie Coombs, a.k.a. Mister Dressup, got his start as a puppeteer on Misterogers.)

The first broadcast of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was on the National Educational Television network on February 19, 1968. The following year it moved to NET's successor, PBS. The last set of original episodes began airing in August 2001. 300 reruns continue to be broadcast on most PBS stations.

The series was divided into two halves. The first half aired from 1968 to 1976 (pre-79). The second half aired from 1979 to 2001 (modern series). Episodes of the first half are no longer shown on television, since there is already an ample supply of the post-79 series in circulation, and since many of the pre-79 episodes are now out-of-date.

When PBS began reruning the first 460 color episodes of the series in 1976, some of the early color episodes from 1969 and 1970 were re-edited with new voice-overs or footage. For example, in one 1969 episode where Mister Rogers demonstrates the noise-proof ear protectors that airport workers use on the tarmac, the film footage used featured a worker directing a United Airlines jet with its stylised "U" logo -- which wasn't introduced until 1974. All pre-79 episodes also included an extra segment following the closing credits, mentioning the show number and additional companies that provided funding since these episodes originally aired, even though they had not provided funding at the time of original production.

The final week of original episodes of the pre-79 era in 1976 featured Mister Rogers in his workshop, watching scenes of past episodes of his series, which he recorded on videocassettes and kept on the shelf in his workshop. On the Friday show of that week, he reminded viewers that they, too, can watch many of those old shows beginning the following week.

As of this writing, almost all of the 1979-2001 episodes are in active rotaion on PBS. The only exception is the week-long "Conflict" series (episodes 1521-1525, first aired in November of 1983), which covered the topics of war, bombs, and an arms race. The "Conflict" series was last aired in April of 1996.

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About the show

The show was characterized by its simplicity and calmness. Episodes had no real plot and instead consisted of Rogers speaking directly to children about various issues, taking them on tours of factories, demonstrating experiments and crafts, and interacting with his friends. The half-hour episodes were punctuated by a puppet segment chronicling occurrences in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

Rogers covered a broad range of topics over the years, and the show did not gloss over issues that other children's programming avoided. For example, the show dealt with competition, divorce, death, and war. Rogers returned to the topic of anger regularly and focused on peaceful ways of dealing with angry feelings.

In an a Make-Believe segment from 1983 that dealt with an arms race against the neighboring Southwood, King Friday said, "Yes, so here is your assignment, Handyman Negri: you are to order a million of these from Cornflake S. Pecially and conscript everyone in the neighborhood to help put the bombs together." Later, Friday added, "If Southwood has a million, we will have a million and one." By the end of the week-long series, other inhabitants of the Neighborhood encourage the King to explore more diplomatic options, and peace results.

Starting in 1979, episodes were grouped into week-long series, with each series focused on a particular topic. Rogers' monologues throughout the week would explore various facets of the topic, and the ongoing story from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe would serve as illustration.

Mister Rogers always made a clear distinction between the realistic world of his television neighborhood and the fantasy world of Make-Believe. He often discussed what was going to happen in Make-Believe before the next fantasy segment was shown ("Let's pretend that Prince Tuesday has been having scary dreams..."), and sometimes acted out bits of Make-Believe with models on a table before the camera transitioned to the live-action puppet rendition. The miniature motorized trolley, with its accompanying piano theme music, was the only element that appeared in both the realistic world and Make-Believe: it was used to transport viewers from one realm to the other.

This reality/fantasy distinction put Rogers' show in sharp contrast with other children's shows, such as Sesame Street, which freely mixed realistic and fantastic elements.

The show was also notable for its use of jazz-inspired music, mostly arranged and performed by Rogers' long-time friend John Costa, until Costa's death in 1996. Lyrics and melodies were written and sung by Rogers---in total, he created more than 200 original songs.

At the beginning of each show, when Fred Rogers would come into his television studio house, singing his song, he would be wearing a coat and dress shoes and then he would take off and hang up his coat, put on a cardigan sweater, and finally remove his dress shoes and put on sneakers. One of Rogers' sweaters now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution, a testament to the cultural influence of his simple daily ritual.

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Characters

Characters on the show include Mr. McFeely the delivery man (David Newell), Lady Aberlin (Betty Aberlin), Neighbor Aber (Chuck Aber), Chef Brockett (Don Brockett), François Clemmons, Joe Negri, and Bob Trow. The puppets, some of which were voiced by Rogers, included Daniel Striped Tiger, X The Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, Cornflake S. Pecially, Lady Elaine Fairchilde, Grandpere, Edgar Cooke, Prince Tuesday, Queen Sara Saturday, and King Friday XIII.

Many of the puppet characters appearing in the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" segment were developed by Rogers years earlier for the The Children's Corner, an educational program that he co-produced with Josie Carey.

Pittsburgh-area native Michael Keaton got his first major acting break as a "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" character in 1975. Keaton played an acrobat in a troup called The Flying Zookeenies that performed for King Friday's birthday. He was also in charge of running the Trolley.

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Mister Rogers in popular culture

  • A skit titled 'Battle of the PBS Stars Part 1: Boxing' on the sketch comedy show Second City Television featured Mr. Rogers (portrayed by Martin Short) facing Julia Child (portrayed by John Candy) with Howard Cosell (portrayed by Eugene Levy) commentating at ringside. The fight is surprisingly close until Mr. McFeely surreptitiously hands Rogers the King Friday puppet which Rogers then uses to club Julia Child. Rogers is subsequently disqualified. Cossell states that it is a dark day in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.
  • An early 1980s recurring Saturday Night Live skit entitled "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood" starred Eddie Murphy as a parody of Rogers, hosting a supposed children's show from a run-down row home in a bad area. The skit title was appropriated by tennis shoe conglomerate Nike in the late 1980s featuring NBA star David Robinson.
  • In the 1980 spoof film Airplane!, Stephen Stucker's character suggests "Mr. Rogers" when Lloyd Bridges requests assistance from someone who knows an "airplane inside and out...someone who won't crack under pressure."
  • During the moral outrage following Monicagate in early 1999, MAD Magazine printed a parody entitled "The Ken Starr Report on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood", featuring numerous outlandish claims including allegations that Mr. Rogers was violating the U.S. Constitution by "recognizing the royal sovereignity of King Friday XIII within U.S. borders", and links between Mr. McFeely and the Unabomber.
  • An episode of Family Guy begins as a parody of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. When Mr. Rogers tries to go to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Stewie Griffin appears with a laser gun on the small trolley used to facilitate the transition on the show. He informs Mr. Rogers that the Neighborhood of Make-Believe has been destroyed. Mr. Rogers looks inside only to see carnage, with every major character killed (presumably by Stewie) in a variety of different ways. Henrietta Pussycat is heard saying "Meow-meow-meow-meow skin graft meow-meow."
  • In another episode of Family Guy, Chris is caught peeping and Peter comforts him by saying that it's natural and that all men do it, even Mister Rogers.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Worst Episode Ever", Millhouse and Bart find a video tape in the comic book store entitled "Drunk Mr. Rogers". They watch a brief portion of it in which he says "What do you mean I can't take off my sweater? I'm HOT!"
  • The Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word" also mentions Mr. Rogers, as Bart tries to coax Maggie into speaking her first words; "Can you say 'Get bent'?," he asks. "Bart!", Marge exclaims. Bart protests, "Mr. Rogers says it all the time!"
  • In a Simpsons episode, Homer lies about giving PBS $10,000, he is chased by characters in PBS. You can see Mr. Rogers saying "Its a beautiful day to kick you ass!"
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Credits

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Funding Credits

From 1968 to 1976, the funding credits were part of the show credits; the ones used in the opening were silent (other than the theme), while an announcer or Fred Rogers would read the funding credits aloud during the closing credits.

Opening (1968)

  • This program made possible by a grant from:

    The Sears-Roebuck Foundation

    and a special children's program fund established by N.E.T. affiliated stations.

Opening (1969-1970)

  • This program made possible by a grant from:

    The Sears-Roebuck Foundation

    and a children's program fund established by N.E.T. affiliated stations.

Closing (1969-1970)

  • Production funds for this television visit were provided by a grant from The Sears-Roebuck Foundation and a children's program fund established by N.E.T. affiliated stations.

Opening (1971-1974)

Closing (1971)

Closing (1972-1974)

Closing 1969-1974 (repeats after 1976)

Includes a still of the trolley with the show logo and episode number, plus the following:

This is inserted at the end of the show, after the closing credits, and before the PBS system cue (logo).

Opening (1975)

Closing (1975)

Opening (1976)

Closing (1976)

1979-1990

(From 1979 onward, the funding credits are in a separate segment at the start and end of each show, announced by Fred Rogers. Only the funders' names would be shown on screen.)

  • The people who gave the money to make Mister Rogers' Neighborhood are the people of this and other public television stations, and The Sears-Roebuck Foundation.

1990-1992

  • The people who gave the money to make Mister Rogers' Neighborhood are the people who contribute to this and other public television stations, and The Sears-Roebuck Foundation.

1992-1994

1994-1999

1999-end of run

  • Same as above, but at end the announcer says "We Thank You" (in compliance with the latest PBS Red Book standards).
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See also

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External links

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