Tuesday, September 02, 2008

So Long, Neighbor.

'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' won't be shown on many PBS channels starting Monday -- chicagotribune.com: "Seven years have passed since new episodes of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' were taped and five since the show's iconic, sweater-clad host died.

But news that, starting Monday, 'Mister Rogers' will disappear from the schedules of many PBS stations—including WTTW-Ch. 11 in Chicago, as well as stations in Los Angeles and apparently New York—has legions of parents and other fans lamenting what they see as a timeless show's end.

They are wondering, as Mr. Rogers himself might say: What do you do with the mad that you feel?"

6 comments:

Fred Blosser said...

My girls were regular viewers. My wife reminded me awhile back, Fred Rogers came to DC for a program with -- I believe -- the Marine Corps band when Carol and Susan was small. Thanks to a neighbor who was in the band, we got to go backstage and meet him. He was very much the low-key, nice guy that everyone knew from TV. On a tribute show a few years ago, one guest was Michael Keaton, who worked on the program in the early '70as part of the stage crew at the Pittsburgh studio.

mybillcrider said...

My kids watched him every day.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Mine too. It was a good respite from the pace of Sesame Street and me.

Livia J Washburn said...

Ours, too. They loved when he would show how things were made.

Anonymous said...

My wife was for a time a social worker working with troubled urban kids. She was surprised at how often they wanted to watch Mr. Rogers. After noticing this a few times, she asked a little boy why he liked the show.
"It's the only place where nobody's ever yelling," he said.
It's a shame to take a show like that off the air.

John Hocking

mybillcrider said...

Great commentary on the show, all right. Thanks, John.