Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

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PBS (ended 2001)
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Show Summary

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"In a little toy neighborhood, a tiny trolley rolls past a house at the end of a street. Welcome to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." In the annals of children's TV, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ranks among the longest-lasting and beloved shows. Upon its conclusion, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was the longest-running series in PBS history (a record eclipsed by Sesame Street in 2003). Host Fred Rogers (known to millions as simply "Mister Rogers") used his gentle charm and mannerisms to communicate with his audience of children. Topics centered on nearly every inconceivable matter of concern to children, ranging from everyday fears related to going to sleep, getting immunizations and disappointment about not getting one's way to losing a loved one to death and physical handicaps. Rogers used simple songs and, on nearly every show, segments from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe (NOM) to make his point. A scale-model trolley was often (but not always) used to segue into the Make-Believe segments, said neighborhood being inhabited by puppet characters including King Friday XIII, Lady Elaine Fairchild and Daniel Striped Tiger. Many shows also featured visits from cast members most often Mr. McFeely (tagline: "Speedy Delivery"), Robert Trow, Joe Negri and Chef Brockett (the local baker). Many times, Rogers also visited the neighborhood shops of both the regulars and guests. Each show began and ended with a camera panning over a scale neighborhood (said to represent the town where Rogers lived). Production History While today's longer-running PBS Kids shows reinvent themselves every five years, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood achieved, throughout its 31 seasons, that rarest of elements: consistency. It is a legacy that can all be traced through every aspect of Fred Rogers' television career. Some of the characters in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, both real and imagined, had appeared in two of Fred Rogers' earlier programs, The Children's Corner for Pittsburgh's WQED in 1954 and the CBC's Misterogers in 1963. It was for Misterogers that Fred first appeared on-camera. Rogers returned to WQED in Pittsburgh to begin writing and hosting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood May 22, 1967. Several other public television stations from Chicago to Boston carried the show on a trial basis that year. Beginning February 19, 1968, the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood program that we know today, began airing nationwide on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to PBS. This was also the year David Newell, returned from Europe, began work for Rogers. He was in charge of the production as well as the neighborhood's Speedy Delivery service. (AN ASIDE: Rogers wanted to call the delivery man Mr. McCurdy after the man at the Sears-Roebuck Foundation, whose support launched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. But the people at Sears-Roebuck called Rogers and said "Mr. McCurdy" was too self-serving. Thus Rogers went to his roots to rename Newell's deliveryman. "McFeely" was Rogers' middle name and the last name of his maternal grandfather.) Shows were produced as a daily strip from 1968 to 1976, at which time production was suspended. Counting black-and-white episodes, 590 shows were produced in that span. Production resumed at the beginning of the remote video age in 1979. Rogers went on location more, supervising videos of how people make things (a precursor to the TVO series Here's How!). Other characters would be introduced in the subsequent two decades. In all, 305 new programs were taped from 1979 through 2001. Of that volume, the most notable shows came in 1991, with Rogers focusing on calming children's fears during the first U.S. war with Iraq. PBS gradually narrowed the window for the 460 "pre-79" episodes with each new season from 1980 onward. When the number of "post-75" episodes was enough to cover entire years, the classic shows were retired, last airing on PBS in the summer of 1995. Despite the production stoppage and the subsequent passing of Fred Rogers on February 27, 2003, PBS continues to repeat Mister Roger's Neighborhood in all its original gloryan accomplishment unique among all PBS Kids shows.moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 31 :  Ep 1809 Aired 2/9/10
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PBS Kids
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S 31 :  Ep 1806 Aired 1/31/11
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PBS Kids
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S 31 :  Ep 1805 Aired 3/1/11
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PBS Kids
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S 31 :  Ep 1804 Aired 3/10/11
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PBS Kids
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S 31 :  Ep 1803 Aired 3/10/11
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Fan Reviews (30)

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  • The coolest TV Teacher!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By T_VFan, May 01, 2012
    He is sweet, he acts like your neighbor, and he takes you on adventures through his house and everything. He teaches you things you wanna learn as a kid who likes school. Greatness!

  • BOO-YAH! Mr. Rogers all the way!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By chaokid01, May 10, 2011
    How many buff musclemen do you see showing off on TV and then when they actually NEED to fight, they wuss out? Well, the only ones I can think of that don't are Chuck Noris and (fanfare) Mr. Rogers.
    Not ONLY was he in the navy but he was an EXCELLENT teacher. The show may creep some of you freaks out, but I happen to like it.
    Examples of why Mr. Rogers is a good show:
    Feeding the fish: To care for life and for reminding,
    The wonderful land of make-believe: recognition,
    Song: How do we NOT learn from song?
    Mr. Rogers: an extraordinary role model for any child.


    Mr. Rogers deserves to be appreciated and I do appriciate him. Please, for wonderful education watch this show with your kids.moreless

  • Excellent children's show

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By niceguyposer, May 07, 2011
    Mr. Rogers was truly an inspiring character who knew how to teach children about life without sugar-coating anything. Even after his death, his legacy lives on.
    Won't You Be My Neighbor Lyrics
    It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
    A beautiful day for a neighbor.
    Would you be mine?
    Could you be mine?...

    It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
    A neighborly day for a beauty.
    Would you be mine?
    Could you be mine?...

    I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
    I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

    So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
    Since we're together we might as well say:
    Would you be mine?
    Could you be mine?
    Won't you be my neighbor?
    Won't you please,
    Won't you please?
    Please won't you be my neighbor?moreless

  • I miss Mr. Rogers!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By blue4t, May 07, 2011
    Who doesn't like Mr. Rogers? I've grown up and Mr. Rogers is still cool with me.
    This show was cool. I love the filmstrips Mr. Rogers would show, like how crayons or plastic drinking straws were made. In any other context it would be boring, but they were interesting on this show.
    This is a great show for little kids. It teaches them that imagination/make-believing is important. Mr. Rogers does it with his puppets like King Friday. It's a great show for kids and adults won't get bored watching it either.
    This is definitely a classic and no other children's show can touch it!moreless

  • It makes imagination come true.

    9.1
    "Superb"
    By jonghyunchung, May 07, 2011
    I miss Mister Rogers. He died like, 4 years ago. He even used to sing songs like the "Tomorrow Song" back in the early 70's, which I'll probably never get to see again. All that I can imagine is to have the early days of him come back on television, and possibly on DVD. Currently, it only airs when I have to miss it because I have school, but at least I get to see it when I have days off. But when I was just a little kid, the episodes still aired the same. We could go for "Long live Mister Rogers", but like I said, he's dead now.moreless
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Comedy, Kids

Themes

altruistic behavior, childlike sense of wonder, cultural phenomenon, long running show, mainstream america

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