Paving Paradise and Putting Up Parking Lots

[collisionwork]

So, PBS has decided to stop airing Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on a daily basis, regulating it to an off-hour once-a-week token appearance. They are supposedly leaving it up to local PBS affiliates to decide whether or not to run it daily, as it has been for years, but given the economics and setup of PBS, it's unlikely that many of them will.

This made me a little sad for nostalgic reasons when I read it, but, hey, that's progress, right, and I'm sure that more than a few of the episodes (created 1968-2001) are rather dated now. Though it's not like I didn't grow up in the 70s watching cartoons and children's programming created from the 1930s-1960s. Mr. Rogers left us in 2003, and his neighborhood is meant, I guess, to fade off like most transitory TV shows.

However, mcbrennan makes the point that NO ONE on TV is doing anything like what Fred Rogers did for kids, and there is NO space anywhere for children like the Neighborhood on the electronic babysitter.

When I was growing up, Fred Rogers was necessary, not just for being a sea of calm in between the loud, aggressive, hysterical (and wonderful) antics of Sesame Street and The Electric Company - which could make a kid more hyper than three bowls of Super Sugar Crisp - but for being an example of adult kindness and gentleness that was inspirational and unusual then, and perhaps even more so today.

Cait Brennan includes some links and other suggestions on where to go and who to write to (politely) suggest that getting rid of daily Mr. Rogers may Not Be A Good Thing. If you have the slightest interest, please check them out.

It's not just about nostalgia.

Comments

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

awww...that's sad news, and a mistake on PBS' part.

[mcbrennan.livejournal.com]

Now you've got me jonesing for Super Sugar Crisp.

I hope PBS can be persuaded to reconsider. I do think the write-your-congressman method will be more effective than complaining to PBS. I don't think there's a television network or media outlet of any kind that cares what a bunch of viewers' emails say. But I could be wrong and it's worth a shot.

The episodes themselves--the pre-1980 episodes have not been shown for many, many years. And I'd love to see them, especially the earlier ones, the black and white ones, etc--that would be nostalgia for me. But the ones in PBS' cycle are the 1980-2002 episodes, 22+ years of contemporary and, I think, really timeless programming for today's kids. I do think this decision is about marketing--PBS and its "partners" make a tremendous amount of money off Teletubbies and Thomas the Tank Engine and Elmo and its many other "properties", while Rogers was always vigorously opposed to exploiting kids for financial gain. (Otherwise I would have a complete collection of vintage 70s "Neighborhood of Make Believe" playsets and action figures in my house...) I'm positive that's why they're giving Mister Rogers the boot. Helps that he's dead and can't defend himself.

It's a real shame. The Republicans have been trying to dismantle PBS for 40 years, and wit the end of Mister Rogers I think they've finally gotten their wish.