Paving Paradise and Putting Up Parking Lots

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.