It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Farewell, King Friday XIII, Mister McFeely and my personal fave, Lady Aberlin. RIP “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Unless you have very small children, you probably didn’t notice that Rocky Mountain PBS has dropped the long-running series aimed at pre-school moppets.
“We’ve had the program on for at least 20 years,” said James Morgese, president and general manager of RMPBS. “There is a lot of product that is proving to be more popular. ‘Mister Rogers’ is a good show but it’s been replaced by ‘Jay Jay the Jet Plane’ and “Clifford the Big Red Dog.”‘
There’s no room in the helter-skelter world of children’s programming for a soft-spoken, gentle voice. When my children were small, they adored Mister Rogers and his cardigan sweater. There were no explosions, no super heroes, no shouting matches. Just, as the program website reminds us, helping children with their “developmental capacities and pro-social behaviors and attitudes.” And they didn’t even know it.
That was then. “Gen-X moms want to see something other than what they grew up with,” said Morgese. ‘Sesame Street’ has freshened itself. ‘Mister Rogers’ hasn’t.”
That Fred Rogers, the program’s originator who essentially played himself while surrounded by characters live and puppet, died on Feb. 27, 2003, didn’t help. The program began in 1967 and spread the philosophy of kindness and understanding throughout the PBS network. It fell out of favor.
Family Communications, Inc., which produces “MRN,” said it has gotten “many letters and phone calls complaining about ‘Neighborhood’ no longer being broadcast in Denver” even though it is still carried on many PBS stations elsewhere.
That may be, said Morgese, but KRMA-Channel 6, the flagship station for RMPBS, “may have received five letters.”
Even Morgese, who pulled the plug on ‘Neighborhood,’ expressed regret that there’s no room in his lineup for the show. “There’s a new product for a new generation of kids.”
Around the dial
Got a household repair problem? Denver is one of six stops those handymen from “This Old House” will make for the fall season, looking for interesting repair opportunities. Send those fix-its to thisoldhouse.com. … More parades: KWGN-Channel 2 carries a tape-delayed showing of its own 15th annual Celebrate Culture Parade from Civic Center (2 p.m. Saturday). Asha Blake and Greg Nieto host … Arf!: Peter Boyles and his guests look at the evolving relationship between people and their dogs on “Colorado Inside Out Live” (8 p.m. Wednesday, KBDI-Channel 12) … Quotable: “I have really never considered myself a TV star. I always thought I was a neighbor who just came in for a visit.” Fred Rogers
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
