Way Back Wednesday: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

By Annmarie Dean

He is one of my all-time favorites and I am sure he is one of yours as well.  Fred Rogers, American educator, songwriter, author and television host of  “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood;”  the show has been a fixture on PBS since 1969.  I can distinctly remember an episode in which my younger brother and I watched a video (delivered by Mr. McFeely, of course) on how crayons are made. 

The show produced 895 episodes before it ended in 2001 and continues to be played on some member stations; WNED is among one of them, broadcasting the show Saturday and Sundays at 7:30 a.m.  We would watch with baited breath as Trolley would transport us from Mister Rogers’ living room to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe where King Friday ruled, Lady Fairchilde called everyone “toots” and Daniel Striped Tiger was wise beyond his years. 

The third longest running series on PBS, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” won four Emmy awards and Mister Rogers himself won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Peabody award, a Lifetime Achievement award from the Daytime Emmys and he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.  One of his trademark sweaters is even in the Smithsonian Institution.

You can still watch episodes and find interactive features on the PBS website for the show.

Do you have any fond memories of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood?”