Yes, this program has been parodied to infinity. Yes, there were people who hated Mr. Rogers even as children because of his effeminate voice. Yes, a lot of children (including me) liked how he said "Mr. Rogers likes you just the way you are." (Hence my title.) Yet this show worked despite being different from all the other kids' television shows. It wasn't frenetically paced or loud or garishly colored or featuring costumed characters or weird settings or magic or simple solutions to all your problems. The only fantasy element was a puppet land that was conservatively decorated, and even that was called "The Land Of Make Believe" and kept a separate section from the other part of the show. (Fred Rogers did start off his television career as a behind-the-scenes puppeteer.) The rest of the show featured trips to places like a hardware store, where you could watch paint being mixed to color (and which you would be expected to encounter yourself once you got older yourself.) If nothing else, this show worked by not following the formula of being a sound or light show, or even being a laugh a minute comedy. It is still widely remembered even as Barney the Dinosaur has been forgotten.
Review of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
