20 August 1999

The Neighborhood’s Only Human Left - THE COMMENTARY

By Joseph Planta

I, like everyone else began watching television, by watching children’s programming at a young age. (Actually, BCTV’s News Hour was one I can remember as far back as I can) In my day there was Mr. Dressup, The Friendly Giant and Sesame Street, and then there was Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. You either thought it was silly kitsch or just plain faggish, but at one point we all watched this guy change his shoes and zip up his sweater, every episode. I am actually still wondering why he changed his shoes inside his little house, but when he left it to take us to a bakery or a zoo, he still wore those ‘inside’ sneakers.

Nowadays, the world of children’s television is infiltrated by kiddy schlock like the Teletubbies and Barney, which The National Post’s Katrina Onstad said, “Appear to encourage children to be stupid.” Well, Fred Rogers never did that. He didn’t make things too real, nor did he cover things up in the cheap plastic that shows like Barney seem to be doing. Recently on CNN & Time Newsstand, the great Jeff Greenfield profiled Fred Rogers and got the viewer a real look into our Mr. Rogers. Before we discuss Mr. Rogers, a word about Greenfield. I first was introduced by Jeff Greenfield when he appeared at The 46th Annual Emmy Awards, and did an essay on television’s saturation of the events of the day. That was a time when Jacko married Lisa Marie, Lorena Bobbit got a kitchen knife and showed America how to slice, Tonya and Nancy were duking it out on the ice, Amy Fisher fooled around with a guy on Long Island named Buttafucco, to say the least it was a tabloid field day. Anyways, Jeff Greenfield was so remarkable at his delivery of his piece, I’ve been a fan since. Now that he’s on board at CNN, everytime they’ve got him on I’ve got to listen to him. He’s articulate, bright and a well versed individual. Jeff Greenfield is on top of the news business game.

I’ve since stopped watching Mr. Rogers regularly, I think I stopped about ten years ago, but he does hold an esteemed place in the history of television. After 30 years on public television, he’s still teaching today’s children about morals and values, teaching kids about themselves and so on and so forth. Mr. Rogers looks like, well he does seem like a perfect person. Someone who likes everyone and is well-liked himself. What I’m trying to get at is that Mr. Rogers is a human being. We have so many characters, and I do mean characters, that infiltrate our young minds and they aren’t even real. Pokemon, the Power Rangers, a purple blob named Barney, some fruits in pajamas and a bunch of freakish clumps who call themselves Teletubbies. In the neighborhood of children’s TV, Mr. Rogers is the only one left who stands for something and at the same time can use the power of that remarkable medium to convey the most human of emotions.

Everywhere he goes he asks for a moment of silence. It’s for those in the room to think of the people who have made a difference in their lives. He did it at the Daytime Emmys, he did it at a conference at The White House, at his induction into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame and everywhere else. Amongst the drudgery of crap that we all see in our television programming and our movies, I’m glad somewhere amongst the nonsense and negativity, there’s a place for Fred Rogers. We should all benefit from taking a breather from the hustle and bustle of life, and generation after generation and hopefully for generations to come, Mr. Rogers will be part of our neighborhoods.

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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .