wfn.org | Mr. Rogers will soon be taping final episodes of "Neighborhood"

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Note #6268 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

15-November-2000
00412

Mr. Rogers will soon be taping final episodes of "Neighborhood"

Children's-TV icon plans to turn his attention to other projects 

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE -- There goes the neighborhood. "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,"
that is.

	Longtime children's program host Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister,
plans to tape the final five episodes of his 32-year-old television series
next month, his production company announced on Nov. 11. The new shows will
air in August 2001, completing nearly 1,000 installments of the program that
taught values to children through simple lessons.

	"I never in a million years thought that I'd be on TV -- that that would be
part of what I was supposed to do," Rogers told Presbyterians Today magazine
in 1998.  He wasn't taking questions from reporters yesterday.

	 Rogers will still be inviting children to his neighborhood and providing
gentle advice, in reruns. But the 71-year-old creator of public television's
longest-running program won't be hanging up his cardigan sweater and
sneakers. After 50 years in television and three decades as host of
"Neighborhood," Rogers, who was ordained in 1962 by Pittsburgh Presbytery,
is turning his attention to other projects.

	"Fred made this decision to phase out production of his daily program
because he wants to focus his creative talents and energies on a variety of
other projects that can make a difference in children's lives," his
production company, Family Communications Inc., said in a news release.
"(He) is beginning a new chapter in his outstanding career as an educator
and role model for children and adults."

	Rogers' work on "Neighborhood" will be sorely missed, said Gregg Hartung,
executive director of Presbyterian Media Mission (PMM), a group devoted to
spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through the media.

	"Fred is a genuine and creative person who uses his God-given gifts to
reach out and care for children and their families," said Hartung, a
personal friend of Rogers'. "He is one of the most compassionate
communicators that I have ever met, and continues to be an inspiration to me
and all of us at PMM."

	Rogers is a native of western Pennsylvania who grew up as a member of
Latrobe Presbyterian Church. He now worships at Sixth Presbyterian Church, a
300-member congregation in Pittsburgh. His wife is an ordained elder there,
and the couple's two sons attended confirmation classes and youth group
there. His membership in Sixth Church has "meant a great deal," said John S.
McCall, its pastor. "He's a good friend for many people in the church, and
has been a primary support person for me in the congregation. He's also very
unintrusive; he does not impose himself. I think most people just know Fred
as 'Fred.'"

	For eight years during the 1950s, Rogers gave up his lunch break to attend
Bible and theology courses after first putting in a work day at WQED in
Pittsburgh, the station where "Neighborhood" is taped. He had planned to go
to seminary right after college -- in fact had been accepted -- but got
sidetracked by a call to work in television.

	In 1953 Rogers was invited by WQED  to co-produce a daily program called
"The Children's Corner." He never appeared on-screen, but worked behind the
scenes as the program's organist and puppeteer. The experience convinced him
that he had a future in children's TV. "I realized that's where my talents
were," he said. He took classes at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and
graduate courses in child development "to deepen what I could bring to
television."

	After moving to Canada to create a 15-minute children's show called
"Misterogers," he returned to WQED to develop a new half-hour version of
"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." PBS began distributing it nationally on Feb.
19, 1968.

	Rogers has never served in the traditional role of pastor, but through
television he has conveyed his simple message of affirmation and acceptance
to a "congregation" of  millions.

	For more information about "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," visit the
program's Web site: www.misterrogers.org

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