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Note #8045 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Neighborhood reunion
03536
December 12, 2003

Neighborhood reunion

TV biography chronicles life and times of 'Mister Rogers'

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - A biography on public television next month chronicles the life
and times of the late Fred Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister best
known to generations of American children as TV's "Mister Rogers."

For more than three decades, Rogers invited millions of young viewers to be
his neighbor as host of the public television show "Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood."

Actor Michael Keaton, a former stagehand on the children's television
classic, is narrator and host of the 90-minute portrait titled, "Fred Rogers:
America's Favorite Neighbor." The program airs Jan. 1 on PBS affiliates at
9:30 p.m. (ET).

Described in the documentary as a "reluctant celebrity," Mister Rogers became
a "much loved part of American popular culture," Keaton says during the
biography. "He was a great guy and a wonderful neighbor."

Highlights include a behind-the-scenes look at the children's television
pioneer through pictures and film footage capturing key moments of his
career, along with taped interview segments of Rogers, his friends and those
he worked with before his death last Feb. 27.

Much of the material in "America's Favorite Neighbor" is told directly
through Rogers' own words. He explains how he came to work in children's
television and what he thought about as he looked into the camera during
tapings of "Neighborhood."

 Viewers will learn the reason behind Mister Rogers wearing sneakers on the
studio set and how his Neighborhood of Make-Believe came about.

The program also includes clips from Rogers' appearances on "The Arsenio Hall
Show" and "Sesame Street," Eddie Murphy's notorious spoof on "Saturday Night
Live," various award ceremonies and remembrances from colleagues and friends.

The biography is co-produced by WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh and Family
Communications, Inc., the nonprofit production company Rogers founded and
headed.

 "This collaboration between WQED, FCI and PBS was created due to the
overwhelming response from the millions of people touched by Fred's life,"
said Robert Petrilli, WQED's senior vice president and chief operating
officer.

Rogers produced "Neighbors" from 1968 to 2000 at WQED, Pittsburgh's public
television station. The final new episode, which was taped in December 2000,
aired in August 2001, though PBS affiliates continued to air reruns.

The show stands as public television's longest running program ever.

The television special shows Rogers - who was 74 at the time of his death
from stomach cancer - starting each episode of "Neighborhood" by donning a
cardigan sweater and comfortable sneakers, singing "It's a beautiful day in
the neighborhood."

With a soothing voice and mild-mannered demeanor, Rogers taught values and
reassured children through simple messages, the program points out, telling
young viewers to love themselves and others. He taught children how to share,
how to deal with anger and even how to cope with the ravages of war.

The documentary recounts Rogers' early life in the small town of Latrobe, PA,
where he was born on March 20, 1928. Then details the beginning of his career
in 1951, first as a "gopher" then a floor manager, at NBC Television in New
York.

The program follows him to Pittsburgh where in 1953 Rogers helped launch
WQED, the nation's first community-supported television station.

A year later, Rogers began producing his first children's television program,
"The Children's Corner," at WQED. With this program, in which he never
appeared on camera, he developed the concept of using songs and puppets to
talk to children through television.

 Vintage black-and-white film clips catch Rogers performing the puppet work
and voices himself. He later incorporated these ideas into "Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood," which made its television debut on Feb. 19, 1968.

Aside from being a children's program host and an ordained minister, Rogers
was a father, puppeteer, scriptwriter, lyricist and composer. The documentary
emphasizes the importance of music in Rogers' life and how it carried over
into his programs.

Rogers says in the biography that he actually hated television when he
watched it for the first time, calling it "perfectly horrible." However, he
delayed plans for attending seminary to pursue a career in television because
he knew there was a positive way to nurture those who tuned in, he said.

"What if you were offered an hour of television, live everyday?" Rogers is
seen asking. "Can you imagine what it's like to try to fill that up with
something of value? I wanted to give the best I could."

Rogers eventually attended Presbyterian-related Pittsburgh Theological
Seminary part-time. In 1962, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by
Pittsburgh Presbytery with a charge to continue his work with children and
families through the mass media.

"It was a mission that he would take very seriously," Keaton says.

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