For Your Batty Consideration: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

In our tenth season's second episode, we took a journey to the hood--Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, surely thrilling our coveted 2-11-year-old demographic for the second week in a row! In addition to pondering the question, "What Is Love?" as asked in the episode premiering April 26, 1973, we talked about the show's overall impact and many other topics.

Links:

Our podcast episode
Show notes and YT playlist

Anonymous Batty Insider says: "This could be a Batty sleeper this time out, based on the affection the guys showed for the program. Will they feel the need to confirm that everyone on Mister Rogers was in fact special? Does Fred get recognized for his singing? His hosting? His kindness? Don't be surprised to see a few upsets come out of this one."

YouTube Spotlight: Mister Rogers Meets Aresnio Hall

One of the clips in this week's video playlist is just a little outside our usual timeframe, but we hope you forgive us for including a bit of Mister Rogers Meets Arsenio Hall, which was dramatized in the Tom hanks feature film a couple years ago:

This was an event almost on par with Abbott & Costello Meeting Captain Kidd, with The Bowery Boys Meeting the Monsters, dare I say even with Kiss Meeting the Phantom of the Park!

You might expect this to be played as a gag (as I sort of just did), but in fact Arsenio gives Fred Rogers all due respect. Hey, the Neighborhood featured all kinds of pairings that might be considered unusual and made everyone feel united without losing their uniqueness. After the initial joke, the two sit down and have a serious conversation, and Rogers doesn't seem out of place.

I think this is a really cool clip (originally airing in January 1993) that shows both men at their best. Maybe it's not so unusual when you consider that several years earlier, Rogers described himself as a cross between Albert Schweitzer and Arsenio Hall!

Power Rankings Friday: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood!

This week we celebrate our latest podcast episode by ranking the denizens of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood! Note that some of the show favorites like Chef Brockett, Mr. McFeely, and even ol' Freddie Ro himself are not eligible since this list focuses on the "fictional" part of the program and the characters who were only seen in that portion:

1) X the Owl: I said on the podcast that X was the most appealing character in the Make-Believe. I like the way he looks and his enigmatic nature. Is he a representative of the undefinable crossover between knowledge and imagination?

Or maybe he's just an owl. But he's cool. And I love that his name is just "X."

2) King Friday: Mike once described His Majesty's nature as "mercurial," and that says it best, though Friday is rather subdued in the episode we discuss on the podcast. Let's be honest here: Friday is sometimes, well, a bit of a jerk. Does the land of Make-Believe even need a king? What is his lineage, anyway?

I'm just asking questions here. As a character, King Friday shakes things up and makes good television, so I don't want to see him go anywhere.

3) Lady Aberlin: Her interactions with Daniel Tiger remind me of what they used to say about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire: She gave him class, and he gave her broad philosophical questions that were impossible to resolve in a single 10-minute segment.

4) Handyman Negri: He's just so darned amiable that you got to love him. And besides, I could use someone to help with some grout repair.

Do they even have grout in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe?

5) Henrietta Pussycat: Her speech patters, meow, can be a little, meow, annoying, meow, yet also, meow, kind of fascinating. Meow.

Not ranked but also receiving consideration: Neighbor Aber (mainly just for the name, I admit), the controversial Lady Elaine, Queen Sarah, Henrietta, Prince Tuesday, Daniel Tiger

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 10-2: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

*The video playlist for this episode is now live! See promos, clips, and Fred Rogers in action, plus SCTV,  Ben Franklin, and Wayland Flowers & Madam! All this and more when you click below:

Remember to hit our official YouTube page for past episodes of the podcast and episode-specific video playlists for each one!

*Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired for 31 seasons and over 900 episodes according to Wikipedia. It had various pre-incarnations before becoming a national daily broadcast on NET (later PBS) in 1968.

*New episodes lasted until 2001, most taped at PBS member station WQED in Pittsburgh. The series took a production break for several years in the mid Seventies.

*Episodes are streaming various places, including a rotating assortment each week at the series' official site at https://www.misterrogers.org/.

*Props to Johnny Costa, who Mike mentions on the podcast. Costa was the show's longtime musical director and performed much of the music in the episodes.

*Morgan Neville's documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor premiered in theaters in 2018, the 50th anniversary of the debut on PBS. That same year, PBS stations aired Mister Rogers: It's You I Like, an hourlong presentation hosted by Michael Keaton.

*According to this site, the episode we discuss, "What Is Love?" is numbered 1309 and premiered Thursday, April 26, 1973 on most PBS stations.

*Elsie Neal, the proprietor of the craft shop, should not be confused with actress Elise Neal.

*Warning to sensitive listeners/viewers: Here is the scary PBS logo indent, also contained (but just barely) in our playlist this week:

We feel that by sharing this clip and confronting it, we can all grow and get past our crippling fear of it.

*Mike and I think you're are special, and we love you just the way you are (and not just because you listen, but we appreciate that, too)/

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...