This is one of the most disillusioning things I have ever seen in my life.

[LoZoccolo]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That was lovely, my dear LoZoccolo...thank you!

[LAGC]

2. That's terrible! What a cruel thing to do to children!

Like slapping them across the face and telling them there's no Santa!

Kids ought to figure it out by themselves, by why ruin their innocence like that?!

For shame, Mr. Rogers!!

[Ikonoklast]

3. "Fred Rogers" was a Soviet agent under deep cover.

Her was member of the SS who was recruited by the Soviet Union soon after the war ended.

"Rogers" was reportedly spotted at various times over the years with the political leaders of the Congo, Cuba, South Africa, Sudan and North Korea when stationed there as "Cultural Attache".

Rumored to have been in Dallas, October, 1963, 'visiting' old comrade L. H. Oswald.
"Rogers" was the operative assigned to de-brief L.H. Oswald after he defected to the Soviet Union.

He was also personally directly responsible for 'retiring' seven Western Bloc intelligence agents; his favored method was boring them to death.

Hideous way to go.

Took days for them to die.


The man was a monster.

[suninvited]

4. I loved Mr. Rogers

he was a little over zealous in telling the truth, but I think that's why he was so trusted by children.

[Rex]

5. Mister Rogers had the coolest job on TVEE.

[HopeHoops]

6. Damn I miss him.

[dawg]

7. I think that clip is awesome!

[nolabear]

8. In 1968 my mother died, the same year Mr. Rogers began his show.

I wasn't a little kid...well, I didn't think I was. I was thirteen. I spent some considerable time in shock, going to school and coming home and going to school and coming home...everything was disorienting and I didn't even know how to be sad.

But when I came home, I watched Mister Rigers, sitting alone in front of the TV. It was in black and white and he was realy young, but none of it changed much over the years. He was quiet and warm and always there, like a place where I could breathe.

Later we lived in Pittsburgh for a few years, where Fred Rogers was a god. He almost never did public schtick, that seemed to fall to the other cast members. He did what he did, which was to explain the world in a warm, loving way to little, and sometimes not so little, kids.

I wrote to him when I was about thirty, telling him how much his simple presence had meant to that lost thirteen yeaer old. And he wrote back, a short, sweet, very personal note that I treasure to this day.

Thanks for posting.

[snacker]

10. What a beautiful story...

thank you so much for sharing it. Mr. Rogers certainly had a warm and gentle presence. The world would be a better place if there were more like him. I really believe every generation needs a Mr. Rogers...

[Brickbat]

11. That's awesome, and it reminds me of when I watched Mr. Rogers with my kids.

I loved him when I was young; he was the first man I wanted to marry. And when I started watching him with my kids when they were old enough, I sat and cried behind them as they enjoyed the show. All I could think of was how he was a calm, loving presence for everyone, and that now I was an adult I understood that there were probably kids out there who needed someone reliable, unconditionally loving and accepting in their life, and that Mr. Rogers might be all they get, but at least it was something.

And there you are, one of those kids. He really was a treasure.

[MiddleFingerMom]

12. I'm out-and-about without my headphones, so I can't hear the video...

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... but the picture below is one of my favorite "finds" in quite a while.
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I'm so proud that the last puppet he showed was the King MiddleFingerMom one.
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[MilesColtrane]

13. Way to break the fourth wall, Fred.

[A Simple Game]

14. I was too old for Mister Rogers, but

in the early '70s when I got home from the midnight shift, I often got stoned watching Captain Kangaroo. I could only get the one channel. Used to be some awesome graphics. Well at least I thought so.

[LoZoccolo]

15. There used to be stories about ravers watching Teletubbies.

And after seeing it once I believe it. One night I stayed over at my brother's apartment in July, and he didn't have air conditioning. I was trying to sleep on the couch, and I usually have trouble sleeping in any other bed than my own to begin with, and I woke up at least once with my ear filled with sweat! At some point early in the morning, I woke up and gave up trying to get back to sleep and turned on the TV. It was the weirdest childrens' show I had ever seen! From what I've heard, it's for very young children, like ones are learning to speak. They repeated the same story like four times, and it was really simple to begin with, something about each of the Teletubbies doing different things, and then one of them started dancing, and they all started dancing too. And they would speak this baby-talk where some of the words seemed recognizable but some of them sounded like that kind of structured-sounding gibberish that babies talk when they are learning to talk. I asked someone I know who teaches child development courses at a community college about this, and they said that they didn't think that the Teletubbies' language wouldn't help children learn to speak, and that if you want to teach them that, you should just speak normally around them and they'll start developing language skills. And I saw all this weirdness on few hours of sleep in like unmitigated 90 degree weather.

[BiggJawn]

17. I LOVED the giggling sun-baby.

Watching that show was like re-living the Acid Days all over again... Eh-Ohhh!

[BiggJawn]

16. That's the part of the reason I got into Television.

With a little bit if imagination, a TV studio can become anything anywhere.

I sure miss Fred, Bob Ross, too.