Rating: - A beautiful day in the neighborhood
When Fred Rogers passed away in 2003, I was surprised by the welling up of emotion I felt... I had, of course, watched him on TV when I was little and alwys liked him, although I intuitively knew the show was a bit babyish... Then, when "Sesame Street" came along, I switched my allegiance... I wanted to watch the more "grown-up" show...:-) but I always felt a lingering fondness for Mr. Rogers, and while an increasingly cynical popular culture made fun of his doting sweetness, I never did.

Now, a parent with a child of my own, in search of non-disturbing entertainment that won't insult the intelligence of a little kid, I've come back to Mister Rogers' neighborhood, and it feels like home. Sadly, amazingly, inexplicably, there are only three DVDs of Mister Rogers material to be found(!) and they are all from his later years, when his hair was grey and he tended to drop things a lot... But the sweetness, the sincerity, the earnest desire to make the world a better place still comes through loud and clear. Mister Rogers is a comforting presence, and his Land of Make Believe is still as magical as ever: we were hooked. It's a pity you can't see all the old stuff, too -- I imagine in a few years it will all be available online as downloads, but I'm sad that we will have to miss it, when the time is so right. Oh, well.

Anyway, these DVD editions are nice, although they do have their quirks. "A Day At The Circus" is one of the best because it has two stand-alone episodes, one about visiting the circus and another about making music. The footage of live animals and chats with various circus performers is nice, and as ever Mr. Rogers aims at making life easier for the littlest people: one of the messages he gives them is that it's okay to want to leave the circus if you feel you've "had enough", and that it's okay to say so to your parents.

The other discs are wonderful, too, though a little more problematic in that they tell whole stories, but in a fractured fashion. As longtime viewers will know, Mr. Rogers would continue plotlines from day to day, so that a story might begin on Monday but not be resolved until Friday... So for example, in one storyline two Make Believe characters get in a fight, but the resolution comes several days later. All very well and fine, except that there are only two episodes on each disc, so we see the beginning, and get the set-up, but when the next episode comes up there are references fto all many events that happened in the interim -- the lesson is still learned, but the gap in the narrative is disconcerting, and shows a surprising lack of respect for the audience. Nonetheless, this was a wonderful show, and if these discs are the only material available to households that do not watch "real" TV, they are still certainly worth watching. Hopefully the folks at Anchor Bay (Rogers' company) will open the vaults soon, and more Make Believe magic will be available again.