got a cite to dubunk that sniper legend? just had a coworker ask 'bout that.
As for the news it self… well it seems everyone else has captured my feelings as well. 
I woke up before my son this morning (as always) and when he got up I said “guess who went to Heaven this morning?”
He was an example of what a Christian is SUpposed to be. Living it, not talking it.
Urbanlegends.com debunks the sniper myth.
I believe that the molestation legend may be from people who have Mr. Rogers confused with Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gormet. He had a bit of trouble a while back.
-M
Very sad. Like so many others, I grew up watching him. His show was so much better then so many of the other children’s shows. And he lasted for over 30 years. Not many other shows come even close to that. He stood the test of time.
My mom called me with the news earlier today. Its not until I grew up that I realized what a great contribution to the world I was taking for granted. I Mcfeely terrible.
You’ll be greatly missed, neighbor…
-KrisAlthough Fred Rogers has been ridiculed over the years by comics and television shows, I commend him for doing something very few people can do. He was able to create a simple show that explained everyday things in terms children can understand, and run it for 30 years and over 900 programs. He was always a kindly host. The show is set up in a way as if we are visiting his house-we are his “neighbors.”
As long as King Friday XIII still rules, it will still always be a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Goodbye, Mr. Rogers.
I don’t know what to say. I used to watch both Mr Roger’s Neighbourhood and Mr DressUp as a child (I seem to recall they were shown one after the other, on different stations). Such wonderful, kind people are few and far between, and now we have one less… a sad day indeed.
Even in death he makes me smile.
Can’t say much more than has already been said here. Somebody beat me to the “We didn’t know it was your car” anecdote, dagnabbit! But here’s another one.
I remember one episode where he walked in, and instead of doing the cardigan/tennies thing, he plunked right down on the couch. “Do you know why I didn’t toss my sneakers up in the air,” he asked the camera, “like I usually do? That’s because I’m mad!” (Of course, his “mad” was like .0000000000000025 on the Richter scale.) He went on to explain how he’d had a fenderbender in a grocery store parking lot, and it was totally because the other person hadn’t been looking. Then he went to small claims court to get the whole thing ironed out, walking the audience through all of it, of course. (I don’t remember now, but I bet the other driver was just mortified!)
Godspeed, Mr. Rogers.
I remember watching his show when I was a little kid.
Did anyone see the “60 Minutes” interview done with him last season? He really is like that even off camera. An incredibly nice, warm, and fundamentally decent man.
“60 Minutes” is bound to repeat that interview next Sunday.
I grew up in Saint Louis, shere they showed Captain Kangaroo. I didn’t discover Mr. Rogers until I was a teenager and didn’t appreciate him until I was 21. I remember sitting around my dirty little apartment, high as a kite hearing Mr. Rogers say “I like you just because you’re you”. No one had ever said that to me before. The way he had of looking directly into the camera made me feel like he was talking to me. I became a Mr. Rogers fan immediately.
I grew up with Mr. Rogers. I truly believed how much he liked me. I had dreams of his show.
Oh man, what an important part of my childhood Mr. Rogers was.
Thanks for being there Mr. Rogers.
I remember (IIRC, that is) an episode where he got a parking ticket upon running in to a corner store for change for the parking meter, only to have the meter maid beat him to his car (he went to traffic court, and got off completely). Are these two episodes the same, or possibly different ones?
Jeez, I remember my mom making fun of me for still watching when I was in the third grade. But he was so easy to watch and to love. He had a calming, soothing manner to him. So unlike the frenetic pace of so much childrens’ TV today.
One of the local PBS stations, WNET in NYC, has preempted their regularly scheduled programming to carry a special about Fred Rogers that originally aired in 1990.
Yeah, he wasn’t an icon or anything.
Oh, SHIT, Mr. Rogers . . . now what did you have to go and do that for? It wasn’t very neighborly of you to break my heart.
“There’s only one in this wonderfuly world:
You . . .
Are . . .
Special.”
So many of us (myself included) mocked his show or laughed at the parodies when we were older, but it’s a sign of his influence and that we watched, that we got the jokes and that he was a source of humor for so long.
But the man was a true class act, dedicated to his ministry, his subtle, gentle methods in a medium of noise and empty spectacle, and his audience. The profiles on CNN by Jeff Greenfield and 60 Minutes in recent years were great refresher courses for adults who felt we had outgrown him and his message. How wrong we were.
Damn, I feel old now.
No, in the one I’m thinking of, the other driver was fumbling with her checkbook, and apparently took her foot off the brake WITHOUT LOOKING. He made quite a point of the fact that she WASN’T LOOKING, with the point being that anyone can make a mistake, but that most mishaps can be avoided if one PAYS ATTENTION.
I really needed a good cry tonight and this did it for me.
I have to admit that I haven’t been able to watch Mr. Rogers with my kids. It just seems so corny now. But I was so in love with the man when I was little. He was such a wonderful father figure. When the show would come on I would rush and get my tap shoes so I could dance for him while he sang the intro song. Boy, I can’t believe I remember that much less that I’m telling it.
What strikes me now is that Christian, Athiest, those that watched as kids and those that experienced him for the first time as adolescents or adults have all been so touched by him and his passing on. Regardless of who he was or what he accomplished the most impressive thing is that he touched hearts and made people feel special. Can you do any better than that?
May his quiet influence in us help us to react to others with kindness and build others up. God bless, Mr. Rogers.
I remember that episode. Mr. Rogers came in and held up his ticket as he sang *It’s a beautiful day * He went to traffic court and the judge said: “You should carry more money with you, Mr. Rogers.”
OMG I remember that, but I can’t remember to take my proof of credentails to work.
For me, and maybe for many of us, Mr. Rogers was my third parent.
His show was the best of what TV can be and should strive for.