A little googling tells me that, even back in the 1960s, it wasn’t common for men who wore ties in public to keep wearing them at home.
Rogers took off the jacket and loafers, and put on a cardigan and sneakers, at the start of every episode, as a framing technique, and to help kids see that he was getting comfortable for his visit with them. But, also recall that the end of each episode used a reversal of that framing technique: he’d take off the sneakers and cardigan, and put the loafers and jacket back on as he prepared to leave the house, end the visit with his TV friends, and head back into the world.
It would have been quick for him to take the tie off as part of the episode’s opening, but putting the tie back on at the end would have been time-consuming and complex.
My father, who wore a suit and tie to work every day, would get home from work, take off his jacket, and kick back with a cold beer and a pipe of tobacco. His tie was loosened, even through dinner and after. Often, until he went to bed.
Mr. Rogers wearing a tie through his show, was perfectly normal to my sister and I. Gentlemen, whether Mr. Rogers or my father, always wore ties.
Personally? As a child? Batman (1966) and The Monkees. Lots of action and silliness and no attempt to really teach me anything. As an educational tool? The Electric Company and the Schoolhouse Rock shorts are probably the only shows that actually helped me in school.
When I hear of a Children’s television series, I think of something intended to be wholesome and, at least a little, educational.
That’s different than cartoons. Scooby Doo, Loony Tunes, et al, are certainly animated, and kids watched them, but if we are talking about the stuff you stick your toddler down to watch, one I actually enjoyed was Sid the Science Kid.
If we’re going to talk about animated stuff kids watched, there’s a whole world of Hanna-Barbera to discuss.
What happened in later seasons ran from great to absolutely terrible, but agreed, season one of Gargoyles was a gem, much like my personal favorite of the original run of Batman: The Animated Series.
Though if I’m voting for what I consider more traditional “children’s series” rather than entertainment/toy selling media…
I’m going with 3-2-1 Contact, at least the first season. Of course, that’s an age thing - born in the mid-70’s, 3-2-1 contact was my first experience with a slightly more serious show that had educational components past very simple elements of basic math and vocabulary.
If I was younger, it would be other more well-known or popular edutainment, probably Bill Nye the Science Guy.
I personally never liked Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when it was airing, although I have very high regard for its creator. Unfortunately, I think the puppets creeped me out.
Arthur was fine as a TV series, but I had a hard time taking the character seriously after he got a nose job—all the more ironic since the first book, Arthur’s Nose, was all about an aardvark learning to be happy with his long nose.
My kids and I remember Big Comfy Couch fondly. My girl had a Molly doll, just like Loonette, and we always participated in the regular Clock Stretch and 10 Second Tidy parts of the show together.
Of course, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse was one of the best kids’ shows ever, but I don’t think we got to see it until they were a bit older. Didn’t stop us from screaming at the secret word!
I watch a lot of reaction videos on YouTube. It’s always interesting watching people who’ve never been exposed to Mister Rogers watching him for the first time as adults.
Many of them (specifically from countries in Europe, or Australia or New Zealand) end up getting teary-eyed, wondering how they never had such a show or figure in their childhoods.
I never saw one of those “Children’s programs” like Plaza Sesamo or Mister Rogers that I liked, even when I was a child myself, when one started I went out to play.
I hated the ones with cartoons specially because they talked and did idiotic routines when I was there for the cartoons dammit!
As for the cartoons themselves Robotech is so far above any others that it isn’t even funny.
Robotech being so weird because as it’s own thing, it’s somehow better, being larger in scope, and having greater consequences because of the work to combine the dissimilar franchises into a working whole.
Of course, we could go on about this for days, but we can let other people have their say.
Avatar the Last Airbender and there really isn’t another answer for pre-teen to teen shows (tried to stay away from things aimed at young children which is very different in format). I love a lot of the older cartoons (Voltron, Duck Tales, Gargoyles, etc.) and even enjoy newer stuff like Gravity Falls and Phineas and Ferb. But at the end of the day, Avatar has the characters, the humor, the world-building, the epic adventure, the visuals and fight choreography, the themes, and the writing to put it above almost anything else out there.
Wishbone, Reading Rainbow, Gargoyles, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Arthur, Curious George, and Roadrunner cartoons. All of these I have enjoyed as an adult. When I was a kid, watched stuff like Hanna Barbera cartoons. I liked Quick Draw McGraw and his dog. The dog would beg for a treat and go into ecstasy when he received it.
Yeah, we’re really just discussing third place, here.
I’ll toss in Bob the Builder, because it made it so much easier to manage children. On multiple occasions, I had to deal with children upset because something broke, or otherwise didn’t go their way, and I just said brightly “Can We Fix It?”, and got a chorus of “Yes We Can!”.
Also Bear in the Big Blue House.
And from my childhood, 3-2-1 Contact.
Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten about that because I only got to watch it at my Gramma’s house (we didn’t have cable at home). Bill Nye is a poor imitation.
The two I remember most fondly from my childhood were Rocky and Bullwinkle and Beany and Cecil.
Both series reveled in puns and visual easter eggs. Revisiting both as an adult, Rocky and Bullwinkle held up. Beany and Cecil…not so much.
It wasn’t a children’s show (at least I don’t think it was), but was eagerly watched and discussed at my elementary school the day after each episode aired, was Fractured Flickers.