From the Archive: Mister Rogers

It's You I Like, a PBS special celebrating Mister Rogers, airs Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 pm.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood made its national debut 50 years ago today, on February 19, 1968. The long-running series aimed at preschoolers but appropriate for all ages was broadcast nationally on PBS until 2001, accompanying children of many generations as they grew up. Rogers died in 2003 at the age of 74, but his show lives on in the animated Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which began in 2012 and takes place in Rogers' "Neighborhood of Make-Believe." 

In 1985, Rogers appeared on WTTW's Chicago Tonight  and spoke with host John Callaway about 30 years on television celebrating that "exceedingly precious time called childhood." He also discusses a problem that seems all too relevant today: children are "seeing some mighty scary things, that when people are angry, they just annihilate their opponent."