Big Bird on Mr. Rogers

[Mickey Moose]

I remember reading that at first, Mr. Rogers wanted Carroll to remove the Big Bird suit so the kids could see the person inside the bird, so they'll know what's real and what's make believe. But Carroll begged Mr. Rogers that he not do that for he said that fantasy is such a short thing in a kid's life and it would totally ruin it for them. So it was agreed that Big Bird would only appear in the Neighborhood of Make Believe.

I agree. When they had the A&E Biography special on Sesame Street, they showed them removing the Big Bird suit from Carroll, and I remember being kinda creeped out seeing that. I mean, we all know it's Carroll underneath but seeing them remove the suit is just too weird. And if I was a kid seeing that, I know I would be somewhat disilusioned(sp?)

 

[Ziffel]

I'm definitely with you on wishing for older SS shows, Daffyfan, as I'm sure a lot of people are. I think one reason the Mr. Rogers shows go back to 1980 is because I remember hearing he only made about 15 new shows a year. So if they only showed 90's shows they would repeat too much. I recall a few times in the mid 80's catching a Mr. Rogers show and seeing at the end it was copyright 1975, so they were even showing older shows back then. And like I said, I sure would love it if they would go back as far as the 70's now.
And that would be another nice thing SS could do (in addition to showing a few old clips again in their new episodes), show the older episodes themselves. Be nice if they did like ESPN. Have Sesame Street and have Sesame Street Classic (like MC Forum does too!).
Well I just did some searching on the net and I see that since 1979 there were indeed 15 new episodes of Mr. Rogers each year. But in the first year (1968) there were 130 and from 1969-1975 there were 65 each year. And I didn't know there was a gap from 1976-1978. Here's a quote from wikipedia:
"The series was divided into two halves. The 1st half aired from 1968 to 1975. The 2nd half aired from 1979 to 2001. Episodes of the 1st half are no longer shown on television." I think one reason they aren't showing shows from '68-'75 is because Fred looked so much younger then, of course, and they might think it would confuse some kids to suddenly start seeing a dark haired youthful Mr. Rogers. Perhaps also they think some of the things back then would be too dated now, although Fred often taught kids about timeless concepts and showed them things (like a zoo or a bakery) that never become obsolete.

Oh and one more thing: I see the next episode after the Big Bird one has Lynn Swann the all-pro wide reciever from the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's the show on today, originally aired June 3, 1981.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

That's interesting information. I'm not sure whether I got Mr. Rogers on my tape or not. So far, I just got the pledge breaks and Teletubbies. I guess I could look for it tomorrow afternoon. My local PBS station does reruns of "Sesame Street" on the following day at 1pm. I don't know if they do the same thing with "Mr. Rogers" or not, but it's worth looking into.

In response to your comment about wishing for older SS episodes, it is too bad PBS doesn't do that. But a lot of people were fortunate enough to see them on Noggin. Hopefully, the new Sprout channel will help with that.

 

[BEAR]

Yeah, but Sprout is not available to everybody. I don't have it and we have satalite at my house. Very disappointing. I don't like how they take Unpaved AND 1-2-3 Sesame off of Noggin (which I have) and then create a new channel that I don't have and put the shows on that. Inconvenient.

 

[BooberFraggless]

From what I hear 123 Sesame Street (1993 and 1994 shows) and Sesame Street Unpaved are NOT going to be shown on this new Sprout Channell. All that theyr'e going to show is the current Sesame Street and Sesame Street from 1998 and 1999 (The first year of "Elmo's World") This is what Iv'e heard from one of the forum members who already has this channell. I had a funny feeling they wouldn't be carrying any "Pre Elmo's World" episodes. But mabye they will some time down the line, who knows? Mabye we could start a petition like they did to get Fraggle Rock on DVD.

 

[Dantecat]

Here's The Petition:http://www.petitionline.com/oscar/petition.html

 

[Dantecat]

If it does not work then check this thread so you can see it.

http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=11414

 

[Ziffel]

Just wanted to say that I did tape and watch Mr. Rogers again today to see Lynn Swann. It was neat how Mr. Rogers began the show by showing a montage of football clips that had dazzling catches by Lynn. He then went to a ballet school in Pittsburgh on location (as he often did since he lived there and did the show from there). Lynn could ballet dance really good in addition to football (I guess no wonder he had such good moves on the field to make catches!). And then Lynn also appeared in the land of make believe segment. Another very nice episode on competition.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Does anyboby know if the Mr. Rogers on SS, and Big Bird on MR. Rogers' Neighborhooh Premiered in the same week.

 

[BEAR]

Does anyboby know if the Mr. Rogers on SS, and Big Bird on MR. Rogers' Neighborhooh Premiered in the same week.

Good question. I have a feeling, and I could be wrong, that it was when Mr. Rogers came on Sesame Street that he asked Carroll to come be on his show. Is this right?