If you hadn’t posted this, I would have. There’s my hero: He’s taking on a room of hostile conservatives, bent on defunding public broadcasting, and he talks quietly for a while, and answers some questions, and they all but carry him out of the room on their shoulders.
ps: Over at YouTube, there is a series of videos, or maybe audios would be more accurate as there is no real information on the video track, of his LP “Tomorrow on the Children’s Corner.” I don’t know the person who posted them, but they come from a rip I made from a cassette copy of the (coverless) LP my cousin’s then-girlfriend had saved since childhood. It’s pretty much a mini-opera, with songs by Rogers (and Milton DeLugg leading the band). He doesn’t appear as himself, but his character voices are on there, and it’s a trip. A blog called “Way Out Junk” posted it originally, and though their links are dead, they’ve got good info. Among other delights, there’s a meow meow meow song from Henrietta, and an affirmation song from X the Owl, which is later parodied memorably by Lady Elaine Fairchild: “…I’m a broken tooth, Darling. I-I-I-'m special!”
I used to make fun of the man, and then I grew up.
Interestingly, both stories remind me of a friend that died this year. She was both one of the most genuinely nice people I know, and somebody who could be very snarky when she put her mind to it.
Warning, if you haven’t watched that episode of S05E15 of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood from 1972 and feel strongly about that, there’s spoilers below
So the Judge lets him off because he was getting change for the meter? A judge who repeatedly upholds the spirit of the law is completely unrealistic. Suspension of disbelief ruined!
Actually…it depends. shepard-like bodhisatvas in Mahayana buddhism willingly keep reincarnating because they could achieve enlightenment and leave samsara, but wish to help all other sentient beings do the same first.
Mr. Rogers was a huge reason why everday people have the right to record TV shows!
This article gives a lot of the background, but in short when Universal Studios sued Sony to stop the sale of VCRs, Mr. Rogers testified in favor of VCRs, saying that he thought it was just fine for parents to record his show so their kids could watch it later. The Supreme Court cited Mr. Rogers’s testimony when they ruled in favor of Sony:
He also said he thought Eddie Murphy’s parody of his show was funny. He said he thought it wasn’t the right thing for little kids because they might get confused, but he had no problem with grownups watching it and wasn’t offended at all.
