[the invisib1e hand]

sure, they're plugging a[nother] film about Mr. Rogers for their buddies at MTV. but still, it's Mr. Rogers, who apparently is so normal he seems scary.

the take away, if I may suggest, is how the man has influenced some in the media to perhaps act as though they might actually have a human gene.

Spent far too long trying to selectively excerpt this. Sue me if it doesn't make any sense.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Mr. Rogers, if you’ll forgive me, there is an exception:

O One
B Big
A Ass
M Mistake
A America

[Cicero]

Almost everyone I knew thought that Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood was corny. I thought it was absolutely great. He was at ease, he had values, he took his time, and he was a completely contrast with what you might call the Spirit of Hollywood. And it was a very healthy show for kids to watch.

In contrast, Sesame Street was fun, cute, brilliantly produced, but underneath all that it was liberal and destructive.

More, this was the TV generation, the first generation of kids who grew up watching TV all the time, and it fried their brains. Sesame Street was one of the worst offenders in that regard.

Marshall MacLuhan had came out with his brilliant book, The Medium is the Message, pointing out the perils of TV. One of the worst problems is that no one who watched it full time could concentrate on anything for longer than about 10 or 15 seconds—the amount of time the camera rolled before switching to the next shot. Sesame Street supposedly taught kids how to count and spell, but what it really did is unhinge their minds, so they couldn’t concentrate on anything for longer than that proverbial 15 seconds.

Mr. Rogers was exactly the opposite. Check out the camera techniques of these two shows.