h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good one Jimi X.

I became a part of the North American TV market as a teen and, like most teenage boys, made mocking Mr Rogers a part of my pimply lexicon. Now, some 30 years later, as an older teen (with fewer pimples), I have come to appreciate in Mr Rogers something that was obvious to his young audience all along: his simple, straight forward honesty.

He had a series (which also aired on PBS, I think) in which he interviewed different characters for an adult audience. Although his vocabulary and frame of reference was broader, he was basically the person he'd always presented himself as to the children of his Neighborhood.

The world would be a better place if we were all a bit more like him.

JTG

Too right.

Whenever I get the chance I sneak home during my lunch hour to watch his show with my kids.

That traveling museum exhibit was the best! I got to sit on the bench and operate the trolley. My wife says the expression on my face was one of pure bliss.

I guess I never made it to pimply teenager - I'm more of an arrested toddler.

You're way ahead of me, then - I'm trying to work my way back.

JTG

So long, neighbor.

Sad innit?

Ar, tis that.

You get the feeling sometimes that good blokes like Mr Rogers are in very limited supply, and that we can ill afford to lose them when we do.

I wrote him a tribute from what I could recall from several interviews while I rode my car http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A982352