It says something about the quality of the economy when PBS can no longer afford the salary of a man who has been dead for six years. The repeats of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on PBS currently runs daily but will be dropping to once a week in the fall due to monetary concerns.I don't know the contract details of this show, but since when are re-runs more expensive than original content? That must be one terrific fee that the heirs of Fred Rogers get if it makes PBS balk at the idea of paying for it on a daily basis. Why can't the heirs just produce new content like Brian Henson is trying to do with the Muppets franchise?
To me, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is one of those shows that is synonymous with PBS, right up there with Sesame Street. Given the change in programming for the show, I suspect that the upcoming generation with think otherwise (if they don't think that way already). Sorry Fred.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-26-2009 @ 12:26AM
Edventure said...
Anyone who thinks this is a good idea should view this video. Mr Rogers addresses a hostile congress and by the time he is finished, they wonder if they should give more. What he said then, applies even more today than ever.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2883185966575573317
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7-26-2009 @ 3:58PM
Saya said...
I think there must be another reason, because I sincerely doubt that Mr. Rodgers heirs would be trying to rip PBS off by jacking up the price - now if the PBS station that filmed it has control of the price or gets most of it, rather than Family Communications, then ok, maybe...
personally I think someone wants to rid our world of Mr Rodgers re-runs and thats a very bad thing....
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8-02-2009 @ 10:08AM
bob villa said...
Over a year ago, in my market, Mr Rodgers went from daily to once a week (at like 4am on sunday) I don't believe for a second that its took expensive. I do believe that Mr Rodgers has no merchandising tie in and more money can be made with the time slot by filling it with commercial, hyperactive crap. w/o Mr Rodgers PBS would have been shut down decades ago. There should be a federal mandate that PBS must show Mr. Rodgers at least once a day in order to receive any governmental subsidy.
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