History Trivia / MisterRogersNeighborhood

* ActingForTwo: There's been at least one case where Bob Dog and Robert Troll were on screen at the same time, both of which were played by Bob Trow.

* TalkingToHimself: Fred Rogers voiced most of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe puppets, including King Friday XIII, Queen Sara Saturday, Cornflake S. Pecially, Henrietta Pussycat, X the Owl, Lady Elaine Fairchild, and Daniel Striped Tiger, many of whom had conversations with each other that involved Rogers supplying all of the relevant voices.

* NoExportForYou: Oddly enough, despite being wildly popular in his native U.S., the show was never broadcast outside of America, though many Canadians were able to watch the show due to the widespread availability of PBS on cable. However knowledge of the show ''was'' exported by expatriates and through PopculturalOsmosis via [[ShoutOut references]] by shows that ''do'' get exported[[note]]The scene with the TV showing an episode of ''Mister Rogers'' in Film/ShortCircuit2, which was important that it kickstarted one of the B-Plots of the movie, was actually shown uncut in cinemas and on TV worldwide. So was David Copperfield's abovementioned magic trick in the ''Great Wall of China'' special. However, the closest most people around the world has gotten to see Mister Rogers was most likely the ''Series/SesameStreet'' crossover and the season 2 ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' crossover[[/note]]. The Twitch marathon stream is practically the first time anyone outside the US and Canada is officially getting to watch the show.
* OldShame
** Given how it was Mr. Rogers himself that requested the ''Conflict'' episodes be not repeated again (well, depending on what your source of information is; there has never been any straight answer given by the company), one wonders if Fred suddenly regretted writing and filming it the way he did, or realizing if the episodes could be taken out of context, only after production for the week's episodes wrapped.
** Likewise, Rogers expressed regret for selling off the rights to some of his older songs in several interviews.

** This was reason that Rogers didn't let Betty Aberlin star in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'', a film by his protégé Creator/GeorgeARomero, who had actually directed a segment for the show. Note that his personal protectiveness did not extent to the film itself; when Romero screened it to his mentor, the sweet, harmless Pennsylvania minister was delighted with his protégé's [[NightmareFetishist gory, nihilistic horror film and told Romero it was great fun]].

* NamesTheSame: Princess Zelda in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe should not be confused with the ''other'' [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Princess Zelda.]]

* ColbertBump: The popularity of spin-off ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' lead to people re-watching or introducing themselves to ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', which the show is a spin-off of, depending on whether they had heard of the original series during their childhood. The effect that ''Daniel Tiger'' had on the original ''Mister Rogers'' series was so huge that Twitch held two marathons of the show and two different movies about the show were produced in response to the show's boom in popularity. In addition, PBS brought back reruns of the show to their Sunday morning schedule, produced new DVDs of the show, and greenlit another Mister Rogers Neighborhood spin-off called ''Series/DonkeyHodie''...which itself caused more interest in ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', to the point where reruns were added to the regular Creator/PBSKids schedule.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The "Conflict" episodes have effectively fallen into this, with the only surviving copies being Website/YouTube postings of old VHS recordings. In fact, they weren't even shown for the 2017 Twitch marathon, which further cements them into this category. Four more random episodes from various weeks were also skipped in the Twitch marathon, though presumably because of either wiping [[note]]The practice of taping over a show[[/note]] or the masters simply no longer existing for any other reason.

** "Conflict", aired in 1983, concerned the Land of Make-Believe going into a panic after King Friday becomes convinced that Corny the Beaver is building a nuclear arsenal. At the time, this was a very relevant plot; after all, it was UsefulNotes/TheEighties, one of the most tense periods of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (not to mention the fact that ''Film/TheDayAfter'' had aired a few months prior). The five episodes from this week last aired the week of April 1-5, 1996, partially due to controversy and partially due to [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece not being quite as current anymore]].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Of course you can generally tell what decade an episode was made in, but one particularly bad case is that in 1529 (an episode made in 1984), Mister Rogers walks down the cereal aisle in a grocery store, and one of the things that can be seen is... ''VideoGame/PacMan'' cereal. Really.

* MarthDebutedInSmashBros: Since the show was never aired outside the U.S., many of the characters from this series first made their debuts in the spin-off series ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' (for many countries in Europe and Asia) and ''Series/DonkeyHodie'' (for Australia so far).

** "Conflict", aired in 1983, concerned the Land of Make-Believe going into a panic after King Friday becomes convinced that Corny the Beaver is building a nuclear arsenal. At the time, this was a very relevant plot; after all, it was UsefulNotes/TheEighties, one of the most tense periods of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (not to mention the fact that ''Film/TheDayAfter'' had aired a few months prior). The five episodes from this week last aired the week of April 1-5, 1996, partially due to controversy and partially due to [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp not being quite]] [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece as current anymore]].

** "Conflict", aired in 1983, concerned the Land of Make-Believe going into a panic after King Friday becomes convinced that Corny the Beaver is building a nuclear arsenal. At the time, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped this was a very relevant plot]]; after all, it was UsefulNotes/TheEighties, one of the most tense periods of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (not to mention the fact that ''Film/TheDayAfter'' had aired a few months prior). The five episodes from this week last aired the week of April 1-5, 1996, partially due to controversy and partially due to [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp not being quite]] [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece as current anymore]].

** This was reason that Rogers didn't let Betty Aberlin star in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'', a film by his protege Creator/GeorgeARomero, who had actually directed a segment for the show. Note that his personal protectiveness did not extent to the film itself, when Romero screened it to his mentor, the sweet, harmless Pennsylvania minister was delighted with his protege's [[NightmareFetishist gory, nihilistic horror film and told Romero it was great fun]].
** Rogers also discouraged François Clemmons from going out to gay bars or being open about his sexuality, although he was personally very affirming of gay people. Clemmons (who's now publicly out) has said [[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/06/mister-rogers-neighborhood-wont-you-be-my-neighbor-francois-clemmons-officer-clemmons-fred-rogers in interviews]] that he doesn't bear any ill will for this or think it diminishes Mr. Rogers' message of acceptance at all; [[FairForItsDay societal attitudes toward homosexuality were much different]] in TheSixties and being openly gay could have been a serious risk to Clemmons' career or even personal safety, and it ''unquestionably'' would've made the show a target during its more fragile early years (when Fred had to fight for PBS funding to start with!) and might well have put Fred in a position of being forced by pressure to fire Clemmons.

** A bit of a sideways one, Fred Rogers' middle name was [=McFeely=].

** Rogers himself had ''one'' acting role that wasn't AsHimself: Reverend Thomas in an episode of ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman''.
** Rogers put ''Neighborhood'' on hiatus in 1976 so he could work on some projects for an older audience, including ''Old Friends...New Friends'', an interview show that ran for two years on PBS.

** Heck, nearly every episode before the second run (so anything before 1979) was pretty much in this category until the Twitch marathon, presumably because the first run phased out due to the second run still ongoing on PBS at the time, leaving less room for the first run. Only a ''very'' small amount of episodes were possible to watch via Amazon Prime from the first run, and most of them were simply "highlight" episodes such as the death of the goldfish. The black and white episodes took the cake, however, as the last time they had ever been seen on television was on '''August 21, 1970'''. Aside from the first week of shows which was also available on Amazon Prime, the Neighborhood Archive was the only place to see any snippets, and they were limited to screenshots. It was known that the episodes did exist in an archive safe and sound, but the fact that they hadn't been viewable by the public for ''that'' long is still something quite remarkable. Thank goodness for the Twitch stream, or they may have never found a good home.

** Rogers was one of the few public figures to actively encourage this practice, going so far as to testify on behalf of [=VCR=] technology in legal proceedings regarding the question of recording copyrighted broadcasts, stating "I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."
* TheMerch: Largely averted for the sake of personal and artistic integrity, though a few tie-in books, music albums and plush toys of Daniel Striped Tiger were made.

** While not as well-known as the Conflict episodes, a few weeks of the early color episodes were also removed from the rotation early on (before the first run was phased out entirely by 1995). These include 1036-1040, 1051-1055, 1056-1060, and 1071-1075. The actual reasons for these being removed are not officially known (some suspect that they simply never got around to rerunning these after some time), there has been some speculation, such as how 1071-1075 features Bob Dog having a cage put over his head to prevent bad behavior. Again, though, none of it has been confirmed.

* NoExportForYou: Oddly enough, despite being wildly popular in his native U.S., the show was never broadcast outside of America, though many Canadians were able to watch the show due to the widespread availability of PBS on cable. However knowledge of the show ''was'' exported by expatriates and through PopculturalOsmosis via [[ShoutOut references]] by shows that ''do'' get exported[[note]]The scene with the TV showing an episode of ''Mister Rogers'' in Film/ShortCircuit2, which was important that it kickstarted one of the B-Plots of the movie, was actually shown uncut in cinemas and on TV worldwide. So was David Copperfield's abovementioned magic trick in the ''Great Wall of China'' special. However, the closest most people around the world has gotten to see Mister Rogers was most likely the Series/SesameStreet crossover and the season 2 WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} crossover[[/note]]. The Twitch marathon stream is practically the first time anyone outside the US and Canada is officially getting to watch the show.

* RealitySubtext: Two of Fred Rogers' biggest personal insecurities were being unable to express anger (he had been discharged from doing so as a child) and being laughed at when he didn't understand something, which are reflected in the songs "What Do You Do With The Mad You Feel?" and "Please Don't Think It's Funny," respectively.

** In the episode where Mister Rogers goes out and buys a TV set, one thing that immediately dates the episode (aside from the aesthetic of the [=TVs=] quite clearly coming from the 70s) is Fred asking "Can this TV do color?".

** Also according to her, one of the ideas proposed before the show ended was PassingTheTorch to Chuck Aber as a potential new show host (which may in part explain his ADayInTheLimelight moment somewhat late in the show's run) in a spinoff to keep the show's legacy alive. For some reason though, this idea never came to see the light of day.
* TheWikiRule: Not quite a proper Wiki as such, but the fan-made website [[http://neighborhoodarchive.com/ Neighborhood Archive]] collects an impressive amount of trivia about the show.

----

** This trope also applies to the show's theme song. Many people remember the opening line as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood", when it's actually "It's a beautiful day in ''this'' neighborhood". (Granted, [[{{Mondegreen}} it's not too difficult to hear it as "the neighborhood" due to Rogers' Pennsylvania soft drawl]].) This can be justified for a couple reasons. The first is that even though the song's official title is "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" the track is sometimes titled "It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood," such as on [[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNAJU10 this album]] by cast member Joe Negri. Secondly, those who watch ''Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood'' may have gotten used to this line, because in the opening theme of that show, the line is performed as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: One oft-repeated myth is that Fred Rogers was a sniper in the Korean War who scored over 150 confirmed kills, and the reason he always wore long-sleeved shirts was to hide the arm tattoos he got in the military. Where this idea came from is anyone's guess[[note]]Though one theory is that it originated from somebody getting Rogers confused with fellow PBS nice guy Bob Ross, who was an Air Force master sergeant, and other details were added as the false claim spread[[/note]], but Rogers never served in any branch of the US Armed Forces and he wore long sleeves to maintain an air of quasi-formality with the children in his audience.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: One oft-repeated myth is that Fred Rogers was a sniper in the Korean War who scored over 150 confirmed kills, and the reason he always wore long-sleeved shirts was to hide the arm tattoos he got in the military. Where this idea came from is anyone's guess, but Rogers never served in any branch of the US Armed Forces and he wore long sleeves to maintain an air of quasi-formality with the children in his audience.

----

** Heck, nearly every episode before the second run (so anything before 1979) was pretty much in this category until the Twitch marathon. Only a ''very'' small amount of episodes were possible to watch via Amazon Prime from the first run, and most of them were simply "highlight" episodes such as the death of the goldfish. The black and white episodes took the cake, however, as the last time they had ever been seen on television was on '''August 21, 1970'''. Aside from the first week of shows which was also available on Amazon Prime, the Neighborhood Archive was the only place to see any snippets, and they were limited to screenshots. It was known that the episodes did exist in an archive safe and sound, but the fact that they hadn't been viewable by the public for ''that'' long is still something quite remarkable. Thank goodness for the Twitch stream, or they may have never found a good home.

** Mister Rogers himself got to play piano in a few episodes.

** Rogers himself had ''one'' acting role that wasn't AsHimself: Reverend Thomas in Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman.

** On a meta-level, when the [=VCR=] first came out, Mr. Rogers was an advocate for it and testified on behalf of the technology in legal proceedings regarding the question of recording copyrighted broadcasts, stating "I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."

* OldShame: Given how it was Mr. Rogers himself that requested the ''Conflict'' episodes be not repeated again (well, depending on what your source of information is; there has never been any straight answer given by the company), one wonders if Fred suddenly regretted writing and filming it the way he did, or realizing if the episodes could be taken out of context, only after production for the week's episodes wrapped.
** Likewise, selling off the rights to some of the older songs. Fred has expressed his regret in several interviews.

** In a later episode, Mister Rogers demonstrates how to access the show's website on a bulky desktop computer with dial-up internet, which practically screams TheNineties.

** When ''Sesame Street'''s Big Bird appeared on the show, Rogers' original script called for his performer, Caroll Spinney, to remove his costume and discuss the inner-workings of the Big Bird puppet. Spinney objected, however, because he didn't believe in ruining the [[{{kayfabe}} illusion]] of Big Bird for the children, having been advised not to by Creator/JimHenson. [[CharacterAsHimself Big Bird ended up appearing as himself]] in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.
** As a compromise, the same episode had Rogers donning a giraffe costume and telling the viewers, "When you see big make-believe creatures in parades or in plays or on television, you can know that the people inside are just pretending to be something else."

* TheMerch: While Mister Rogers didn't really go in for too much of this, that's not to say it doesn't exist. There were a number of book releases based on the series. There are also plush toys of Daniel Striped Tiger.

** This trope also applies to the show's theme song. Many people remember the opening line as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood", when it's actually "It's a beautiful day in ''this'' neighborhood". (Granted, [[{{Mondegreen}} it's not too difficult to hear it as "the neighborhood" due to Rogers' Pennsylvania soft drawl]].) This can be justified for a couple reasons. The first is that even though the song's official title is "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" the track is sometimes titled "It's a Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood," such as on [[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNAJU10 this album]] by cast member Joe Negri. Secondly, those who watch ''Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood'' may have gotten used to this line, because in the opening theme of that show, the line is performed as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

** In the episode where Mister Rogers goes out and buys a TV set, one thing that immediately dates the episode (aside from the aesthetic of the [=TVs=] quite clearly coming from the 70s): "Can this TV do color?"
** In a later episode, Mister Rogers demonstrates how to access the Neighborhood website on a bulky desktop computer with dial-up internet, which practically screams TheNineties.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Not shockingly, given the show's prominence in pop culture and how many kids grew up watching it at some point, stories about the show and its host circulated for years.
** Mr. Rogers was [[http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mrrogers.asp absolutely not a sniper, child molester, or violent criminal]].
** The story about [[http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/rogerscar.asp his stolen car being returned to him with a note reading, "Sorry, we didn't know it was yours!"]] (and, in some versions, [[StolenGoodReturnedBetter after having it detailed]]) is merely undetermined. It's [[UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime totally plausible]], but then, spreading stories for that reason is where myths come from in the first place.
** Music director Johnny Costa did serve in the military during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. That's the extent of the military careers of anyone connected with the show.
** Also, he didn't wear those long-sleeved sweaters to cover his tattoos, because he never had any tattoos.
** One myth that ended up being slightly true (but even then, just barely.) There's a [[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/6/1/9/128619.jpg?v=1 photo of him]] apparently "giving the finger" to the camera that's been circulating. The photo is real in the sense that it wasn't faked or manipulated; however, it's taken out of context. What he was doing was singing the old nursery rhyme where you count off your fingers in turn to the tune of "Frère Jacques." The photo was a screencap of when they were singing "Where is tall-man?" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic4mEc_6JQ8 Here's the video proof.]] (Given his cheeky grin during the video in question, plus the below rumors about his not-squeaky-clean private sense of humor, you have to wonder whether Rogers knew [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar exactly what he was getting away with]].)
** The military rumors may have started when fellow soft-spoken PBS star [[Series/TheJoyOfPainting Bob Ross]] was confused for Mr. Rogers. Ross actually ''was'' in the Air Force, as a DrillSergeantNasty, no less! Additionally, the appearance of the militaristic-sounding ''Chicken Fat'' song (which Coach Saunders lip-synced to) in Episode 22, an early black-and-white episode of the show which last repeated in ''1970'', could've also played a part in creating the confusion.
** [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 According to his friends and family]], Rogers was not adverse to telling blue jokes or using swear words in his private life, and while nothing resembling an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members ever happened, he and the crew did pull the occasional harmless prank on each other for fun. Another prank he seems to love according to ''Won't You Be My Neighbor'' is if someone had left a camera lying around in the studio, he'd sneak off with it and photograph the waist down of one of the staff from the back and then seakily return it.

** [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 According to his friends and family]], Rogers was not adverse to telling blue jokes or using swear words in his private life, and while nothing resembling an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members ever happened, he and the crew did pull the occasional harmless prank on each other for fun. Another prank he seems to love according to ''Won't You Be My Neighbor'' is if someone had left a camera lying around in the studio, he'd sneak off with it and photograph the ''butt'' of one of the staff and then return it.

** [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 According to his friends and family]], Rogers was not adverse to telling blue jokes or using swear words in his private life, and while nothing resembling an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members ever happened, he and the crew did pull the occasional harmless prank on each other for fun. Another prank he seems to love according to ''Won't You Be My Neighbor'' is if someone had left a camera lying around in the studio, he'd sneak off with it and photograph the ''butt cheeks'' of one of the staff and then return it.

** [[http://www.laweekly.com/arts/the-unseen-side-of-mister-rogers-2373605 According to his friends and family]], Rogers was not adverse to telling blue jokes or using swear words in his private life, and while nothing resembling an on-set meltdown where he cursed out children and crew members ever happened, he and the crew did pull the occasional harmless prank on each other for fun.

** This trope also applies to the show's theme song. Many people remember the opening line as "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood", when it's actually "It's a beautiful day in ''this'' neighborhood". (Granted, [[{{Mondegreen}} it's not too difficult to hear it as "the neighborhood" due to Rogers' Pennsylvania soft drawl]].)