Trivia / Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

• Adored by the Network:
  • Oh, yes. This show is loved by PBS due to having great ratings and being near-universally praised by parents and critics. They also constantly give it DVD releases, and at one point in time, episodes aired in both English and Spanish on the main PBS channel. (At least if you live in Charlotte, North Carolina). On several occassions, they aired a marathon of it for PBS Kids Family Night when they ran out of movies to show.
  • The show is also the primary focus of the channel's social media along with Pinkalicious & Peterrific, the channel's other golden boy.
  • PBS often gets several parenting blogs to promote the show.
  • From the premiere of Ready Jet Go! in 2016 until the premiere of Donkey Hodie in 2021, the show aired a back-to-back hour long block on the PBS national feed, something that has never happened for any other series.
• Author's Saving Throw: The show had the episode "Daniel Can't Ride Trolley; Daniel Can't Get What He Wants". Both segments in the episode had a moral of "stomp your feet when you get angry and you will feel better". Unfortunately, this seemed very similar to a temper tantrum in the eyes of most parents. A recut version of this episode was made in 2019, with some scenes edited and the line "stomp three times" redubbed with "Take a deep breath".
• Baby Name Trend Starter: Beginning in 2014, "Margaret" was in the top 150 baby names for four years as a result of Daniel's baby sister having that name, likely because child viewers of the show asked their parents to name their new siblings after the character.
• Breaking News Interruption: For months on end in 2020, the end of reruns of this show on CBC would usually get interrupted for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's daily address on the COVID-19 pandemic. This would usually be preceeded by a clip of one of the CBC puppets, Gary the Unicorn, telling the viewer that "special grown-up programming" was about to come on.
• Dawson Casting: Teddy Platypus, a two-year-old toddler, is voiced by Bryn McAuley, an adult woman. This is made even odder when one realizes that almost all other child characters in the show are voiced by actual children, including Leo Platypus, Teddy's own twin.
• Died During Production: Joanne Rogers, the chair of the board of Fred Rogers Productions (which created this show), died on January 14, 2021, as new episodes of the show were in production.
  • With the Norwegian dub, its director, Morten Lange, died in 2017, after the first two seasons were dubbed.
• Disowned Adaptation: Betty Aberlin, who played Lady Aberlin on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, openly dislikes the reboot.
  "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as Pac-Man is to Matisse."
• Distanced from Current Events: A repeat of "Daniel Gets A Cold; Mom Tiger Is Sick" aired on most PBS affiliates on March 16, 2020. While this was probably done to help kids cope with the coronavirus situation, the repeat aired at the same time as the other broadcast television networks were showing news broadcasts claiming that businesses would be closing in major cities as a preventative measure instead of their regular programming. After being pulled for a few months as a result of this incident, the episode wound up returning in September 2020. However, it was occasionally available on the PBS Kids app during the period from March to September 2020.
• Dueling Dubs:
  • Two English versions exist, the first one being the original Canadian version and the second being a British dub commissioned for CBeebies.
  • There are two Arabic dubs, one for Baraem and one for Spacetoon.
  • Russia has two translations of the show: one broadcast on Disney Channel and the other broadcast on the channel Ginger.
• Early-Bird Release: The first episode was uploaded to the PBS Kids website a month before the show's premiere.
• Edited for Syndication: The live-action kids segments after each segment were a no-show on Netflix's feed of the show, even in North America. Strangely, though, unlike other PBS segments of a similar nature, they were aired back when Disney Junior Asia aired the show.
• Executive Meddling: Believed to be the reason Netflix's rescue was short-lived. ^note To wit, PBS, having the distribution rights for the show, signed a multi-year exclusivity deal with Amazon to stream on Prime a year after Netflix had negotiated to make the show available to the whole of Asia. Amazon has only made the show available to countries with their own Prime Video sites and blocked the show from showing up on the Global Prime Video site.
• Follow the Leader: The way the children featured in the live-action sequences usually wear red sweaters is similar to how the hosts of This is Daniel Cook and its spinoffs all wear orange clothing.
• Marathon Running: On September 3rd and 4th of 2022, the show had a ten-episode marathon on the PBS Kids channel, showcasing the top 10 episodes as voted by fans.
• Market-Based Title: The Canadian, British, and Australian broadcasts of the show are titled "Daniel Tiger's Neighbourhood".
  • The Italian version and Hebrew dubs are just called Daniel Tiger.
  • In Norway, the show is called, "Here Lives Daniel Tiger".
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": Since Mister Rogers' Neighborhood wasn't aired outside of the United States (though Canadians could watch the show via cable), this meant that Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood marked the debut of several characters from Mister Rogers in various overseas territories, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
• Meaningful Release Date: "Daniel's Goldfish Dies; Daniel's Strawberry Seeds" aired one day before the 15th anniversary of Fred Rogers' death. The episode focused on the death of a family pet.
• Missing Episode:
  • Reruns on PBS Kids frequently skip over "Daniel's Goldfish Dies; Daniel's Strawberry Seeds", possibly because of the subject matter of Daniel's goldfish dying being too upsetting for the target demographic. Usually, reruns skip to "Daniel Doesn't Want To Go Potty; Daniel Sits On The Potty" or "Daniel Wants To Be Alone; Daniel's Alone Space" instead of showing this episode.
  • Despite a Re-Cut version existing that removes the problem in question, "Daniel Can't Get What He Wants; Daniel Can't Ride Trolley" is rarely seen in reruns due to the controversy over the episode's strategy of "When you can't get what you want, stomp 3 times to make yourself feel better", which was seen as being too similar to a temper tantrum in the eyes of many parents.
  • "Daniel Gets Mad at Dad; Daniel Gets Mad at His Friends" was suddenly pulled from PBS stations and the PBS Kids channel in 2024 for reasons unknown.
• Network to the Rescue: While the show remained off Netflix in the US, In Asia, Netflix picked up the show a few months after Disney Junior Asia screwed the show over, making it once again available in the region. However, they screwed it over a year later, in April 2018.
• No Export for You: The parents app is highly coveted, but for ridiculous licensing reasons it will not be made available outside of the US. Yes, fans of the show from as far away as Australia and even Asia are lamenting the blockage. Given how the official Facebook page keeps advertising it and all the wonderful functions it has (with the occasional exaggeration in regards to its content ^note one post claims it has over a hundred songs and videos (which some fans took to mean that the app offered every episode of the show, as well as every song ever released on the albums, in full), which includes a number of full songs as well as a collection of notable clips, the anger is understandable.
  • Additionally, for some reason, they would not release the fourth soundtrack album (Tiger Family Trip) outside of the US either. The first three soundtrack albums received international releases. Finally averted in 2021 when the album was released on iTunes in the region.
  • Many South-East Asian countries aside from Singapore once again gets the short stick after Netflix dropped the show on April 15th, 2018, most likely due to executive meddling from The Fred Rogers Company and/or PBS' and Amazon's exclusivity deal, coupled with Amazon's idiot region-coding to make the show available only in Singapore in the region because only they have access to the "good" version of Prime Video in the region while the other countries in the region only have access to the inferior "global" version of Prime Video.
  • Also on that note, the apps from the franchise suddenly vanished without warning off the Google Play Store and iTune App Store in several South-East Asian countries after Netflix dropped the show. Upon further inquiry, it seems that the apps have been pulled from every country except the US.
  • Many non-English Asian territories such as Japan and Korea have not received dubs of this show. Averted with Hong Kong, as they received a Chinese dub of the first season on an on-demand streaming service.
• Novelization First: The picture book adaptation of "Daniel's Fish Dies," titled Remembering Blue Fish, was published on August 29, 2017. This was nearly six months before the February 26, 2018 premiere of the episode.
• Only So Many Canadian Actors: The child actors on this show are shared with PAW Patrol and Arthur, two other productions voiced in Canada. The show also features other Canadian voice and acting talent for the other characters, some of whom have been acting since the early 80's.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Daniel Tiger was originally voiced by Jake Beale, then Devan Cohen, then Keegan Hedley as of The Daniel Tiger Movie: Won't You Be Our Neighbor? and possibly a little before. As of Daniel Visits a New Neighborhood, his voice is now Asher Bolduc-Theron.
  • Prince Wednesday's voice actor has changed from Nicholas Kaegi to Jaxon Mercey and then to Callum Shoniker, Katerina Kittycat from Amariah Faulkner to Jenna Weir and then to Maya Misaljevic, and O the Owl from Zachary Bloch to Benjamin Hum.
  • In the Italian dub, Daniel was voiced by Tiziana Martello in the first 2 seasons and by Martina Tamburello from season 3 onwards.
  • For the first four seasons, Miss Elaina was voiced by white voice actress Addison Holley. In season 5, they replaced her with an actual black voice actress, Markeda McKay (known for fellow PBS shows Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum and Elinor Wonders Why).
• Playing Against Type:
  • You wouldn't expect Prince Wednesday to share a voice actor with Ryder, but he does. (Or at least he did; see immediately above.)
  • Daniel Tiger's original voice actor, Jake Beale, also played the Bratty Half-Pint D.W. in Arthur until 2013.
  • One would be shocked to learn that Queen Sara Saturday is voiced by Catherine Disher, who was the original North American voice of Noddy. Coincidentally, that version, The Noddy Shop, also aired on PBS.
  • Another surprising casting choice is Bryn McAuley as Teddy Platypus, since she was the first actress to play Caillou, a character who is infamous for having temper tantrums when things don't go his way.
• Production Posse: Many cast members of this show also worked on fellow PBS Kids show Arthur, as well as PAW Patrol.
• Promoted Fanboy: Angela Santomero, the show's creator, was a big fan of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as a child and got to meet with Fred Rogers while she was working on Blue's Clues.
• Recycled Script:
  • Beginning as early as mid-Season 2, episodes began reusing plots of earlier stories because of the Fleeting Demographic Rule. This is especially prominent in Season 4, which re-makes past episodes, mostly by having Jodi face the same situation Daniel was in.
  • The Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood episode "Daniel Doesn't Want To Go Potty" is similar to the Growing Up With Hello Kitty short "Going To The Bathroom". Both episodes involve characters being too excited to do something with a friend (Katerina for Daniel Tiger, Fifi for Hello Kitty) that they forget to go to the bathroom. When they suffer from a Potty Emergency, they miss the fun thing they were anticipating as a result of it, and their parent teaches them to go before leaving. However, the way it plays out in both is different: while Daniel makes it in time when he suffers from one, Kitty has an implied Potty Failure after falling over when running to the bathroom. Both also contain a scene in which the protagonist and their family are traveling somewhere, but have to go home because someone needs to use the bathroom (in Daniel Tiger, they were going to the supermarket, while in Hello Kitty, Kitty and her family were going out to eat).
• Referenced by...:
  • In the SuperMarioLogan episode "Jeffy Gets Potty-Trained!", Rosalina buys Jeffy a book based on the episode "Daniel Goes to the Potty".
  • The Robot Chicken episode "Things Look Bad for the Streepster" had a segment about how Daniel Tiger would face puberty.
  • The Angry Video Game Nerd: In his review of Ecco the Dolphin, the Nerd dries himself off with a Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood towel after screaming into a hot tub filled with Rolling Rock.
  • The Donkey Hodie episode "Cheesy Con" referenced "Daniel Feels Better" by having a scene in which the protagonist sprains their left foot on a toy vehicle. Both shows are made by Fred Rogers Productions.
• Saved from Development Hell: Was in development for six years before finally materializing.
  • After being teased since April of 2017 (and the release of the first half in book form on August 29, 2017 as Remembering Blue Fish^note normally book releases based on episodes of the show aren't released until right around or shortly after broadcast), "Daniel's Goldfish Dies / Daniel's Strawberry Seeds" aired on February 26th, 2018, the day before the fifteenth anniversary of Fred Rogers's death. This was all part of programming themed around the 50th anniversary of the debut of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ^note  although holding off on Blue Fish for so long clearly wasn't part of the original plan , including a week of classic episodes of Mister Rogers paired with Daniel Tiger, leading up to a special, Mister Rogers: It's You I Like, on March 6. Furthermore, the goldfish episode was paired with the episode of Mister Rogers in which Mister Rogers dealt with the death of his goldfish.
• Screwed by the Network: The show was initially picked up by Disney Junior Latin America and Disney Junior Asia, but only lasted a season on those networks, as a result of Disney refactoring their networks to focus on only in-house shows. Episodes from Season 2 onwards, which introduced Baby Margaret to the Tiger family, were not broadcast.
  • Screwed by Netflix Asia a year later after being saved, although it is likely this is due to Executive Meddling on The Fred Rogers Company's end from the Amazon exclusivity deal because Amazon has expanded the "good" version of Prime Video into Singapore and is carrying the show in that market, screwing over other countries in the region who're stuck with the generic inferior worldwide version of Prime Video.
  • Daniel Tiger premiered on the UK version of Cartoonito in March of 2016 and vanished after six months to make way for more re-runs of Fireman Sam.
• Short Run in Peru: "Daniel Goes To The Hospital" and "Prince Tuesday Goes To College; Daniel Misses Grandpere" both aired on Cartoonito in Italy with an English audio track in June of 2021 before airing in the United States in August of 2021.
• What Could Have Been:
  • For "A Storm in the Neighborhood / After the Storm", the idea was floated of the storm taking out a tree where some of the characters lived, but it was decided this would just be too much for the show's target audience of preschoolers. This presumably would have been the tree that's the home of the Owl and Kittycat families, since they're the main characters who live in a tree and in the episode, they sleepover at the Tiger household to take shelter. The idea was retained only in that a tree does go down in the episode, but it's just a random tree in front of the clock factory that nobody lives in and Trolley helps to clear it away.
  • The writers / developers considered giving a character other than Daniel a sibling, but found in their research that anything that happens on the show tends to have more impact for the target audience if it happens to Daniel. This is also likely the reason why from this point forward pretty much anything major that happens on the show happens to Daniel.
  • In some episodes, pictures of a sheep and a pig that were supposed to be characters in the show but never got used appear in Dr. Anna's office.
• Working Title:
  • "Someone Else's Feelings" was originally called "Daniel Learns About Empathy". This title is also used on several television listings.
  • Early television listings for "Daniel Sits On The Potty" called it "Daniel Takes His Time On The Potty", with the current name being chosen to avoid confusion with "Daniel Takes His Time".
  • The episode "O Gets Mad" was originally titled "Mad at School", despite the episode not solely focusing on O alone but with Daniel as well. This alternate title is also used on TV listings.

---