ABSTRACT
The content of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood reflects Rogers' philosophy regarding the way children learn and become enriched, well-rounded individuals. With the change to themed, week-long continuities in the post-hiatus years, music, art, and culture would continue to be an important part of the show, with entire weeks devoted to topics pertaining to children's needs. Corporate greed, impending natural disaster, and the media cover-up of both is a far cry from the kind of content found on most children's programming. Through careful consideration of how children view the world, Rogers is able to introduce almost any topic by carefully interpreting it for children, reshaping the message to fit their understanding. This stands in contrast to children's shows which exploit certain tendencies of children, including consumerist ones, especially when the shows merchandise their characters and turn them into series of character-related toys.
