Comment: Won't you be my neighbor?

I’ve been half-watching “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood” with my kids this week. I have to say, I find him much less creepy now that I’m an adult.

I used to be a little irked by him, but especially his land of make believe. King Friday seemed kind of dim-bulbed, and Lady Elaine (Lady Lane? Laydee Layne?) looked and sounded pretty lit most of the time. She still disturbs me.

Not that my Canadian children’s shows were any less creepy. We had a tiny rooster in a bag and an obnoxious, smart-alecky giraffe. It’s just that I think whatever we see first as kids becomes the default. We’re not freaked out by things with which we’re already familiar.

Since we didn’t have cable, (which equaled American TV of any kind) we only got to see Mr. Rogers occasionally. He was iconic in the States, but in Canada, we had Mr. Dress-Up and his tickle trunk, which to today’s ears sounds a little deviant, but in the seventies made perfect sense. (He ALWAYS had the right costume for dress up from the tickle trunk. We marveled at how he could get all those costumes in there.)

The Eddie Murphy parodies were hilarious back in the 80s. In my dorm room, I had a poster of Mr. Rogers with a speech bubble in which I’d written, “Won’t you have my baby?”

Anyway, years later, and with kids in the picture, I can honestly say that Mr. Rogers is very sweet, and his show is neither creepy nor weird. Except for Lady Elaine.

But nobody rocks a cardigan like him, and nobody can beat his timing passing his shoe from one foot to the other in time to his merry song.