(SOUNDBITE OF FRED ROGERS SONG, "WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?")
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
That's the sound of a new channel on YouTube.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?")
FRED ROGERS: (As Mister Rogers, singing) It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?
RASCOE: No, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" is not leaving public television. Classic episodes of the show are still airing on local PBS stations. The YouTube channel features a rotating selection of 10 full episodes, along with clips and compilations. Ellen Doherty is the executive producer and chief creative officer of Fred Rogers Productions, and she joins us now. Welcome.
ELLEN DOHERTY: Thank you for having me.
RASCOE: It's been 25 years since the final episode of the show was produced, though, as we say, it's never gone away. And there are full episodes on the PBS Kids app. So why do this YouTube channel, and why now?
DOHERTY: It's always a good time for "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
RASCOE: Yes.
DOHERTY: And really, being on YouTube gives us just more ways to reach people.
RASCOE: Fred Rogers was Mister Rogers in 895 episodes over his career, but the YouTube channel only has 10 at a time. Why the rotating selection?
DOHERTY: Having rotating episodes means that instead of being sort of overwhelmed with everything, it's like, here are some things that you might be interested in and some things that you might not have seen. It's really thoughtful curation about looking at this incredibly large archive of material and helping you find your way through it.
RASCOE: Usually, on YouTube channels, my kid's getting on stuff. It's a bunch of shorts. It's just fast-paced, and they're constantly flipping. This seems to be, like, the opposite of that.
DOHERTY: Yeah, pretty much. I think that, you know, we want "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on YouTube to feel like "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD")
ROGERS: (As Mister Rogers) Thunder and lightning is something you could talk with your favorite grown-ups about. Yeah. Maybe they would - maybe they'd tell you what they know about it and how they feel about it. That's what makes families closer together.
DOHERTY: A place that you can relax, have fun, connect with people. And in addition to the 10 full episodes, we also have a live stream, which we use the opportunity to sometimes explore, like, theme weeks that appeared in "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
RASCOE: Are you monetizing the YouTube channel? Like, is it a source of funding? Or...
DOHERTY: It's not. We are a nonprofit organization and driven by mission and legacy. Making "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" more easily accessible is just really straight down the line, a mission.
RASCOE: You know, as I mentioned earlier, it's all about, like, quickly hooking the viewer, trying to convert them into a subscriber or a buyer of, like, some product. And you're not doing that with this channel in much the way - same way that "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was in that way. But I do have to ask you, do you think a show like "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" could get greenlit today?
DOHERTY: It was never greenlit. Fred decided to make it. So he, you know, had this idea for a show and set about learning how to work in television because he hadn't done that before. Then he set about learning about child development at the University of Pittsburgh. It wasn't like he pitched it and got it approved. He wanted to make it, and he found a way to make it. And you have a lot of shows like Ms. Rachel and Tab Time, where they are doing their thing. They are making the shows that they want to make, and they find the way to make it happen. And that is really how Fred started.
RASCOE: I don't want to let you go without asking you about this.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MISTER ROGERS TALKS WITH PARENTS")
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: (As self) This is something that keeps being emphasized. I know by you, Fred, the need to talk, get it out.
ROGERS: (As self) And to find the community of people who can help you. I remember Ben Spock once saying, when I talk with mothers, they think that they're the only one on the block whose kid isn't toilet trained.
(LAUGHTER)
STAMBERG: (As self) Yes.
RASCOE: That's Fred Rogers and NPR's Susan Stamberg co-hosting a series called "Mister Rogers Talks with Parents." Tell us about that because I didn't know about it.
DOHERTY: Oh, well, Fred Rogers looked at doing some different kinds of shows. And one of the things, you know, he founded this organization as Family Communications because he wanted to speak with parents. So that series of conversations really did spotlight that and really did a lovely job of addressing, like, serious issues and having real conversation around them.
RASCOE: That's Ellen Doherty of Fred Rogers Productions. Thank you so much for speaking with us.
DOHERTY: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I THINK I'M GOING TO LIKE TODAY")
ROGERS: (As Mister Rogers, singing) I think I'm going to like today. I think I'll call it fine. I'll wrap it in ribbons and make it mine. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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