Was I the only child that couldn't stand "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"?

It was typecasting, the creepy little weasel.

As a child who was not allowed to watch TV much, I never new the difference between Roy Rogers and Mr. Rogers... and Will Rogers for that matter. I know who Kenny Rogers and Paul Rodgers are, though.

I'd watch "Sesame Street" just a little bit near the end of the episodes to get ready to watch "Zoom." Then "The Electric Company" would come on and that was dope!

"Mr. Rogers" followed but I thought it was boring compared to the other PBS shows. I would just watch him put on his indoor clothes and then start vegging out on the couch and would end up watching most of it unintentionally.

I was a bit too old when he was making his mark on TV. That being said, I do remember one day being homesick around probably 4th grade and he was on and I was watching a little bit of it and he was doing a finger song where he went through each finger and sang about them. And I specifically remember this because he held up the middle finger and was singing about the middle finger, basically flipping me off the entire time. And I was just busting up laughing. So I wasn't a fan, but I do admire him and this movie and Tom Hanks nailed it.

No, I certainly never got the creepy vibe from him, and from all I've ever read about him, he was a genuinely decent and goodhearted person. Not every adult who takes in interest in kids and their development is a pedo; some people are just really good people, and they see the potential in children and want to nurture it. I think Fred Rogers was one of those people.

That said... I honestly never found Mr. Rogers' show very entertaining as a kid. It was kind of dull, to be honest. When I was in grade school, back in the seventies, I'd wait for the bus at my grandparents' house (our house was at the end of a long driveway behind my grandparents' house, which was on the street). And while waiting for the bus, Mr. Rogers would come on right after Captain Kangaroo, the way our local stations broadcast it. I was always glad of that, since I could watch the whole Captain Kangaroo episode (which I found entertaining), and the bus would arrive right after Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood (which I didn't find that entertaining) came on.

I think Fred Rogers was a genuinely decent and generous man, who loved kids because they were innocent and he saw the goodness in that, as well as the best in people in general. I think he tried to entertain children because of that innate decency of his, which loved the innocence of childhood; but he kind of overdid it in simplifying his language and the way he addressed the audience, so that he often seemed to be consciously talking down to that audience. I think Bob Keeshan, AKA Captain Kangaroo was a better children's entertainer -- he was more unaffected in his approach, and this just made his show a lot more fun to watch.

I enjoyed it when I was a kid, although when he died I found it too sad to watch anymore.