The World of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

Mark J. P. Wolf is a Full Professor and Department Chair of the Communication Department at Concordia University, Wisconsin. His books include Abstracting Reality, The Medium of the Video Game, Virtual Morality, The Video Game Explosion, Myst and Riven: The World of the D'ni, Before the Crash, Encyclopedia of Video Games, Building Imaginary Worlds, The LEGO Studies Reader, and Video Games Around the World. With Bernard Perron, he is the co-editor of The Video Game Theory Reader 1 and 2, and the Landmark Video Game book series.

Chapter 1. Welcome to the Neighborhood



Early Children’s Television



A Typical Day in the Neighborhood



Visual Style and Performance Style



Serious Play and Playful Seriousness



Chapter 2. A History of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood



Rogers’ Early Career



From Misterogers to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood



The Post-Hiatus Years



Chapter 3. The Neighborhoods: Interconnected Spaces and Places



The "Real" Neighborhoods: Pittsburgh and the Television Neighborhood



The Neighborhood of Make-Believe and Surrounding Areas



World-building and Intertextual References



Chapter 4. The Neighbors: A Diverse Sociological and Ontological Spectrum



Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and More



A Diverse Ontological Spectrum



A Neighbor Just Like You: Interpersonal Conflict and Resolution



Chapter 5. "And I’ll Have More Ideas for You": Ideology and the Neighborhood



Slowness, Silence, and Reflection



Finding the Value in Others



Freshness of Vision: Through the Eyes of a Child



Chapter 6. Mister Rogers’ Legacy



Projects Concurrent with Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood



After the Neighborhood



List of Episodes



Resources



Notes