"Won't you be my neighbor?" Fred McFeely Rogers has asked television viewers the same question for three decades. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood has helped create an entire genre of educational television, one that nurtures children's self-worth. Few series have come close to maintaining the continuity and moral tenor of Fred Rogers' long running PBS series, however. Lacking the commercial development of nearly all the network's other children series, Rogers has maintained a commitment to education that has wavered little over the past 30 years.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1928, Fred McFeely Rogers began work in television with variety programs such as The Voice of Firestone and The Lucky Strike Hit Parade. In November, 1953, Rogers moved back to his roots and western Pennsylvania where he began working with WQED, the nation's first community-supported public television station. Rogers began experimenting with children's programming while at WQED, including...