PBS announces 'Mister Rogers' next generation spin-off -

PBS announces 'Mister Rogers' next generation spin-off - 

It’s a beautiful day … in Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood?

A decade after children’s classicMister Rogers’ Neighborhoodceased production, PBS has just announced an animated spin-off to the series hosted by a familiar personality from the original show. Titled Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the series will have original Mister Rogers characters grown up and with children of their own living in the Neighborhood of Make Believe. Four-year-old Tiger (son of the original Tiger) will be the star. The “next generation” concept intends to use the musical education strategies pioneered by Fred Rogers’ landmark original program, which was in production from 1968 to 2001 and continued airing on PBS until about three years ago.

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood will launch in fall of 2012 as part of the PBS Kids pre-school lineup and represents the first show launched by the Fred Rogers Company since the original program.

“Fred Rogers revolutionized children’s media with Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood continues on this path of innovation, helping the next generation of young children learn and grow in new ways,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vp, PBS. “Joining the PBS Kids family of series that cover important curricular areas like literacy and science,Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood fills a critical gap in children’s media today: modeling the behaviors and habits that kids need in order to excel in formal learning settings – essentially, learning how to learn. It’s important for kids to learn pro-social skills like cooperation and listening, so that when they start school they are able to focus on the material at hand.”

Read more -

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/07/31/pbs-mister-rodgers-spin-off/