Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood

So I'm pretty stoked on the promise of this new show set to air on PBS September 3rd, 2012 entitled Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It's supposed to pick up where Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood left off and introduce the Neighborhood to a whole new generation of youngsters. It's great to see that Daniel is alive and well with a family of his own. His 4-year-old son of the same name is the star of the show and all of his friends are the children of the original friends that reside in the land of Make-Believe. I wonder if King Friday XIII will be on the show because now he would be Prince Wednesday's grandfather and he was old even in Mr. Roger's era. He's probably in some royal retirement home by now. I love how they're sticking with the original characters. Mr. McFeely is even supposed to make a few appearances via an animated form. Trolley is set to play a more involved part in the show which is very exciting. The only odd thing character wise is that Daniel and family are orange and the original Daniel Tiger, as you'll remember, was grey but I do understand that orange is a more exciting color for pre-schoolers to watch. The story itself will be interesting to see as unlike the original, it's age range is narrowed down to kids 2-5. I'm very excited to see all of the similarities and differences with the original when the show airs in September but am going to try to watch it as its own separate property at the same time. Until the show airs, the official website is up with lots of fun games and character experiences. You can even drive Trolley! As excited as I am for this new show, I really sincerely hope that it doesn't replace reruns of the original Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. That would be a crying shame. How would we explain to our children what this new show is referencing without the resource of the old show's reruns? It's vital that the re-runs still air so there's a middle ground to bridge the generation gap and bring parents and children together. Anyway, here's links to articles about the new show. So excited to see Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and the interesting stories that come out of it.

http://pbskids.org/daniel/

http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in-journal/29601-more-details-on-daniel-tigers-neighborhood