"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" began in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes. It aired on National Educational Television, which later became The Public Broadcasting Service. The last set of new episodes was taped in December 2000 and began airing in August 2001. By 1985, eight percent of people living in the United States watched the show.
The program always started with Rogers coming home, singing his theme song "Won't You Be My Neighbor?". He would then change into sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater. The sweaters were all knitted by his mother. In his show, Rogers would always go on trips, teach new things and show short movies on "Picture, Picture". Each episode included a trip to Rogers's "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" with a trolley, a castle, and the kingdom's citizens, including King Friday XIII.
Rogers always fed his aquarium fish during episodes. He would always say this to his audience he was feeding them because he received a letter from a young blind girl who wanted to know each time he did this. The program would end with Rogers winging "It's Such a Good Feeling".
Rogers believed not to act differently when he was being filmed to how he acted normally. He said that "One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self. I also believe that kids can spot a phony a mile away". Rogers wrote almost all of the music on the program. He wanted to teach children to love themselves and others, and he talked about common childhood fears with comforting songs. He once took a trip to a children's hospital to show children that a hospital is not a place to fear.
Rogers would talk about social issues on his program including the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, racism and divorce. One famous episode, Rogers soaked his feet with Officer Clemmons (François Clemmons), who was African-American, in a kiddie pool on a hot day. The scene was a message of inclusion during a time when racial segregation in the United States was common.
Rogers was also known for having children with disabilities on his show. In a 1981 episode, Rogers met a young quadriplegic boy, Jeff Erlanger, who showed how his electric wheelchair worked and explained why he needed it. Erlanger and Rogers both sang a duet of the song "It's You I Like". Before the taping, Erlanger had long been a fan of the program, and his parents wrote a letter to Rogers asking if they could meet.
Rogers would end each program by telling his viewers,
Rogers never talked about his religious beliefs on the show because he did not want any viewer to feel ignored from the show. During the Gulf War, he comforted his audience that all children in the neighborhood would be well cared for. Rogers asked parents to promise to take care of their children.
In 1990, members of the Ku Klux Klan in Missouri played racist versions of Rogers's songs and this caused Rogers to file a lawsuit against the White supremacy group. A district court judge in Missouri ordered the Ku Klux Klan to stop using Rogers's songs and to give any records they have to Rogers saying the group had committed copyright infringement.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Rogers taped public service announcements for parents about how to discuss tragic world news events with their children. He told viewers to "look for the helpers". The quote continues to go viral following tragic news events. Rogers said in the public service announcement,
In 1969, Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to ask the Senate to support funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, because proposed budget cuts. In about six minutes of testimony, Rogers spoke of the need for social and emotional education that public television gave. He argued that other television programming like his "Neighborhood" helped encourage children to become happy citizens.
The chairman of the subcommittee, John O. Pastore, did not know Rogers or his work and was sometimes said to be impatient. However, after Rogers, Pastore said that the testimony had given him goosebumps, and said, "I think it's wonderful. Looks like you just earned the $20 million". The Senate would soon increase PBS funding from $9 million to $22 million.
During the issues of households being able to record television programs with a VCR grew, Rogers was active in supporting VCR companies in court. His 1979 testimony, in the case "Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.", Rogers said he was not against home recordings of his television programs because families could watch them together at a later time.
When the case reached the Supreme Court in 1983, the majority decision thought about the testimony Rogers gave. The court found that the Betamax video recorder did not commit copyright violations. The court said that his views were an important piece of evidence "that many [television] producers are willing to allow private time-shifting to continue".
In 1978, while taking a break from taping new "Neighborhood" episodes, Rogers hosted an interview program for adults on PBS called "Old Friends...New Friends". On the show, Rogers interviewed "actors, sports stars, politicians, and poets". The show was lasted only 20 episodes. In 1988, he appeared on the Soviet children's television show "Good Night, Little Ones!" where he brought his puppet Daniel Striped Tiger with him.
The only time Rogers appeared on television as someone other than himself was in 1996 when he played a preacher on one episode of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." Rogers voiced himself on the "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers" episode of the PBS Kids series "Arthur".
Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. Rogers was red–green color blind. He had a healthy lifestyle as he swam every morning and neither smoked nor drank. He was a vegetarian because he believed eating meat was wrong, saying "I don't want to eat anything that has a mother". Despite popular rumors, he never served in the military as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War and never had tattoos.
In 1991, the Pittsburgh Penguins named Rogers as their celebrity captain, as part of a celebration of the National Hockey League's 75th anniversary. Card No. 297 from the 1992 NHL Platinum collection celebrated the event, making Rogers one of only twelve celebrity captains to be chosen for a sports card.
During his morning routine, Rogers would respond to every single fan mail and return them to the respective sender.
In 1992, he was awarded the Peabody Award. He was added into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
In an interview with Rogers' friend William Hirsch, Rogers said that if sexuality was measured on a scale, then: "Well, you know, I must be right smack in the middle. Because I have found women attractive, and I have found men attractive," leading some readers to describe Rogers as bisexual.
After Rogers' retirement in 2001, he remained busy working from studying religion and spirituality, making public appearances, traveling, and working on a children's media center named after him at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe with Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, chancellor of the college.
By the summer of 2002 his constant stomach pain had become painful enough for him to see a doctor about it, and in October 2002 he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He had surgery on January 6, 2003, which was unsuccessful. A week earlier, he was grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, with Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby.
Rogers died on the morning of February 27, 2003 after slipping into a coma, at his home in Pittsburgh. His wife was by his side when he died. He died less than a month before he would have turned 75.