When I was a little kid I preferred Sesame Street and The Electric Company to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, but as an adult I’ve learned to appreciate the man’s deep caring for his audience. One thing that made Fred Rogers especially cool is that he didn’t talk down to kids — he was willing to speak frankly and honestly with children without overly dumbing-down complex ideas or sanitizing troubling subjects. That said, I was surprised to find out about one week spent in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in the grip of Cold War terror. Here’s the word from Quartz…

Universally beloved for his gentle manner, Fred Rogers was the soothing educational voice in the lives of countless American children for nearly 40 years. His PBS show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, taught kids about important issues using songs, skits, puppets, and more.

In November 1983, as relations between the US and Russia boiled, PBS aired five episodes of the show that served as a kid-friendly allegory for the increasingly real potential of nuclear war. In them, King Friday, the puppet monarch (performed by Rogers) of the fictional “Neighborhood of Make-Believe,” grows paranoid when he mistakenly believes a rival kingdom is building bombs. He orders his town to do the same, and redirects all of its funds into stockpiling weapons in case of war.

Watch all five episodes here…

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Continuing with the scary October posts, and reveling in the announcement of the return of Twin Peaks, I found an example that distills the aesthetics of the original, providing a map back to the place where Laura Palmer and a beloved, bizarre television series were both killed.

While the mind reels at what David Lynch might do with a long form television series one is always uneasy when a beloved work of art gets a revisiting. I’d love to see the show re-invent itself — a lot of time has past since the last episode, and the hints that Kyle Maclachlan may be back for the new show, and the “25 Years Later” text in the series’ new lo-fi trailer, all necessitate a contemporary updating.

That said, fans also want Twin Peaks to feel like a familiar place, and they want the new season to feel like a continuation of the first two. Here’s the clip I found that boils down the nuances, techniques, actors, creators, places and characters that make this return a worthwhile one: breaking the fourth wall; the use of antiquated slang in place of contemporary profanity; sets that recall a timeless, mid-century America; an appearance by “David Finch,” “Laura” and a talking log; Diane’s tape recorder; suspenseful music, and a diner that serves “darn fine” pie.

Here is Sesame Street‘s darn fine version of Twin Beaks…

While most loved the first season, many loathed the second. Overall, I love the entire series thus far and I felt the end of the second season marked a return to form before its ill-timed end. I’d like to to see Lynch pick up the Wyndaham Earl storyline from the beginning as I never felt Earl got a chance to really show us the evil. Here’s looking forward to the darkest chapter of the story yet.

Stay Awake!

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Have you ever noticed that Oscar the Grouch looks like he’s made outta weed? Seriously. Of course, I don’t think this is intentional. Frank Oz probably had a run of the green shaggy stuff laying around and the rest is history.

Along with groovy music and the kind of social awareness that came of age during an era when battles for equality were being fought on the racial, sexual and gender fronts, Sesame Street was also influenced by the drug culture of its time. I don’t have any specific info about who was doing what when, but its likely that the dynamic, young artists who created that magical place sought inspiration – as most artists will – wherever they could find it.

Here are a few funny SS videos that teach kids about letters and numbers while simultaneously goofing on a the lingo of the drug buy…

Just for good measure, here is one of the better psychedelic/mystical scenes from the show:

Keep learning, kids! If you know of any other videos that fits this bill, please leave your links in the comments section!

Joe Nolan <3