Springtime with Mister Rogers (found primetime special for PBS children's educational series; 1979)
Title card for the special.
Status: Found
Date found: 29 Mar 2024
Found by: Mark Buzzitta, Snowpeck
Mister Rogers Neighborhood is a children's educational series aired on PBS from 1968 to 2001. The show aired over 895 episodes and 12 specials, including its infamous episode arc, Mister Rogers Talks About Conflict. After the release of Christmastime with Mister Rogers, another special was made during the duration of Mister Rogers Neighborhood's hiatus from 1976 - 1979 called Springtime with Mister Rogers. What made it special was its obscurity as it supposedly only aired once on June 3rd, 1979.[1]
Plot Synopsis
The special was designed to focus on the topics of moving and helping.[2] The special opens with Mister Rogers walking down the city, greeting his neighbors. When he arrives at his house, Mister Rogers is told that Betty Aberlin’s Little Theater has a leak in its roof. Everyone in the neighborhood starts to find a way to raise money, Mister Rogers even refinishes a cabinet he plans to donate. Eventually, the neighborhood decides to make a special musical springtime show for the event. In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Lady Elaine is sad that she can't become a princess, and eventually fantasizes about being a princess.
Availability
Multiple comments on the Mister Rogers Neighborhood fansite, The Neighborhood Archive says that they saw both the Christmastime special and the Springtime special. But it wasn't until March 20th, 2024, that The Fred Rogers Company uploaded the special to Misterrogers.org. However, the copy in their archive was missing the first 20 minutes.[3]
Days after the upload, a man named Mark Buzzitta contacted The Fred Rogers Company and said he had the full special and provided them with a copy. Later, on March 29th, 2024, MySpleen user, Snowpeck uploaded Mike's recording to the site, rendering the special found.
Gallery
TV Listing of Yore, mentioning the special and two guests that appeared in the special
See Also
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Misterogers (partially found Canadian precursor to "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" children's educational TV series; 1961-1967)
- Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found PBS holiday special of children's educational TV series; 1977)
- Mister Rogers Talks About Conflict (found episode arc of PBS children's educational series; 1983)
Bumpers
- Bookworm Bunch (partially found interstitials from PBS Kids channel block; 2000-2001)
- PBS Kids (partially lost schedule bumpers and interstitial material of TV channel block; 1999-present)
- PBS Kids Vote-A-Rama (lost bumpers of "Arthur" themed marathon; 2002)
- Someday School (partially found PBS Kids channel block; 1998-2000)
PBS
- Adventures with Kanga Roddy (partially found PBS children's series; 1998-2000)
- Backyard Safari (found PBS children's educational series; 1997)
- Barney & Friends "Season 9" (partially found alternative version of PBS children's series; 2004-2005)
- Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992-1995)
- The Puzzle Place (partially found PBS puppet series; 1994-1998)
- Reading Rainbow (found Johnny Kemp opening sequence for PBS children's educational series; 1999)
- Shining Time Station (found season one intro of PBS series; 1989-1990)
- Storytime (found PBS children's reading series; 1992-1998)
- Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? "Auld Lang Gone" (non-existent episode of PBS children's game show; 1992)
- Zoom (found pilot of revival of 1972 PBS children's series; 1995)
- Zoom (partially lost revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)
PBS Kids
- The Charlie Horse Music Pizza (partially lost PBS Kids "Lamb Chop's Play-Along" spin-off series; 1998-1999)
- Curious George (lost test pilot of PBS Kids animated series based on books; existence unconfirmed; 2004/2005)
- Cyberchase "The Poddleville Case" (found test pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 1999)
- Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated musical series; 2006-2008)
- Dragon Tales "One Small Step for Cassie" and "Circle of Friends" (lost pilots of PBS Kids animated series; 1999)
- The Good Night Show with Melanie/Leo (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2005-2006)
- The Good Night Show with Nina & Star (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2006-2017)
- Jet Propulsion (partially found pitch pilot of "Ready Jet Go!" PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2013)
- Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
- Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
- Molly of Denali (partially found pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated series; 2018)
- Nature Cat (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; early 2010s)
- Peg + Cat (partially lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 2011)
- Preschool Musical... On a Stick (partially lost PBS Kids Sprout "High School Musical" parody; 2008)
- Seven Little Monsters (found episodes of PBS Kids animated series; 2000-2004)
- Space Race (partially found PBS Kids web series; 2011)
- Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
- What's The Big Idea? (partially found pitch pilot of "Sid The Science Kid" PBS Kids CGI animated series; 2007)
- WordGirl (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
- WordWorld (found test pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated educational series; 2005)
External Links
- Google Drive file of the special
- Lost Media forum thread on lost Mister Rogers specials, mentioning Springtime with Mister Rogers
- Wikipedia article on Mister Rogers Neighborhood season 9, mentioning the special