Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood Spin-off Coming to PBS

Station makes room for newer shows with higher ratings

(NEWSER) - Today is not a beautiful day in Mister Rogers' neighborhood. The show has aired for the last time on most PBS stations, making way for newer programs with higher ratings, the Chicago Tribune reports. Loyal fans have created a website and Facebook group to try to save the reassuring cardigan-clad friend who teaches kids about what one fan calls "clumsy, awkward, uncomfortable real life." More»

(NEWSER) - What if the family dog ate alphabet soup by mistake? Susan Meddaugh answered her 7-year-old son’s question by writing a book, Martha Speaks, which has now become a PBS show about the talking dog. PBS hopes it will teach challenging vocab—"diminish," "concoct," and "courageous" are on the list—by integrating them seamlessly into stories. More»

Two-part series begins airing Monday

(NEWSER) - PBS begins airing a two-part documentary on Bill Clinton's presidency Monday night, with much of the early press focusing on its coverage of the Monica Lewinsky affair. Many advisers speak publicly about it for the first time, notes the Los Angeles Times , including Dick Morris: "When the Lewinsky scandal broke the president paged me and I returned the call," he says in the documentary. "And he said, 'Ever since I got here to the White House I've had to shut my body down, sexually I mean, but I screwed up with this girl. I didn't do what they said I did, but I may have done so much that I can't prove my innocence.'" More»

Candidate says he'd stop subsidizing PBS

(NEWSER) - America is too broke to subsidize ad-free TV for toddlers, Mitt Romney says. The candidate, while campaigning in Iowa yesterday, promised to balance the budget by cutting certain programs, and by requiring PBS to carry ads, forcing Bert and Ernie and the rest of the Sesame Street gang to start paying their own way, the Raw Story reports. More»

Former Apple chief recalls crank call to the Vatican

(NEWSER) - From the back of a British garage, filmmakers have salvaged an old interview with Steve Jobs and plan to screen it in theaters across America, the Los Angeles Times reports. Initially recorded for a PBS/Channel 4 miniseries nearly 20 years ago, the footage was lost until the director of the series discovered a dubbed VHS copy in his garage. "He didn't see any commercial value in it," says interviewer Robert Cringely. "I have three kids I have to put through college, so I thought maybe we could sell it." More»