Mister Rogers' legacy lives on in the hit show "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," which, now in its second season on PBS, gets nearly 40 million video streams a month.
"Daniel Tiger is a cat," a 4-year-old at Pittsburgh's Shady Lane Preschool
told a reporter with NPR. "He has stripes on him and on his ears," said another student.
Daniel Tiger, an animated feline that sports a red cardigan, is based on a puppet character from the original "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," and was created by one of Rogers' biggest fans, Angela Santomero. Santomero was the executive producer and co-creator of the massive children's television hit "Blues Clues" in the mid-1990s, and met Rodgers a few years before his death in 2003.
"I went over to him and said, in my New York way, I just want you to know the whole reason I went into television was because of you," she explained.
"I truly hope that what I do for kids has any, a little bit of an impact as you have for millions of kids and — "
"What's your name? Let's slow down, let's start over," Rogers said in his characteristically calm tone.
The two became friends, and after Rogers' death, his company contacted Santomero with a request to create a show based on "Neighborhood."
She decided to create Daniel Tiger, who is the son of the original Daniel Tiger from the Rogers' show. The senior Daniel Tiger is these days all grown up, married, and plays father to the junior Daniel Tiger, the star of the show.
"I like to think that he embodies Fred in a lot of ways, but he really truly is his own character," says Angela Santomero.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.