Later Years

[earnhardtfan4life]

I am going to have say this, but it's just my opinion.

I think he should have retired at least in the mid 90s.  I can't remember which year it was but I watched one episode in which he really looked old and frail.  I remember he was doing Lady Elaine's voice in NOMB and it sounded awful.  But, I guess he figured his age would work in his favor as he would be a grandfather like figure to children.   

Were there any plans for his retirement earlier than 2000?

Mike

[Eric S]

I would say that the Grandfather image worked in his favor, though the later episodes are not my favorites. There's something about the show that to me belongs deeply entrenched in the 1970's though I'm glad it continued as long as it did.

[earnhardtfan4life]

The later episodes aren't my favorites either.  He ran it into the ground of the "show and tell" aspect of the show.  I about died when he showed the computer and the whole Hula Mouse bit.  I'm thinking how did we manage to go from good stories to this.  I don't know if at that particular time he had help writing those particular shows are not.  To me the story lines in NOMB began getting really sloppy in my opinion. 

Mike     

[NeighborC]

Most of the episodes I saw were from the 1980s-early 90s. I can't remember much before the time that PBS had stopped showing the pre-1979 episodes, so the oldest I remember seeing was about 1979-80.

However, after that, I thought Rogers had stopped taping around 1993, because whenever I would catch it on in the late 1990s, our station never seemed to show anything more recent than that. But later on I do remember seeing an episode from 1997 and the one where he went to see the group Stomp. It wasn't long after that when I learned that they were in fact still producing episodes during those years and would soon air the final one in 2001.

I don't recall the computer episode and was surprised to see photos of it on the neighborhood archive. I never thought they ever discussed the webpage on the show apart from having the address during the closing credits. It doesn't really bother me though, they were just trying to keep up with the new internet age, so I guess Rogers wanted to relate the webpage to his show. I remember Hula Mouse but never knew he had anything to do with the computer.

[ASchuelke]

I know that, when Johnny Costa died, Fred really thought about whether or not he wanted to continue production.

[MIKEBENNIDICT]

I am going to have say this, but it's just my opinion.

I think he should have retired at least in the mid 90s.  I can't remember which year it was but I watched one episode in which he really looked old and frail.  I remember he was doing Lady Elaine's voice in NOMB and it sounded awful.  But, I guess he figured his age would work in his favor as he would be a grandfather like figure to children.   

Were there any plans for his retirement earlier than 2000?

Mike

And why should he have?

Obviously The Neighborhood still had an audience  he enjoyed what he was doing and should of called it quits when he wanted to.

[mitsguy2001]

I am going to have say this, but it's just my opinion.

I think he should have retired at least in the mid 90s.  I can't remember which year it was but I watched one episode in which he really looked old and frail.  I remember he was doing Lady Elaine's voice in NOMB and it sounded awful.  But, I guess he figured his age would work in his favor as he would be a grandfather like figure to children.   

Were there any plans for his retirement earlier than 2000?

Mike

And why should he have?

Obviously The Neighborhood still had an audience  he enjoyed what he was doing and should of called it quits when he wanted to.

I heard that Fred had considered ending the series in 1996 when Johnny Costa passed away.