Somehing I've wondered about 1456-1460

[rogersfan1]

I was wondering if perhaps doing that one week of 1456-1460 in February 1976 may have been a last minute decision as 1455 seems to in some ways be a bit of a finale as well and perhaps they felt they needed another week to prepare kid for reruns of older episodes or perhaps they originally planned to only go a few years back until deciding to go all the way back to the first color episodes. Since they did that week to prepare them for the older episodes presumably at that point they hadn't been shown in a number of years, although noone seems to be sure what they did in the other 39 weeks from 1969-75 as most TV guides and Weeklys don't have much episode descriptions for daytime programming, typically they only do for the evening hour shows.

[LanceChurchill1]

I'd give ANYTHING to see 1456-1460, every other episode from 1968-1976, (besides the 20 that I have that are available on amazon.com, obviously) and Conflict 1521-1525 from 1983 that last aired in 1996 when I was 6.  Since Fred explained that reruns were going to air, then why couldn't he say that reruns were coming (again) after 1765 instead of saying that he would never be coming back?  It'd be foolish to say that he'll never be coming back, because he always will be by DVD, download, etc.  Even at age 22, I still hold it near and dear to my heart that he will always be coming back because the episodes that I have, I will cherish and watch them for the rest of my life :)

[mitsguy2001]

I was wondering if perhaps doing that one week of 1456-1460 in February 1976 may have been a last minute decision as 1455 seems to in some ways be a bit of a finale as well and perhaps they felt they needed another week to prepare kid for reruns of older episodes or perhaps they originally planned to only go a few years back until deciding to go all the way back to the first color episodes. Since they did that week to prepare them for the older episodes presumably at that point they hadn't been shown in a number of years, although noone seems to be sure what they did in the other 39 weeks from 1969-75 as most TV guides and Weeklys don't have much episode descriptions for daytime programming, typically they only do for the evening hour shows.

I don't have a definitive answer to your question.  But since Margaret Hamilton was in both 1451-1455 and 1456-1460, I'm guessing they were shot at the same time.  But I don't know.  If somebody has both weeks and has a very fine eye for detail, they could maybe see whether there are any subtle changes between weeks, such as Fred or other characters aging, or any minor set changes.  But I doubt that most of the characters would have noticeably aged in less than a week, so it would be very hard to tell.

[mitsguy2001]

Come to think of it: since Betty's hairstyle changed fairly often, maybe the best way to tell whether 1451-1455 and 1456-1460 were shot at the same time or not would be to compare Lady Aberlin's hairstyle in those 2 weeks.  If it's the same, then they were likely shot at the same time.  If they were different, then 1456-1460 was likely an afterthought.  Although, since Margaret Hamilton was in both weeks, I suspect that they were shot at the same time.  Although, from 1456-1460, Margaret is only in 1459.  It would also be interesting to compare Lady Aberlin's hairstyle in 1459 vs the other episodes that week, because of the possibility that maybe 1459 was shot with 1453 and 1454, and maybe the other episodes were shot seperately.

Betty Aberlin appears in the real neighborhood in 1457.  She is painting Fred's garage in that episode, and has her head completely covered.  I wonder if maybe that was done to maybe hide a different hairstyle, to maybe hide the fact that the episode wasn't shot at the same time as others?

There is also an inconsistency that could possibly indicate that maybe the real neighborhood part of 1457 was shot before the real neighborhood part of 1456.  In 1456, when Fred is with Mr. McFeely, he refers to episode 1032 by its number.  It seems that he assumed that the kids would be familiar with the episode numbers.  However, in 1457, before showing a clip from episode 1013, Fred explains to Betty how all of the episodes are numbered.  Obviously, Fred could have explained to Betty off camera about the episode numbering.  So it seems that his explanation was intended for the kids that were watching the episode.  But that would have made more sense in 1456, not 1457.

[mitsguy2001]

By the way, the Fred Rogers Center catalog also lists Episodes 1001-1455 as 131-585.  That implies that they first aired with the old episode numbers and no trolley graphic.  It does not list 1456-1460 as 586-590, so those were obviously always 1456-1460, implying that they were taped seperately from 1451-1455.  Although, I wonder if maybe Margaret Hamilton's scenes could have been shot together.

[bjdwsm]

Bumping up this topic; the marathon last spring seemed to clarify a few things:
-1455 definitely has a "finale" feel to it, with the Make Believe characters talking about all the important events they'd like to remember (the Froggs moving is mentioned as a starting point) and Lady Aberlin commenting "we'll all look different". King Friday's "pledge to the flag". Afterward, Mr. Rogers talks about remembering all the things he's talked about with his television neighbor, and talking about what the viewer may be when they grow up.
-1456-1460 appear to be taped at a different time; I get the impression they were made as a better transition to the older episodes than 1455, with explanations as to why the characters changed or why they were mentioning the Neighborhood of Make-Believe in the "real" neighborhood. I think there are minor crew differences here and there, but the whole week just has a different "feel" to it than season 8 (a bit quieter and spare in comparison). 

I wonder if the first post-hiatus shows (the Hugh Martin era) were intended as just a limited supplement to the existing shows before the decision was made to continue indefinitely and (eventually) retire the old series episodes.

[mitsguy2001]

Bumping up this topic; the marathon last spring seemed to clarify a few things:
-1455 definitely has a "finale" feel to it, with the Make Believe characters talking about all the important events they'd like to remember (the Froggs moving is mentioned as a starting point) and Lady Aberlin commenting "we'll all look different". King Friday's "pledge to the flag". Afterward, Mr. Rogers talks about remembering all the things he's talked about with his television neighbor, and talking about what the viewer may be when they grow up.
-1456-1460 appear to be taped at a different time; I get the impression they were made as a better transition to the older episodes than 1455, with explanations as to why the characters changed or why they were mentioning the Neighborhood of Make-Believe in the "real" neighborhood. I think there are minor crew differences here and there, but the whole week just has a different "feel" to it than season 8 (a bit quieter and spare in comparison). 

Could be.  Although, Margaret Hamilton was in both weeks, although her only appearance in 1456-1460 was in 1459.  Since you seem to have an eye for detail, do you think perhaps 1459 could have been shot at the same time as 1451-1455, even if the rest of the week was not?

What exactly do you mean by "quieter and spare".

I wonder if the first post-hiatus shows (the Hugh Martin era) were intended as just a limited supplement to the existing shows before the decision was made to continue indefinitely and (eventually) retire the old series episodes.

I did hear somewhere that the post-79s were originally intended as a limited supplement.  I wonder when they decided that they'd continue indefinitely.  I'm guessing maybe around the time that they stopped the "Mr. Rogers talks to parents" episodes.