Arthur Meets Mister Rogers

Arthur Meets Mister Rogers is the first episode and season premiere of Arthur's second season, and the 31st episode overall.

Plot Outline

Arthur rushes to a bench, slightly out of breath with some exciting news for his friends: Mister Rogers is coming to visit Elwood City. At first, his friends are upset because they think his show is for babies, with Binky mocking him by singing Mister Rogers' theme off-key. After that, Arthur ran home. He was surprised to find that Mister Rogers himself would be staying there for the day, while D.W. was very pleased to see him. Later, Mom talked to him and told him that he used to watch Mister Rogers when he was D.W.'s age, and also told him not to spoil it for her. Later, Arthur and D.W. were talking about Mister Rogers, and D.W. suggests that they tell somebody, but Arthur doesn't want anyone coming to their house asking Mister Rogers for autographs. The fact about keeping Mister Rogers's stay a secret becomes problematic when he needs to mail some postcards to some of his friends. Arthur imagines what his friends would think when they saw Mister Rogers walking down the sidewalk to the mailbox. Then, D.W. brings Mister Rogers to the door, when Arthur blocks his way and takes the postcards, telling Mister Rogers to stay there while he takes the postcards to the mailbox himself. On the way, he bumps into Prunella, and he accidentally drops the postcards. Prunella wonders who they are from, and Arthur covers it up by saying he is trying new names, then he puts the postcards in the mailbox and hurries away before Prunella could say another word. While Mister Rogers is playing the piano, Arthur is putting on a zippered sweater while humming Mister Rogers' theme.

Notes

• In the episode Elwood City Turns 100!, Muffy invited Mister Rogers to the musical after his series was finished. And that episode was the final time to feature him after his series was over.

See Also

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Reception

The New York Daily News screened this episode for a class of kindergartners at PS 183 in New York. Some of the comments they received included:

• "I like D.W. She's so pretty. . . . Mister Rogers is pretty, too." --Mikyong Park
• "I like Mister Rogers because he told Arthur nice things, he comforted him." --Maia McCormicks
• "I like Arthur because he doesn't tease anybody." --Ross Berger
• "It's fun. It makes me laugh. I like D.W. because she teases her brother." --Federica Fontanas
• "I hated the part where the orange thing sucked the teacher up." --Max Moment