I'm just an old fan of Mr. Rogers, so I wanted to see how his legacy was being cared for, and I think the show does a very nice job. Far better then other kids' shows. Nothing could ever equal Fred Rogers, but at least the lessons and empathy he taught us are still being taught here.
The characters are adorable; they all have their own stories and personality quirks. Every kid can find at least one character to identify with. The show is also extremely inclusive. Race, disability, adversity, different guardians/home life, and other topics are handled delicately and instructively. Santomero has done a wonderful job coordinating with experts to send the right messages in a way kids can understand.
The Daniel imagination sequences are fun to watch. (I wish I'd had this when I was a kid!). Some of the songs are so good they should be award-winning, but a few are kind of bad. It's difficult to create rhyming lyrics for the vocabulary of a four-year-old, so they tend to recycle a lot of lyrics across episodes that don't make much sense in context. But to be fair, so does every other musical kids' show, and I doubt the kids really notice. But the best part is that every lesson has a memorable tune, which a lot of parents sing to their children to remind them; ex: "Grown-ups come back". That's a great thing. And when they get it right, some of the harmonies are just beautiful.
Some people don't like that the show occasionally shows the kids getting mad. But I think that's a good thing. They are allowed to feel their feelings, and then learn how to redirect that anger into something better..
Annoyances? Not many. One thing that bugs me is when they have Tigey sing. He has this tinny/creepy electronic voice that just sounds terrible. PBS also tends to show episodes back to back with a different Prince Wednesday actor who sounds very different, which might be confusing. Also, some of the adults also occasionally come off as a bit 1950s sanctimonious, but I guess that's necessary for the format.
All in all, a wonderful show.
