childrens television

Pee-wee Herman: The Existentialist at Play

Pee-wee Herman: The Existentialist at Play

Pee-wee Herman forever lives in a cosmos without a supernatural giver of laws. In such an existentialist world, Nietzsche says, we must be like children and invent a world of meaning, lest we be consumed by the great void.

The Limits of Hospitality in Fred Rogers Documentary, ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’

The Limits of Hospitality in Fred Rogers Documentary, ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’

Our work on this Earth, Rogers insists, is Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). So why does Morgan Neville shut down the possibility of queerness in his documentary?

Morgan Neville on the “Radical Kindness” of ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’

Morgan Neville on the “Radical Kindness” of ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’

Eschewing nostalgia, Morgan Neville of Won’t You Be My Neighbor is far more interested in Fred Rogers’ ideas than his biography.

Kids’ TV: A Vast Stygian Wasteland