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Before the flood

Before the flood of wistful homages brought on by the passing of Mister Rogers rush through the blogosphere, let us not forget another great American children’s show icon: Captain Kangaroo*.

If forced to pick a favorite of the two, I’d go with Bob Keeshan (a.k.a. the Captain). First and foremost, his background goes back a good deal farther into kid’s television, as he was actually the original Clarabell. Further points in Bob’s favor: I don’t think Fred was ever a recipient of domain kindness. Nor am I aware of him ever inadvertently teaching color theory to his viewers.

And with Bob having been a U.S. Marine, I’m quite sure if they’d ever been pitted against each other, Fred would have had his ass handed to him on a plate. That’s not to say I believe hand-to-hand combat to be a useful skill for the host of a show aimed at young children. I just thought it important to note.

Beyond all this, for me it really comes down to one very simple comparison: even with all the good and wonderful things he was responsible for, Mister Rogers was just not funny. Captain Kangaroo, on the other hand, was a laugh riot. As a kid, I couldn’t think of anything that mattered more. Hard to think of one, now.

* No, he’s still alive. Sorry, Trolley.