Mister Rogers will be remembered with a new documentary on his birthday today

Fred Rogers would be 84 today.

Mister Rogers would have been 84 today.

To celebrate Mister Rogers, PBS will be airing a documentary called Mister Rogers & Me.

Mister Rogers was a television pioneer who really cared for children. He wanted us to be who we are, and not try to be like anybody else. Plus, he wore cardigans way before Daniel Tosh dedicated a season to them.

Mister Rogers was known for his ability to put big ideas into a few words that kids could understand. “Deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex,” Mister Rogers once said.

It’s an unlikely match when a PBS star who urges us to be careful crossing streets meets up with an MTV producer. But Mister Rogers, whose first name is Fred by the way, met up with Benjamin Wagner of MTV when they were both vacationing on Nantucket Island.

Benjamin Wagner was the person Mister Rogers told about the idea of being deep and simple. The phrase stuck with Benjamin Wagner and inspired Mister Rogers & Me. It has been 10 years since that meeting, and now we can all view the documentary and remember the lessons we learned from Mister Rogers.

Mister Rogers told us through song that he liked us for who we are and that we are still ourselves no matter what we wear, or where we go. It’s pretty cool that a man could make generations of kids feel so special. So on his birthday remember why Mister Rogers was special, and why he was everyone’s favorite neighbor.