Bob Keeshan

Bob Keeshan was a symbol of what childhood used to be - before irony, before MTV flash edits, before totally extreme marketing to kids. He was "Captain Kangaroo" (CBS, 1955-1984), the man behind the longest-running kids' TV show in history. Decked out in his strange bright red blazer with white piping, the Captain read books aloud, got pelted with ping-pong balls, hung out with a farmer - basically, he made preschoolers feel special. Off camera, he denounced television and fought against the evolution of TV into an electronic babysitter that, he felt, spewed violence and chaos. In an interview with NPR, Keeshan explained the theory behind his carefully crafted program. "Television prepares children to be aggressive and violent, but there is little preparation for being gentle. In the everyday encounters that make up most of our lives, kindness is the essential quality, yet television does nothing to prepare children for this."