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Children's entertainment from the Mr. Rodgers era combined lessons from therapy and child psychology to act as a supplement for parenting. I'm not sure what it is now, and it's especially confusing to me why PBS would be so interested in merchandising when they're supposedly a government agency.

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PBS is not a government agency. It's a non-profit funded in part (about 50%) by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The rest of its funding is through donations and sponsorships.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is also a non-profit, funded solely by the federal government, but is independent from PBS and doesn't produce any programming.

PBS receives some funding from the US government, however it is an independent non-profit corporation.

My guess is they are trying to generate much-needed funds from toy sales, as well as compete for eyeballs with other more engaging children's programming ("bombardment" as Fred Rogers once called it).

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