Mr. Rogers without his cardigan? The neighborhood might have looked different if Fred Rogers hadn't stood his ground.

"I remember years ago when I was asked to go to New York to talk about replacing somebody who was thinking of leaving children's television," he said in the March 7 issue of TV Guide. "First off, they said, `Now, what would you wear?' I said, `I'd wear what I always wear, my own clothes.' "He said he was asked to wear some sort of costume but refused.

Rogers, who has been on television for 30 years, said his low-key approach wouldn't make the lineup these days.

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"I would have such terrible run-ins with the `powers that be.' They wouldn't want me around," said the 63-year-old star of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

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