I admit it… I love Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Betty loves to watch it, and I loved Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (She watches that with me, too). one of the things I love about the show is how they’ve made allusions back to the original Neighborhood of Make Believe.

If you’re not familiar with Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, it takes place in an evolution of the Neighborhood of Make Believe from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Daniel Tiger is the son of Daniel Striped Tiger. His friends are the children or nephews of Mr. Rogers’ mainstays. Miss Elaina is the daughter of Lady Elaine Fairchilde, O the Owl is the nephew of X the Owl, Prince Wednesday is the son of King Friday XIII and the younger brother of Prince Tuesday. Katarina Kittycat is the daughter of Henrietta Pussycat. Henrietta and X still live in the same tree, and Daniel Striped Tiger (Daniel’s dad) works in a clock factory. Daniel’s mom (known only as Mom Tiger) was not one of the original series characters.

Some liberties have been taken with the characters, of course. Grandpere, in the original show, lived in the Eiffel Tower (west of King Friday’s castle), and had a granddaughter who lived far away, named Colette. Grandpere was never related to Daniel Striped Tiger, but now he is his father. There are a few others, but this is the “discrepancy” that I’d like to address.

While Grandpere has been established as Daniel’s paternal grandfather, I have an alternate theory. One of the characters who has not returned is Ana Platypus. In the original show, Ana once looked into a crystal ball and saw that Daniel Striped Tiger would eventually marry Colette.

My theory is that Grandpere is not the original Grandpere, but the *son* of the original, and the father of Colette (or “Mom Tiger”).

So, as you can see, I have far too much time to think about the Neighborhood of Make Believe.