Pop music star Lady Gaga covers the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, in a commercial for Redfin / Rocket that will air during Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.
It will be first Super Bowl ad for Redfin, an online real estate brokerage recently purchased by Rocket, an online mortgage lender. The ad will emphasize home, community and connection.
In a video trailer for the 60-second ad, Lady Gaga says, “Mister Rogers was so clearly someone that stood for something and it is powerful to think of what he would say right now and it’s kind of a special song to revisit at this time.”
In a prepared statement, Lady Gaga called Rogers “a heartfelt presence for children and families all over the world. I was honored to be asked by Rocket and Fred Rogers Productions to reimagine his beloved classic “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” for Rocket’s Super Bowl spot. I hope you sincerely enjoy this as much as I did, recreating it with fellow musicians and friends Alex Smith and Benjamin Rice.”
This is not the first time Rogers’ tune has been used in a TV ad.
A cover of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” by the band Dragonette was previously used in a Target Canada TV commercial in 2013. Some fans of Rogers were unhappy with the song’s use in a TV commercial because, in his lifetime, Rogers expressed a dislike for commercializing the “Neighborhood,” allowing for the creation of only a few product tie-ins, mostly books and records.
In 1984, a Burger King ad parodied Rogers with a character called Mr. Rodney. Rogers asked Burger King to pull the ad, which the company did, because Rogers was concerned the commercial was confusing for children.
Channel surfing
Disney ’s “Daredevil: Born Again” returns for its second season at 9 p.m. March 24 with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) getting an assist from Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) in his fight against Kingpin mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). … HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” returns for its 13th season on Feb. 15. … “The Testaments,” a spinoff from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” will premiere on Hulu April 8. … CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will air its final episode May 21 … In advance of its third season premiere on Wednesday, Apple TV renewed comedy “Shrinking” for a fourth season.