The Pittsburgh-filmed “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has seen its share of parodies, most notably Eddie Murphy as Mister Robinson on “Saturday Night Live.”

PBS’s classic children’s show also served as one of the inspirations for a new horror film, “Mr. Crocket,” streaming Oct. 11 on Hulu.

In 1993, when parents play a VHS tape of “Mr. Crocket’s World” for their children, the bow tie-wearing title character (Alex Akpobome) emerges from TV sets, slaying parents and kidnapping children until one mom (Jerrika Hinton) embarks on a quest to save her son. (“Mr. Crocket” loses a few points for one particular anachronism: Parents pluck the VHS tape from neighborhood Free Little Libraries that didn’t get popularized until 2009.)

Brandon Espy directed “Mr. Crocket” and co-wrote the script with Carl Reid. The film is based on a 2022 short of the same name he made for Hulu’s “Bite Size Halloween.”

In a phone interview Tuesday, Espy said “Mr. Crocket” was inspired by his son’s rapturous attention when watching bow tie-clad “Blippi.”

“I couldn’t break his stare. I couldn’t distract him at all,” Espy said. “It was like I wasn’t even there anymore. It’s just him and this kids’ show host.”

One day Espy got into an argument with his son about the show, and Espy froze the screen.

“Later on that night, I’m like, man, what if that kids’ show (host) was mad at me for yelling?” Espy said. “It was almost like he had a new son, which was my son. That’s when I came up with Mr. Crocket.”

As Espy, 36, further imagined Crocket’s world, he reached into his own childhood viewing habits.

“I grew up watching Mister Rogers and, in general, when I think of kids’ show hosts, this is an arena where (hosts) have kids’ attention almost more than their parents,” Espy said. “(The hosts) almost are like their second parents and are an influence on their life. So I thought, ‘How scary would that be if someone didn’t really have good intentions for (kids’) parents while doing that?’”

Espy said the set he conceived for “Mr. Crocket’s World” was inspired in part by “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

“He enters through this door in his living room, and he’s right in his home and ‘Mr. Crocket’ has that kind of feel with more blasting ‘70s colors and a slight ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ angle, as well,” Espy said.

Mr. Crocket turns out to be malevolent, of course, so this film is not for children. Yet, even though this horror film is bloody at times, some of the creatures who work with Mr. Crocket are almost absurdist in their design, with dangling eyeballs that look more cartoony than realistically gory.

Like all good horror films, “Mr. Crocket” ends with a coda that suggests Mr. Crocket could return.

“I’m onto other stuff, but I would love to pursue a sequel for this,” Espy said. “I’m a huge fan of the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ series, and I would love to build something like that. I think there’s a lot more story of Crocket that I would like to tell. If the opportunity presents itself, I would totally take advantage of it.”

‘Caddo Lake’

With the spooky season upon us, Max introduces its own original flick, “Caddo Lake,” now streaming.

Executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan (“Servant”) and written/directed by Celine Held and Logan George (“Servant”), this PG-13, 104-minute movie stars a scruffy Dylan O’Brien (“Teen Wolf”) as Paris, a grunt grieving the death of his mother who drowned in a car accident that occurred in the swamp where he works.

Eerie events begin to occur as objects and people disappear and the sounds of wolves, who haven’t lived in the area for decades, are heard. Then events get stranger still.

More supernatural thriller than horror film, “Caddo Lake” constructs an authentic, lived-in rural world. But, given the involvement of Shyamalan, this is a film that demands strict attention, or you’ll miss the clues that help the story kinda-sorta make sense by the end. (As far as where this ranks among Shyamalan-esque twists, this one is a minor but not terrible effort.)

O’Brien excels at playing the quiet, warmhearted, emotional center of the story, as previously seen in “Teen Wolf,” but in “Caddo Lake” he shares that position equally with Australian actress Eliza Scanlan (“Sharp Objects”), whose character is also impacted by the oddities that occur.

‘Peanuts’ specials stream free

Apple TV+ will again make the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas-themed “Peanuts” specials available to non-subscribers over a limited number of days.

“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” will stream for free Oct. 19-20, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” streams for free Nov. 23-24 and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” streams for free Dec. 14-15 at tv.apple.com.

Kept/canceled

Hulu renewed “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” for a second season.

Apple TV+ renewed “Sugar” for a second season.

Netflix renewed “The Night Agent” for a third season; season two drops in early 2025.

Netflix canceled “That ‘90s Show” after two seasons and Jeff Goldblum’s “Kaos” after one season.

Amazon scrapped a “Who’s the Boss?” sequel series that was to star Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano that was in development.

Channel surfing

Fred Rogers Productions’ CEO Paul Siefken will sign copies of his new mid-grade novel, “Vernon Poché & The Ghosts of New Orleans” ($12.95, Treehouse Publishing Group), on the day it’s released, 7 p.m. Oct. 22 at Riverstone Books, 8850 Covenant Ave. in McCandless Crossing. … Scripps News, formerly known as Newsy and carried locally on WINP-TV, Channel 16.5, will wind down its national news operations, eliminating around 200 jobs. … New episodes of “American Dad” debut on TBS at 10 p.m. Mondays beginning Oct. 28. … Peacock will stream animated summer hit movie “Despicable Me 4” beginning Oct. 31. … The returning episode of “Yellowstone” will air at 10 p.m. Nov. 10 on CBS following its 8 p.m. Nov. 10 premiere on Paramount Network. … Season six of “Virgin River” will debut on Netflix Dec. 19. … All Elite Wrestling (AEW) shows “Dynamite” and “Collision” will remain on TBS and TNT and will begin to stream live on max (and available on demand) in January.

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