You, the viewer, are the secret illegitimate child of a Presbyterian minister, who, being otherwise conscientious and aspiring to a high standard of decency and kindness, takes time out of his day, every weekday, to spend with you. He uses that time to talk with you about life, and feelings, to show you how things are made, to introduce you to different sorts of people, to play pretend and make handicrafts, and to tell you that he loves you just the way you are.
He meets you in a house that is not his house, but hangs up his jacket and wears a sweater he borrows from the closet. Likewise for shoes.
He speaks freely of families, of divorce, of all manner of difficulties. The only subject that is off limits is the nature of his particular relation to you. If he loves you so much, how come you don't live with him? Why do you only get half an hour, five days a week? Where does he live, if not here? Who feeds the fish on the weekend?
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I could be misremembering this, but I think there was an episode where he talked about how it was a TV show and showed viewers the set.
Seems plausible, and good if he did it, but that doesn't quite resolve the puzzle, since it's a TV show about / depicting / imitating something, and there's still the question of what sort of relationship it's a simulacrum of.
The house is meant to be your house, you are inviting him into your living room (or kitchen or wherever you keep your television set).
But he introduces you to his neighbors, not yours.