November 16, 2023 – Reading Rainbow

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today we’re featuring the year 1983, the year Reading Rainbow premiered on PBS!
The impetus for the show was the growing concern about the “summer loss phenomena”, where kids lose some of their reading abilities because they’re not reading during the summer months when they’re off from school. Then when they return in the fall, teachers have to spend the first two or three weeks bringing them back up to their past reading level. Two public television employees wanted to figure out a way to use TV to combat this phenomenon. What they came up with was Reading Rainbow, a show to encourage a love of books and reading.
It was hosted by LeVar Burton, who at the time was known for his role in Roots. He was also simultaneously appearing on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Every episode featured a different children’s book, often narrated by a celebrity. There were over 100 celebrity guests on the show – everyone from Maya Angelou and Julia Child to Flavor Flav and Kermit the Frog! It eventually became the most-watched PBS show in classrooms across the U.S.
The show ended after 21 seasons in 2006, with reruns continuing through August 2009. It ended due to a lack of funding and the costs associated with broadcast rights and licensing fees for the books featured on the show. Burton purchased the rights to the show after its cancellation and launched a mobile app that introduced the show to a brand-new generation. Within 36 hours, it was the #1 educational app. In 2014, he started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to revive the show and provide it to schools in need, free of charge. It raised $5.4 million, enough to bring Reading Rainbow to more than 100,000 classrooms.
At the time of its cancellation, Reading Rainbow was the 3rd-longest running children’s show in PBS history, after Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Over its 26 seasons, it won more than 250 awards, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards. Learn more here.