Children's TV show 'Reading Rainbow' returns for a 20th season despite funding crunch

Jet, August 25, 2003

A happy ending may be a page away for the award-winning but financially beleaguered children's show "Reading Rainbow," which recently announced it will return for a 20th season on PBS.

LeVar Burton, the host and executive producer of the long-running series that promotes literacy, pleaded for his show's survival in front of a national audience during the Daytime Emmy Awards in May (JET, June 9). He said this year might be the show's last on air if more funding isn't found.

"If you are a wealthy philanthropist out there, I'm not that difficult to find," Burton said after he accepted the show's Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series-the seventh time "Reading Rainbow" has won the award.

In light of Burton's impassioned plea, PBS made a two-year monetary commitment to the series, a recent statement from "Reading Rainbow" announced. The funding will cover the production of five new episodes, the renewal of broadcast rights for the 130-episode library and support for "Reading Rainbow" web, educational and outreach projects.

The PBS funding offers a ray of hope to the critically acclaimed show, which debuted in 1983 initially to encourage reading in children during the summer months. "However, for 'Reading Rainbow' to survive, the series needs multiyear, long-term financial commitment from additional corporate funders," the statement said.

Burton, who himself has won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work on the show, also recently told reporters in Los Angeles that legislation is pending in Congress that, if passed, would result in funding for the series.

"What I'd love to create is a situation where I don't have to go begging for money every year," Burton said.