LeVar Burton wants to revive ‘Reading Rainbow’ on Kickstarter … and we’re in awe

“Reading Rainbow” is one of those shows that if you grew up in the 1980s and early 90s,  you more than likely loved and watched it every single chance that you could. Not only was it fun, engaging, and imaginative, but it actually made you want to read. How many TV programs actually encouraged such a thing?

The series actually lasted on public television longer than you may have thought, and we personally feel like there were two reasons for its ultimate end in 2006:

1. The ways in which children were learning and absorbing content changed, and the 30-minute television program was starting to become outdated to them.
2. The The original “Reading Rainbow” viewer was not on average old enough yet to introduce the series to their kids.

Now, both of these issues have been resolved in glorious ways. There has been an iPad app for some time now, but today, star / executive producer / all-around great guy LeVar Burton officially announced an attempt to get the series going again through Kickstarter. As of this writing, Burton has managed to raise over $800,000 of the $1 million needed to back the project, and that is in a timespan of less than 24 hours. He will probably have the money that he asked for in a mere matter of hours from now.

The reason that this project has taken off is thanks to the internet, but also the passion and love that people have for this series. They also understand the value of reading, and Burton’s passion with this project is to create accessible, free content for schools and children who need it most. The video below featuring LeVar explains more, along with what some of the rewards are for donating. (One of them includes getting an opportunity to wear his visor from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”)

If there was ever a Kickstarter that we would personally advocate funding, this would be it. Not only is “Reading Rainbow” a show that impacted our childhood, but our more recent memories of LeVar have been nothing short of stellar. He was wonderful at a Fan Expo panel we saw him at back in 2012, he was a part of one of our favorite episodes of the Nerdist podcast ever, and we’ve also loved him on “Community.”

So fly over like a butterfly in the sky over to his page and donate. Also, sign up here to get further TV updates courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: Kickstarter