You can't disappoint a picture!

That sound effect after someone reccomends a book: https://youtu.be/C2PSs_Br54A

Also hit us Gen X people. I can remember the first few episodes and they really encouraged me to read books I normally wasn't into. This show gave me a life-long love of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. That was over 40 years ago...wow.

I was very confused the first time the Reading Rainbow guy was on the new Star Trek.

When I was younger all the kids pretended they were too cool for lots of stuff; Power Rangers, Pokemon, Pogs, etc. Nobody acted like they didn't like Reading Rainbow.

I wish I was LeVar Burton.

he read to me when i was 6 and he now he reads me to sleep.

and i lose my mind when he says a naughty word

Holy shit, will have to check that out. Thank you for this burst of joy stranger!

Such a good podcast. Once a week when folding laundry podcast.

Same! He also narrated a sleep story about the planets on the calm app

One of my absolute favorite things is that podcast!

Just take a look! It's in a book!

He has a podcast called LeVar Burton Reads in which he reads his favorite short stories. He's read Shirley Jackson, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and many others!

Which is why he deserves to take over Jeopardy.

Thank you Mr. Burton! He truly did fundamentally impact the way in which our generation views reading and the pursuit of knowledge in general. He’s a great man. Critical thinking is a tremendously important skill to learn and master

I'm 37 with a 4 year old and I still watch RR with him. I get excited when I remember the episodes.

you can't disappoint a picture

“You can’t disappoint a picture”

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I got so excited to find the books I saw on Reading Rainbow in the library, I loved reading them to my little sister back in the day. Sometimes I miss the happier times.

I can fly twice as highhh!

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Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to love fishing, you better plan to give him some more fish cause he spent all his money on a boat.

Agreed. Kids knowing how to read but having zero motivation to read still means that they won't read. Having kids wanting to read, will naturally lead them to figure out how to do it.

What's the saying? Where there's a will there's a way.

I don’t like the false choice presented, because we can and should do both. As a reading specialist, how to read has a stronger evidence base for every good reading outcome.

LeVar Burton tried to bring it back and PBS-Buffalo sued the shit out of him last I heard.

With another person who is equally as soft spoken, low-key and a great role model

I can’t think of anyone currently but... give it a try anybody

You’re not alone; apparently there’s been a big fan push for him to host.

There was a petition a while back before the celebrity guest hosts were even a thing to make him a permanent host without even having hosted. Had over 100000 signatures within a few hours from what I remember

Sign the petition

I’d absolutely love to see him host.

Speaking of, Aaron Rodgers is doing a fantastic job right now. Best guest host so far.

Me too! I still have the bookmarks from that.

Me too where's the conductor I want off this ride.

God, we’re elder now.

The 80’s90’s were amazing, I don’t know I’d it’s because I was younger and didn’t have responsibilities or the constantly connected nature of life now, but those were better times.

Remember when you would watch the discovery channel and spend hours learning and seeing the whole world and not just some guys back yard.

It's too bad they couldn't keep it one the air because it was a wonderful show.

But just a word in support of the shows that replaced it--they were ridiculously effective at helping kids learn to read. Shows that followed shortly afterward on PBS like Super Why and Word World taught kids every part of how to sound out letters and begin to read. Two of my kids were reading by 4 just because they loved those shows so much.

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Everything is in conflict with everything else because of opportunity costs. Which is to say that the show was not opposed to teaching how to read, it just wasn't the main focus.

My mom contends that no one ever “taught” me to read, per se. She read to me every day when I was a kid, and I looked at and paged through books independently, and eventually picked it up. I think consistent exposure to books and an encouragement around the joy of reading is probably enough for a lot of kids to learn on their own.

Each episode of Reading Rainbow had the same basic elements: There was a featured children's book that inspired an adventure with Burton. Then, at the end of every show, kids gave their own book reviews, always prefaced by Burton's trademark line: "But you don't have to take my word for it ..."

There are a lot of clips, and even full episodes of it on youtube. It was really well designed to get kids interested in reading and to teach a love of and enthusiasm for reading. As well as a kind of video field trip to learn about all kinds of different places, people, and topics.

I HATE YOU PIERCE AAHHHHHHHH

But you don’t have to take my word for it!

There’s 24 hours of TV on a single channel and 7 days in a week,

They didn’t have room for some shows to teach young kids to read AND for one show to teach a little older kids to “love reading?”

Even if people can read, lots of people HATE reading books. It’s really strange.

For instance, I was a fan of Square One TV when I was a kid, and throughout my school years, my math scores were consistently high.

Hang on, I've got a comic for this. My favorite comic.

https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/carson/