Reading Rainbow: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Reading Rainbow is an American children's television series aired by PBS from June 6, 1983 until November 10, 2006 that encouraged reading among children. The award-winning public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including scores of Emmy Awards, many for "Outstanding Children's Series". The series was created under the leadership of Cecily Truett Lancit and Larry Lancit, at Lancit Media Productions in New York. The concept of a reading series for children was inspired by Twila Liggett, Ph.D., of Lincoln, Nebraska of the Great Plains National Instructional Television Library at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln; Paul Schupbach, director of the Great Plains National Instructional Television LIbrary; and Tony Buttino, of WNED-TV Buffalo, New York. The original team included Lynne Brenner Ganek, Ellen Schecter, and LeVar Burton as host.

Series details

• Title: Reading Rainbow
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Children
• Premiere date: 1983-06-06
• Final broadcast date listed: 2006-11-10
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: PBS
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 8227
• TVDB ID: 77547

Cast and credited roles

• LeVar Burton — Host

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1983-06-06; final listed air date 1983-06-24.
• Season 2: premiered 1984-09-03; final listed air date 1984-09-07.
• Season 3: premiered 1985-07-01; final listed air date 1985-07-05.
• Season 4: premiered 1986-06-23; final listed air date 1986-07-04.
• Season 5: premiered 1987-06-22; final listed air date 1987-07-03.
• Season 6: premiered 1987-08-16; final listed air date 1989-08-31.
• Season 7: premiered 1989-07-03; final listed air date 1990-03-30.
• Season 8: premiered 1990-09-10; final listed air date 1990-09-14.
• Season 9: premiered 1991-09-16; final listed air date 1991-09-27.
• Season 10: premiered 1992-10-05; final listed air date 1992-10-16.
• Season 11: premiered 1993-10-11; final listed air date 1993-10-22.
• Season 12: premiered 1994-10-03; final listed air date 1994-10-14.
• Season 13: premiered 1995-10-02; final listed air date 1995-10-06.
• Season 14: premiered 1995-10-08; final listed air date 1996-04-12.
• Season 15: premiered 1996-10-07; final listed air date 1996-10-11.
• Season 16: premiered 1997-04-07; final listed air date 1997-04-11.
• Season 17: premiered 1998-10-05; final listed air date 1998-10-09.
• Season 18: premiered 2000-10-23; final listed air date 2001-04-20.
• Season 19: premiered 2002-09-02; final listed air date 2002-09-06.
• Season 20: premiered 2004-12-15; final listed air date 2005-01-21.
• Season 21: premiered 2006-11-06; final listed air date 2006-11-10.

Source and licence

Adapted from Reading Rainbow on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.