LeVar Burton Reading Rainbow What was Reading Rainbow? The series ran for 23 seasons, What was Burtons role with the series? Burton was the host and executive producer Did the show win any awards or special recognition? over 200 broadcast awards What year did Reading Rainbow end? Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Did the show win any other awards beside the broadcast awards? Peabody Award Did Burton do any other work related to the series after it went off of TV? Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ,
How was RRKIDZ related to Reading Rainbow?
How was RRKIDZ related to Reading Rainbow?
Burton was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons, making it one of the longest-running children's programs on the network. The series garnered over 200 broadcast awards over its run, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, 11 of which were in the Outstanding Children's Series category. Burton himself won 12 Emmy awards as host and producer of the show.  After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming the number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand.  On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow. To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web-based, following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised over $5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days. CANNOTANSWER
Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012,
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr.  (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and children's television host. He is known for his roles as Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), and as host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for more than 23 years (1983–2006), for which he has received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards, and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of the show.

His other roles include Cap Jackson in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Donald Lang in Dummy (1979), Tommy Price in The Hunter (1980), which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and Martin Luther King Jr. in Ali (2001). Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his narration of the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1990, he was honored for his achievements in television with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Burton was chosen as the Grand Marshal of the 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on October 5, 2021. He presided over the parade and the afternoon Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2022.

Early life
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. was born in Landstuhl, West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (née Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator, while his father and namesake was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California.

As a teen, Burton, who was raised Roman Catholic, entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, intending to become a priest. At 17, questioning the Catholic faith, he changed his vocation to acting, and at 19, while an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, he won a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries Roots.

Career

Early work
Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man, a film based on the Richard Wright short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," in which he stars alongside Madge Sinclair.

Roots
Burton's breakthrough role was as the young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), based on the novel of the same name by Alex Haley. Burton has described his first day playing Kunta as the start of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category.

He reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift. When asked about the societal influence of Roots, Burton is quoted as saying: "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. Roots is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out."

Reading Rainbow
Burton was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons.

After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children.  Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming the number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand.

On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow. To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web based, following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised more than $5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days.

In 2017, Burton was sued by the public broadcasting company WNED-TV for alleged copyright infringement for use of the Reading Rainbow brand in marketing the new iPad app and other online media. RRKIDZ later became known as LeVar Burton Kids and the iPad app, Skybrary.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached Burton with the role of the then Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. The character is blind but is granted "sight" through the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR worn over his eyes. La Forge started out serving as the USS Enterprise's helmsman, and as of the show's second season, had become its chief engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to his roles in Roots and Reading Rainbow. When the show premiered, the Associated Press stated that Burton's role was essentially the "new Spock." In a 2019 interview, Burton laughed in disbelief at the idea, stating "that speculation never came to fruition."

Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, from Star Trek Generations (1994) to Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

He directed two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Other appearances
Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island, guest star on “The Love Boat”, was a participant in Battle of the Network Stars, a guest of the Muppet Shows televised premiere party for the release of The Muppet Movie, and a frequent guest on several game shows.

In 1986, he appeared in the music video for the song "Word Up!" by the funk/R&B group Cameo.

In 1987, Burton played Dave Robinson, a journalist (sports writer), in the third season of Murder, She Wrote, episode 16 – "Death Takes a Dive", starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.

Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people aged 9–15, produced by WGBH for PBS.

On television, Burton has helped dramatize the last days of Jim Jones's suicide cult in Guyana, the life and times of Jesse Owens, and the life of the nine-year-old Booker T. Washington. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 film Ali. He also portrayed Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore in the television movie One in a Million, The Ron LeFlore Story.

In 1992, a clip of Burton's voice was sampled by DC Talk for the track "Time is..." on their album Free at Last. The sample is at the very end of the song, in which Burton can be heard saying: "Whoa, wait a minute."
He has also lent his voice to several animated projects, including Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993–1996), Family Guy, Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. Burton is on the audio version of The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Burton has been cast as voice actor for Black Lightning in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD.

Burton appeared several times as a celebrity guest on the Dick Clark-hosted $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids, from 1982 until 1988. Burton also was the strongest link in the special Star Trek episode of The Weakest Link. He defeated his final opponent Robert Picardo and won $167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California, a record for the show at that time and the largest amount won in any Celebrity Edition of the show (it was later surpassed by a $188,500 win in a "Tournament of Losers" episode).

He has made appearances in such sitcoms as Becker.

Burton is the host and executive producer of a documentary titled The Science of Peace, which was in production as of 2007. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace, sometimes called peace science. The film explores some of the concepts of shared noetic consciousness, having been sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

He appeared in an April Fool's episode of Smosh pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos.

He makes occasional appearances on This Week in Tech, where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd", and also participated in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010.

In 2010, he made an appearance on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as the ghost of himself in the episode "Greene Machine".

In February 2011, Burton made an appearance as himself on NBC's Community in the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", and then again in January 2014's "Geothermal Escapism".

Burton has appeared as a fictionalized, humorous version of himself on The Big Bang Theory, first appearing in the episode "The Toast Derivation", in which he almost attends a party thrown by Sheldon (before swearing off Twitter), in November 2012 in the episode "The Habitation Configuration", in which he appears on "Fun With Flags" in exchange for lunch and gas money, and again in the November 2014 episode "The Champagne Reflection", in which he returns for the 232nd episode of "Fun With Flags" in exchange for Sheldon deleting his contact details.

In 2012, he had a recurring role as dean Paul Haley on the TNT series Perception. For the second season (2013), he became part of the regular cast.

In 2014, he had a guest appearance in an introduction section for the 200th episode of Achievement Hunter's show, Achievement Hunter Weekly Update (AHWU). In May 2014, he appeared as a guest on the YouTube channel SciShow, explaining the science behind double, tertiary, and quaternary rainbows. Late in 2014, he had another guest appearance on a 24-hour Extra Life, a fundraising organization for Children's Miracle Network hospitals, stream by Rooster Teeth. Burton has also taped a recycling field trip for YouTube.

In 2017, Burton began a podcast, LeVar Burton Reads. Each episode features Burton reading a short story. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he continues to read on his podcast and also give live readings three times a week during a Twitter livestream focused at different time to different children, young adults, and adult audiences.

In November 2020, he appeared as himself on The Eric Andre Show. His segment was a callback to Lance Reddick's interview (2013) in which he mentioned LeVar by name and dressed as an amalgam of Kunta Kinte and Geordi La Forge.

Burton served as a guest host on Jeopardy! from July 26 to July 30, 2021. This came after a petition asking the show's producers to select him was signed by more than 250,000 fans. Unfortunately, the ratings were less than ideal due to tapering audience curiosity and forced viewership competition with NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which trampled syndicated shows across the board. 

Burton also teaches the "Power of Storytelling" in the MasterClass.

Directing
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Burton directed episodes for each of the various Star Trek series then in production. He has directed more Star Trek episodes than any other former regular cast member.

He has also directed episodes of Charmed, JAG, Las Vegas, and Soul Food: The Series, as well as the miniseries Miracle's Boys and the biopic The Tiger Woods Story. He also directed the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House starring Katey Sagal, Kevin Kilner and Jessica Steen. In August 2020, it was revealed that Burton will sit in the director's chair for Two-Front War from Lou Reda Productions, a multi-perspective docuseries will give "an emotionally raw look at the connection between the fight for civil rights in America and the struggle for equality of Black soldiers in Vietnam".

His first theatrical film direction was Blizzard (2003), for which he received a "Best of Fest" award from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and a Genie Award nomination for his work on the film's theme song, "Center of My Heart".

Burton is on the board of directors for the Directors Guild of America.

Personal life
LeVar Burton married Stephanie Cozart, a professional make-up artist, on October 3, 1992. Burton has two children, son Eian Burton Smith and daughter Michaela "Mica" Jean Burton. The family lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

Burton does not identify with any religion, saying: "I walked away from the seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I felt that there was more for me to explore in the world, and that I could do that without adhering to one specific belief system or another."

In 2012, Burton joined the board of directors for the AIDS Research Alliance, a non-profit, medical research organization dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS.

In 2016, Burton was one of the five inaugural honorees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars. In 2019, Councilmember Larry Carr, representing the Meadowview neighborhood, led the renaming of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park in his honor. The park is in the Meadowview neighborhood, near the house where Burton and his sisters grew up.

Filmography

Awards and honors

Awards

Nominations
 1977 – Emmy – Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a Drama or Comedy Series – Roots (Part 1, "Kunta Kinte")
 1998, 2001, 2005 – Image Awards variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special — Reading Rainbow (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Self)
 2004 – Genie Award – Best Achievement in Music-Original Song – Blizzard (Co-composer "Center of My Heart")
 2006 – Black Reel Award – Best Director-Television – Miracle's Boys

Wins
 1990 – Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Boulevard for television achievement
 1992 – Peabody Award – Reading Rainbow (as executive producer of episode, "The Wall")
 1994, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003 – Image Award – variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special – Reading Rainbow (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
 2000 – Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album – The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.
 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 – Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
 2001, 2002 – Daytime Emmy –  Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Reading Rainbow (Self)
 2003 – Television Critics Association Award – Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming – Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
 2004 – Chicago International Children's Film Festival – Best of Fest – Blizzard (Director)

Books
 Aftermath, 1997, 
 The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, 2014, 
 A Kids Book About Imagination, 2021,

See also

References

Further reading
 Nishikawa, Kinohi. "LeVar Burton". The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey Jr., 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 219.

External links

 
 RRKIDZ (Reading Rainbow) – LeVar Burton, Co-Founder, Curator-in-Chief
 Burton / Wolfe Entertainment (production company)
 
 
 
 

1957 births
African-American male actors
African-American television directors
African-American television personalities
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American men podcasters
American podcasters
American television directors
Daytime Emmy Award winners
Former Roman Catholics
Grammy Award winners
Living people
Male actors from California
Male actors from Sacramento, California
PBS people
Reading Rainbow
USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni
People from Landstuhl
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
HIV/AIDS activists
African-American religious skeptics
20th-century African-American people
21st-century African-American people
Reading Rainbow is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes were produced over 21 seasons. Before its official premiere, the show aired for test audiences in the Nebraska and Buffalo, New York markets (their PBS member stations, the Nebraska ETV [now Nebraska Public Media] and WNED-TV, respectively, were co-producers of the show). 

The show was designed to encourage a love of books and reading among children. In 2012, an iPad and Kindle Fire educational interactive book reading and video field trip application was launched bearing the name of the program.

The public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, 10 of which were in the "Outstanding Children's Series" category. The concept of a reading series for children originated with Twila Liggett, PhD who in partnership with Cecily Truett Lancit and Larry Lancit, at Lancit Media Productions in New York created the television series. The original team also included Lynne Brenner Ganek, Ellen Schecter, and host LeVar Burton. The show's title was conceived by an unknown intern at WNED.

Each episode centered on a topic from a featured children's book which was explored through a number of on-location segments or stories. The show also recommended books for children to look for when they went to the library. It is the third-longest running children's series in PBS history, after Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. It was also one of the first PBS shows to be broadcast in stereo.

After the show's cancellation on November 10, 2006, reruns aired until August 28, 2009, when it was removed from the schedule. On June 20, 2012, the Reading Rainbow App was released for the iPad and, within 36 hours, became the #1 most-downloaded educational app in the iTunes App Store. Built from the ground up by LeVar Burton and his company, RRKIDZ, the app allows children to read unlimited books, explore video field trips starring Burton, and earn rewards for reading. On the week of July 11, 2013, Reading Rainbow celebrated its 30th anniversary.

In May 2014, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise funds to make the app available online, Android, game consoles, smartphones, and other streaming devices along with creating a classroom version with the subscription fee waived for up to 13,000 disadvantaged classrooms. The effort met its initial fundraising goal of $1,000,000 in 11 hours, and ended a few days later at $5,408,916 from 105,857 backers. This campaign led to the launch of Skybrary by Reading Rainbow, a web-based expansion of the Reading Rainbow app experience.

Due to a legal dispute, licensing of the Reading Rainbow brand was revoked from RRKidz in October 2017, and all its platforms (including Skybrary) were rebranded to LeVar Burton Kids.

Show details
Reading Rainbow was hosted by actor and executive producer LeVar Burton, who at the time was known for his role in Roots. The show was produced first by Lancit Media Entertainment (1983-2001), and then, by On-Screen Entertainment (2002-2006). Every episode featured a different children's picture book, often narrated by a celebrity. The featured story's illustrations were scanned by the camera in a technique known as "iconographic animation" of each page shown in succession, although on certain occasions the shots would be animated.

After the featured story, Burton visited many places relating to the episode's theme, often featuring interviews with guests. One episode featured a behind-the-scenes look at Star Trek: The Next Generation, a series in which Burton was a main cast member. 

The last segment of each show, called Book Reviews, began with Burton's introductory catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," and featured children giving capsule reviews of books they liked. At the end of almost every episode, Burton signs-off with "I'll see you next time."

The series' pilot, which aired as the show's 8th episode in 1983, featured the book Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and was narrated by Doug Parvin. It was created and produced in 1981. The daughters of producer Larry Lancit, Shaune and Caitlin Lancit, were often featured in the series, notably as the children thanking the sponsors at the beginning and end of the show.

Theme song and opening sequence
The show's theme song was written by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir; Horelick also served as the series' music director and composer for all 155 episodes and received an Emmy nomination in 2007 for his work on the series. Over the show's 23-year run, it went through three different versions of the theme song. The original theme (used from 1983 to 1999) was performed by Tina Fabrique and featured one of the first uses of the Buchla synthesizer in a TV theme song. The original opening sequence, which consisted of an animated butterfly transforming the surroundings of young children reading books into animated fantasy lands, was used until January 1, 1999. The introductory animation was produced by Ovation Films, Inc. and designed and animated by Bill Davis.

On January 4, 1999, episodes began using a new live-action opening sequence and featured CGI in a space-themed world, with a new arrangement of the original song by Steve Horelick and performed by Johnny Kemp. A third intro was used starting on January 3, 2000, with a rerecorded version with the original lyrics performed by R&B artist Chaka Khan. This opening sequence is mostly the same as the second one, but features footage of Burton in place of some of the animated elements.

Final years as a TV series (2005–2006)
Original production of the series was to have ended after April 4, 2005, with the show continuing to air in reruns, but host LeVar Burton said on February 7, 2006, that five new episodes of the show would be shot in 2006 despite the continuing financial issues of PBS. The show aired its final original episode on November 10, 2006 and continued to air reruns until 2009.

Relaunch as an app

Announcement and early developments (2010–2014)
Former executive producer LeVar Burton announced on his Twitter feed on March 19, 2010, that "Reading Rainbow 2.0 is in the works." In 2011, WNED, the PBS affiliate in Buffalo, New York that owns the Reading Rainbow brand, licensed rights to the brand to Burton and his company, RRKidz. On March 4, 2012, he announced that it was the "last day of shooting before launch!"

On June 13, 2012, in a special presentation at Apple Inc's annual World Wide Developers Conference, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, introduced the new Reading Rainbow iPad App. It became available in Apple's iTunes Store on June 20, 2012, and within 36 hours was the #1 educational app. In January 2014, the Reading Rainbow App surpassed 10M books read and video field trips watched by children in 18 months.

Kickstarter revival campaign and aftermath (2014–17)
On May 28, 2014, LeVar Burton started a Kickstarter fund to revive the show and materials. In under 12 hours the show had reached its $1 million goal. The new goal is to create an educational version for schools to use, free of cost to those schools in need, and help America get back to high literacy rates. They are also going to create a website for students to use to assist them with learning how to read.  The following day, May 29, 2014, they reached $2million (double their goal) at 1:15 pm. PST. The campaign raised $5,408,916 on Kickstarter with another $1million from Family Guy creator/animator Seth MacFarlane and $70,000 raised via direct contributions. The grand total was $6,478,916.

With 105,857 backers, the campaign holds Kickstarter's record for most backers and is the 8th highest amount raised on Kickstarter (as of June 1, 2015).

The first product of the Kickstarter campaign was Skybrary by Reading Rainbow. Launched in May 2015, it was a web based subscription service that duplicated the Reading Rainbow app experience. In addition to narrating many of the books, Burton hosted video fieldtrips which connected kids to real world experiences at places like NASA HQ and Niagara Falls.

In March 2016, RRKidz launched a new online educational service called Reading Rainbow Skybrary for Schools that follows the same mission of the television series, while expanding to integrate into classroom curriculums.

In August 2017, WNED filed a wide-ranging lawsuit against Burton and RRKidz that demanded Burton's company hand over administrative access to other websites and social media accounts. The lawsuit also sought to enjoin Burton from using the Reading Rainbow catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," on his podcast.

In October 2017, WNED and RRKidz settled out of court. While the exact terms were confidential, the end result was that RRKidz was no longer a licensee of the Reading Rainbow brand.  RRKidz was rebranded LeVar Burton Kids and its services (including Skybrary) removed references to Reading Rainbow. In addition, Burton was allowed to continue using the Reading Rainbow catchphrase. Visiting the official Reading Rainbow website provided a page that stated "Recent legal disputes between WNED and LeVar Burton/RRKIDZ have been resolved and RRKIDZ no longer licenses the Reading Rainbow brand from WNED. WNED is currently working on the next chapter of Reading Rainbow and will continue its mission of fostering education for a new generation."

WNED announced in November 2018 that research and development had begun on a new Reading Rainbow program thanks to a $200,000 grant from The John R. Oishei Foundation.

Skybrary was acquired by Reading is Fundamental in March 2019.

Accolades

Animation producers

Feature Book filming
The photographing of the Feature Book segments was by:
 Centron Films (1983–1987; renamed in 1986 to "Centron Productions Inc.")
 Loren Dolezal (1988–1998; renamed in 1995 to "Dolezal Animation"); Take Ten Animation teamed up with Dolezal from 1995 to 1998.
 On Screen Entertainment (2000–2006)
 Roger Holden, designer of the digital animation photography system used by Centron Films to film the Feature Book segments (1983–87)

Guest readers and contributors

 Marv Albert
 Jason Alexander (Pet Stories You Don't Have to Walk)
 Maya Angelou (All the Colors of the Race)
 Michael Ansara (The Gift of the Sacred Dog, Sheila MacGill-Callahan's and Barry Moser's And Still the Turtle Watched)
 Lucie Arnaz (When Aunt Lena Did the Rhumba)
 Edward Asner (Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo)
 James Avery (Berlioz the Bear, Game Day)
 Hoyt Axton (Meanwhile Back at the Ranch)
 Julia Barr (Raccoons and Ripe Corn, Deer at the Brook, Come Out, Muskrats)
 Angela Bassett (The Wonderful Towers of Watts)
 Orson Bean (The Runaway Duck)
 Philip Bosco (Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus)
 Reizl Bozyk (Mrs. Katz and Tush)
 Wayne Brady (Mr. George Baker)
 Jeff Bridges (The Tin Forest)
 Fran Brill (Dive to the Coral Reefs)
 Matthew Broderick (Owen)
 Ruth Buzzi (Miss Nelson is Back)
 David Canary (Work Song)
 Jose Canseco
 Diahann Carroll (Show Way)
 Dixie Carter (Come a Tide)
 Lacey Chabert (Snowy Day: Stories and Poems)
 Julia Child (Florence and Eric Take the Cake)
 Roy Clark (Barn Dance)
 Kevin Clash (Elmo from Sesame Street)
 Imogene Coca (Imogene's Antlers)
 James Coco (Perfect the Pig)
 Tim Conway (The Secret Shortcut)
 Bill Cosby (Arthur's Eyes, Dennis Nolan's Big Pig)
 Denise Crosby
 Jim Cummings (Frog and Toad)
 Jane Curtin (Duncan and Dolores)
 Tyne Daly (Amazing Grace)
 Keith David (Follow the Drinking Gourd)
 Ossie Davis (Summer)
 Ruby Dee (Simon's Book, Tar Beach, Badger's Parting Gifts)
 Josie de Guzman (Saturday Sancocho)
 Brian Dennehy (Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express)
 Phyllis Diller (Ludlow Laughs)
 Michael Dorn
 Ann Duquesnay (Hip Cat)
 Eliza Dushku (Unique Monique)
 Buddy Ebsen (Steven Kellogg's Paul Bunyan)
 Georgia Engel (Chickens Aren't the Only Ones)
 Hector Elizondo (Brush)
 Fernando Escandon (Hill of Fire)
 Lola Falana (Sophie and Lou)
 Peter Falk (The Robbery at the Diamond Dog Diner)
 Jamie Farr (The Sign Painter's Dream)
 Barbara Feldon (The Life Cycle of the Honeybee)
 Tovah Feldshuh (The Piggy in the Puddle)
 Ron Foster (My Little Island)
 Jonathan Frakes
 Vincent Gardenia (Louis the Fish, The Adventures of Taxi Dog)
 Richard Gere
 Jack Gilford (The Purple Coat)
 Whoopi Goldberg
 Jane Goodall
 Robert Guillaume (My Shadow)
 Lorne Greene (Ox-Cart Man)
 Ed Harris (Enemy Pie)
 Jo Hayden (Martha Speaks)
 Jim Henson (Kermit the Frog from The Muppets)
 William Hickey (Dennis Nolan's Monster Bubbles: A Counting Book, Willi Glasauer's (Greetings from the Surreal)
 Gregory Hines (Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin)
 Anna Holbrook (Regina's Big Mistake)
 Lena Horne (Snowy Day: Stories and Poems)
 Beth Howland (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)
 Scott Irby-Ranniar (My Life with the Wave)
 Anne Jackson (Stellaluna)
 Victoria Jackson (Tooth-Gnasher Superflash)
 James Earl Jones (Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain)
 Raul Julia (Mystery on the Docks)
 Madeline Kahn (Bea and Mr. Jones)
 Carol Kane (Someplace Else)
 Charles Kimbrough (June 29, 1999)
 Regina King (Max)
 Eartha Kitt (Is This a House for Hermit Crab?)
 Linda Lavin (Ruth Law Thrills a Nation)
 Robin Leach
 Michael Learned (Appelemando's Dreams)
 Maya Lin
 Viveca Lindfors (Rechenka's Eggs)
 Amy Linker (A Chair for My Mother)
 Keye Luke (The Paper Crane)
 Michele Mariana (Stay Away from the Junkyard!)
 Olga Merediz (Borreguita and the Coyote)
 Andrea McArdle (Lemonade for Sale)
 Gates McFadden
 Bobby McFerrin
 Mark McGwire
 Marilyn Michaels (Gregory the Terrible Eater)
 Stephanie Mills (Bea and Mr. Jones)
 Helen Mirren (How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World)
 Robert Morse (Sunken Treasure)
 Fred Newman (Mama Don't Allow, Fox on the Job)
 Jerry Orbach (Germs Make Me Sick!)
 Corinne Orr (Aliki's Mummies Made in Egypt)
 Frank Oz (Fozzie Bear from The Muppets)
 Jane Pauley (Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story)
 Peter Pitofsky
 Faith Prince (Nosey Mrs. Rat)
 Freddie Prinze Jr. (Beegu)
 Keshia Knight Pulliam (The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth)
 Gilda Radner (The Tortoise and the Hare)
 Phylicia Rashad (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters)
 Lou Rawls (Ty's One Man Band)
 Alaina Reed (The Milk Makers)
 Lionel Richie
 Jason Robards (Sam the Sea Cow)
 Al Roker (Hail to Mail)
 Zelda Rubinstein (A Three Hat Day)
 Run-D.M.C.
 Lea Salonga (Silent Lotus)
 Isabel Sanford (The Patchwork Quilt)
 Susan Sarandon (The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest)
 Josh Saviano (Little Nino's Pizzeria)
 John Sebastian
 Pete Seeger (Abiyoyo)
 Martin Short (Animal Cafe)
 Marina Sirtis
 Phoebe Snow (The Gift of the Sacred Dog)
 Brent Spiner
 Arnold Stang (Alistair in Outer Space, Alistair's Time Machine, Archibald Frisby)
 Stomp
 Patrick Stewart (On the Day You Were Born)
 Jerry Stiller (Digging Up Dinosaurs)
 Regina Taylor (Uncle Jed's Barber Shop)
 Lynne Thigpen (The Salamander Room)
 Sada Thompson (Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie)
 Lauren Tom (Liang and the Magic Paintbrush)
 Michelle Trachtenberg (Math Curse)
 Alex Trebek
 Leslie Uggams (Jack, the Seal and the Sea)
 Ben Vereen (Ty's One Man Band)
 Ralph Waite (Rumplestilitskin)
 Bree Walker
 Eli Wallach (Once There Was a Tree)
 Adam West (The Bionic Bunny Show)
 Steve Whitmire (Waldo C. Graphic from The Muppets)
 William Windom (Hot-Air Henry)
 Michael Winslow (Space Case)
 Hattie Winston (Galimoto)
 Alfre Woodard (Visiting Day)

Writing and illustrating contest

In 1995, the creators launched the first contest called "Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest". The annual writing and illustrating competition for children grades K through 3 continued until 2009 when it was relaunched as "PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest". It was renamed to the PBS Kids Writers Contest in 2014.

References

External links

 
 ReadingRainbow.com Reading Rainbow website by RRKidz, Inc.
 Reading Rainbow App for Kindle Fire on the Amazon Appstore
 Reading Rainbow App for iPad on the Apple App Store

 
1983 American television series debuts
2006 American television series endings
1980s American children's television series
1990s American children's television series
2000s American children's television series
American children's adventure television series
American children's education television series
American children's fantasy television series
American television series with live action and animation
English-language television shows
Kickstarter-funded software
PBS Kids shows
PBS original programming
Reading and literacy television series Trademark troll is a pejorative term for any entity that attempts to register a trademark without intending to use it and who then threatens to sue others who use that mark. As a traditional troll is said to collect a toll from those trying to cross a bridge, a trademark troll "magically appears when an unsuspecting producer adopts the same or similar mark and poses upon them two choices: pay to get a license to use my mark or litigate".

The existence of trademark trolls exemplifies a common misunderstanding about trademark rights: the mere registration of a mark does not give the trademark owner a monopoly over that mark but must be used in commerce. As a consequence, while Leo Stoller, who has been labelled a "prototypical trademark troll" by intellectual property attorney Anna B. Folgers, had brought 47 trademark infringement suits , no court had found any infringement and the Northern District of Illinois had enjoined him from filing new actions without the court's permission. In a similar manner, the business practices of Tim Langdell of Edge Games were referred to as trolling by the US District Court after it was found that there was no evidence of commercial use of the asserted marks but that there was instead evidence that Langdell had fraudulently obtained and/or maintained many of his registrations.

Another more targeted example in 2008 involved Never Give Up Limited claiming that they owned the brands of two fruit juice chains, Juiceling in Glasgow and Juiced Up in Edinburgh. According to undercover reporting by the BBC, Never Give Up's representative, John Blanchard, sought tens of thousands of pounds to sell the trademarks back.

A more successful example was in November 2007, when businessman Dave Behar and his internet content production company Positive Ions, Inc. sued Ion Media Networks, claiming that Positive Ions owned the trademark to the word "Ion" and that Ion Media was using the name "Ion" without permission. Positive Ions were awarded a $1.7 million settlement, however Ion Media continued using the "Ion" name for its channels. 

Another successful example was with PBS member station WNED's successful lawsuit against Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton, demanding LeVar's RRKidz company handed over administrative access to other websites and social media accounts, and trying to stop Burton from using the Reading Rainbow catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," on his podcast. Ultimately, WNED announced a revamp of the show upon winning the lawsuit, which ended up in development hell.

See also
Copyright troll
Patent troll

References

Trademarks
Trademark law
Ethically disputed business practices
Pejorative terms
Criticism of intellectual property