Reading show raises $5.5M
LeVar Burton’s push to revive the children’s show Reading Rainbow has easily surpassed its goal.
The educational show teaching children to read aired on PBS from 1983 to 2006 with Burton as host, often featuring celebrities reading excerpts from books for children.
After retooling the show as an iPad app in 2012, Roots and Star Trek star Burton launched a Kickstarter campaign in May, hoping to raise $1 million to revive the show online. The goal was reached in less than a day, and by the end of the month-long Kickstarter run, the campaign had reached nearly $5.5 million, including a $1-million matching pledge from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. It also set a record for the most backers, with nearly 106,000 people buying into the show.
No date has yet been set, but Reading Rainbow will soon be available on almost every platform, including Xbox, PlayStation and Apple TV, and will be broadcast free to 7,500 U.S. classrooms.