Image from media.npr.org.

When I first heard that “Reading Rainbow” would stop airing today, my first thought was “That show is still on the air?” My second thought was that, given that it is, or was, still on the air, I can’t remember a time before “Reading Rainbow.”

Turns out, that’s because the show started airing the year after I was born. Perhaps if LeVar Burton had continued to produce “Reading Rainbow” until I had children I’d rediscover the inspirational show that taught children to love reading. But, alas, future children will have to develop fond memories of different shows.

Award-winning ‘Reading Rainbow’

“Reading Rainbow” got plenty of appreciation. It won 26 Emmy Awards, the same number of years it was on the air. But PBS has run out of guaranteed loans, so “Reading Rainbow” will be no more.

After 26 years, “Reading Rainbow” was the third-longest-running children’s television show, after “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers.” Can you imagine “Sesame Street” being canceled? It’s a crazy thought.

Comments from the peanut gallery

Here are a few quotations floating around in the blogosphere about “Reading Rainbow.”

From the Zeray Gazette: Linda Simensky, vice president for children’s programming at PBS, says that when Reading Rainbow was developed in the early 1980s, it was an era when the question was: “How do we get kids to read books?” Since then, she explains, research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network’s priority.

From Read Street: After 26 years, LeVar Burton’s no longer going to dress up like a Medieval knight, introduce elementary schoolers to sushi or give kids their first 15 seconds of fame proclaiming their love of books.

From NPR: “The series resonates with so many people,” says John Grant, who is in charge of content at WNED Buffalo, Reading Rainbow’s home station. The show’s run is ending, Grant explains, because no one — not the station, not PBS, not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — will put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show’s broadcast rights.

More about LeVar Burton

One very vivid “Reading “Rainbow” related memory I have is the first time I watched “Star Trek” with my dad. I think was about 7. The instant Geordi La Forge’s face appeared on screen, gold visor and all, I instantly shouted “That’s the guy from Reading Rainbow!”

LeVar Burton began hosting and producing “Reading Rainbow” in 1983, when he was 26 years old. His official stint on “Star Trek” lasted from 1987-1994, but he appeared in movies and a few scattered episodes after that. So he was a busy man then, but nowadays he mostly does voice work, bit parts and “Reading Rainbow.”

LeVar Burton, 52, was born in Germany because his father, a photographer for the U.S. Army, was stationed there. He grew up in California. I wonder what he will do now? If you want to keep up with LeVar Burton, follow him on Twitter.

“Reading Rainbow” song video

Oh, come on, you didn’t really think I’d leaving you hanging, did you?

High Society types angered by PBS

The tickets to some of these productions run over a thousand dollars per ticket, and people are clamoring to be able to pay that much to get in to see some of these plays, which cost more than the upper limit of the amount in payday loans that people are able to get.  Some examples:  Kevin Kline in Cyrano de Bergerac, Taye Diggs and Jesse L. Martin in Rent, and one of the most recent buzz worthy performances, Sir Ian McKellan in the title role in one of Shakespeare’s most famous works, King Lear.  Lear tells the story of a king on the verge of retirement, who divides his kingdom amongst his daughters according to who he thinks loves him the most.  After he divides up his kingdom, he is slowly stripped of all he once had, and the play ends with Lear and all of his daughters being dead.  The play is based upon the account of a mythological king in ancient Britain called Leir, for whom the city of Leicester is named, who had a similar story.

Censoring Public Television

Some of the more discerning of theater goers are up in arms because some of these plays are recorded for broadcast on PBS, as part of the long running television series Great Performances, which McKellan’s turn in King Lear will be.  PBS broadcasts these plays for free, which annoys the more affable patrons because the general public gets to see for free what they had to shell out so much cash for, which is almost understandable at over $1,000 a ticket.  The current run of Lear is getting some notoriety in the press because this particular version calls for the leading man to completely (and we mean completely) disrobe for a scene that takes place during a storm, which McKellan has been doing, but will not for the PBS taping.  Purists have decried it as censorship, but even Public Television has to comply with FCC regulations.  McKellan hasn’t himself made any declaration of opposition over the scene, instead treating it with a little light hearted joking.

Sir Ian does well, even at this late stage

Sir Ian McKellan is a film legend, after plying his trade for years in Britain has become a virtually overnight sensation in America, thanks to stellar turns as Magneto in the X-Men films, and as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings series, a role he is rumored to reprise for the upcoming theatrical version of The Hobbit. If you want to upstage a recent financial setback, payday loans just might make all well that ends well.