Few shows did as much as Reading Rainbow to make television something better than the brain rot it always threatened to be in the ’90s. Along with visionaries like Mr. Rogers and the Children’s Television Workshop, Levar Burton wanted to use TV as a tool to sharpen children instead of dull them, and Reading Rainbow ended up being one of the most beautiful examples of just what television could be. Burton’s Reading Rainbow iPad app launched a couple years ago, looking to take his idea to a new generation of devices, but now he wants to go one step further: a web-based television show that comes with a curriculum for teachers and classroom use. Oh, and he wants to make it completely free.
It’s a tall order, but it’s a worthy cause, and he’s launched a Kickstarter to help get the idea off the ground. He wants to raise a million dollars, which would be no mean feat, but if ever there was a just Kickstarter, this is it. And he’s offering some pretty cool rewards to donators (for a mere $600, you can get a 10-minute Skype chat with Burton himself). There’s a lot more to the idea, and you can read about it all here. But you don’t have to take our word for it …
Update: Well, that was easy. In less than 24 hours, Levar Burton’s Kickstarter campaign reached its million dollar goal. Reading Rainbow is coming back!
