Reading Rainbow

30min

Kids

Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.

Production Companies

Lancit Media Productions

GBH

Episodes

Cast

Tight Times

1. Tight Times

30min

6th Jun 1983

A young girl's father loses his job.

Miss Nelson Is Back

2. Miss Nelson Is Back

30min

7th Jun 1983

As part of his birthday celebration, LeVar gets made-up like a movie monster, and then gets involved in Harry Blackstone's magic act. Ruth Buzzi reads Miss Nelson Is Back, all about a group of rowdy students who try to take advantage of their teacher's absence when she's out sick one day, and how she gets revenge on them by pretending to be "the meanest teacher in the world, Viola Swamp."

Bea and Mr. Jones

3. Bea and Mr. Jones

30min

8th Jun 1983

LeVar is already worn out after working on several scenes all day long on the production of the series. He feels he needs to take on another identity, segueing into introducing the featured book, Bea and Mr. Jones. Madeline Kahn reads the book about a kindergarten student and her father who get so bored with their jobs that they decide to experiment by switching places for the day.

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

4. Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

30min

9th Jun 1983

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

Louis the Fish

5. Louis the Fish

30min

10th Jun 1983

Louis the Fish

Digging Up Dinosaurs

6. Digging Up Dinosaurs

30min

13th Jun 1983

Technically not the first science-related show in its history, LeVar seeks a place where archaeologists retrieve dinosaur bones. At the end of the program, LeVar buries a time capsule, containing (among other things) a can of old Coke and his picture. Linda Gilman reads Digging Up Dinosaurs, a story about how paleontologists unearth dinosaurs skeletons and preserve them in museum exhibits.

Liang and the Magic Paintbrush

7. Liang and the Magic Paintbrush

30min

14th Jun 1983

Liang and the Magic Paintbrush

Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport

8. Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport

30min

15th Jun 1983

In the featured book, a young boy and his family move from New York City to the Southwest and he has many misconceptions about what his new home is like.

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe

9. Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe

30min

16th Jun 1983

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe

The Gift of the Sacred Dog

10. The Gift of the Sacred Dog

30min

17th Jun 1983

The first of many programs favoring Native Americans. In this instance, a Midwestern legend suggests how horses arrived to the tribe. Later in this episode is the song "Ancient Places, Sacred Lands" which lists several words originating from various locations of the United States and the tribal meaning of their names.

Gregory, the Terrible Eater

11. Gregory, the Terrible Eater

30min

20th Jun 1983

Today's subject is goats and what they eat.

Three by the Sea

12. Three by the Sea

30min

21st Jun 1983

Three by the Sea

Arthur's Eyes

13. Arthur's Eyes

30min

22nd Jun 1983

LaVar explores seeing and our other senses, as Bill Cosby tells the story of how the young aardvark, Arthur Read acquired his pair of glasses.

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

14. The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

30min

22nd Jun 1983

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

Ty's One Man Band

15. Ty's One Man Band

30min

23rd Jun 1983

LeVar is ready to find music everywhere, and he does. This show includes the animation Onomatopoeia. Lou Rawls reads the story of Ty's One-Man Band, about a man who teaches a boy how to make music using household items.

First air date

6th Jun 1983

Last air date

10th Nov 2006

Status

Ended

Type

Scripted

Original language

en

Networks