PBS Ends Run Of LeVar Burton’s Reading Rainbow August 28, 2009
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Celebrity, TNG , trackback
Reading Rainbow, the PBS children’s show that Star Trek The Next Generation’s LeVar Burton hosted since 1983, airs for the last time today. The show that won two dozen Emmys will end up being the third longest series in PBS history.
Butterfly in the sky, Reading Rainbow goodbye
According to a report at NPR, Reading Rainbow is ending because it cannot get funding to renew the broadcast rights, apparently the result of changing priorities. From the NPR report:
… the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.
Burton helped teach kids to read for over two decades
(WNED Buffalo)
Reading Rainbow and Star Trek
In one of the more memorable episodes of Reading Rainbow, back during the production of Star Trek The Next Generation Burton took his viewers on a behind the scenes tour of the show. Here it is (in two parts):
An adult Reading Rainbow?
No word yet from LeVar on the end of the series, but back in February the actor Tweeted that he may have a new spin on RR:
Want y’all to know that I’m seriously moving forward with an idea for a new version of a Reading Rainbow like show. Webisodes for adults.
Until then, we will just have the memories. Here is LeVar Burton singing the Reading Rainbow at Diggnation in January
LeVar drops by the Soup again
One last bit of LeVar love. If you remember, back in January we reported on when Burton dropped by E!’s The Soup with the cast of AMC’s Mad Men. Earlier this month he did it again (and even mentioned Reading Rainbow). Here it is:
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Comments»
That’s such a shame.
Mr. Burton will land on his feet with something. A RR for adults…. sounds like something for the Discovery or Science channels. Good on you mate!
I think a more adult oriented reading rainbow would be great!
(Levar) Today, we’re visiting a meat packing plant. And John here, is gonna tell us a little bit about it.
(later)
(Levar) Whoa! So this is what sausage looks like before its packed!
(Worker) That’s right Levar. Miles upon miles of this meat here gets shoved into that there vat.
(Levar) Wah-hah-how! This is exactly the kind of thing that happens in Upton Sinclair’s book…The Jungle.
(queue animated pig slaughtering and narration)
I liked what Bill Nye did after the kids show ended and he made “The Eyes of Nye” That was a great idea.
Quite a shame, I loved this show, and it really did help me get into reading. If affected my life in a huge way, and I’m sorry that other children won’t get the same opportunity. PBS should offer more for older kids as well, not just those learning their letters.
Oh my god… just like the death of Mr. Rodger, this is certainly the end of an era. Not 6 years ago I was watching Reading Rainbow religiously (as with many other PBS shows). I remember seeing an episode of TNG for the first time and thinking: that’s the guy from Reading Rainbow!
I think it’s a travesty that like so many other parts of education, even reading is being dumbed-down by federal mandates and NCLB. It’s a sad fact that the vocabularies of today’s children are significantly smaller than those of 50 years ago, and many children think reading is “stupid”.
Well. PBS is not what it once was. It used to have great programming. Now i fear that Sesamee St will be next to be canceled. Thank you LaVar for doing this incredable show and for teaching millions of people on how to read.
NOOOOOOOO!!!! lol just playing i used to watch him since i was 3. that is and was a good show.
Dubya takes another life… Can’t he leave anything in peace…even AFTER he leaves office?
7 – “Thank you LaVar for doing this incredable show and for teaching millions of people on how to read.”
If only it had taught you how to spell, punctuate and capitalize the personal pronoun “I.” ;-)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! If I win the lottery, I will bring back Reading Rainbow!
Hats off and many thanks for LeVar and the production crew’s hard work on this truly excellend show. I grew up with this show. It was a big part of my childhood and always will be a big part of me. *grateful salute*
*excellent
Ah, memories. I remember “Reading Rainbow” so well. My thanks to LeVar Burton for 26 years of taking a look in a book.
Nice run there. All those episodes and all those emmys are nothing to sneeze at! Take a bow sir, you’ve earned it.
Oh hell no!! I grew up on this. LeVar was the only cast member I knew from TNG because of Reading Rainbow! Once, here in Cleveland when in high school, I saw a play called, ‘Fences’ (starring Bill Cobb, another Trek alum & fantastic actor) and the woman who sang the original song (boy, I hate that I can’t recall her name). You wouldn’t believe it, seeing students from four seperate inner city high schools in the Playhouse theater so still & quiet when she belted out that song… then we all joined along! Oh, those were the days!
Ha, found it, the singers name is Tina Fabrique!
That episode was the one that inspired me to pursue a career in film making. Can’t believe the show is getting canned. Teaching kids to want to read is just as important as teaching them *to* read, in my opinion. They’re both tools in the arsenal. Too bad they’re putting one away.
To be honest I thought this was canceled 20 years ago. It seemed like it was always reruns even when I was a kid – though I suppose that may be a local station issue.
Read on if you consider yourself brave:
As of now if you stop reading it does you no good even this line bears the same consequence.
I wish the death of a family member. I curse myself. The number five counteracts the curse. Someone that I love will die in twenty-four hours unless I repost this letter 5 times. If I fail to do so the curse is on me and only I am to blame
Wow, we get in political digs in an article and someone has to take it further; then we get an even more spam-like post. What is happening here?
I never did learn how ta’ read or write…
Now… it be too late.
This makes me sad but I’m glad the show ran as long as it did. I watched it as a kid and I know it’s part of the reason I love reading so much.
Thanks so much for posting the link to the TNG episode of “Reading Rainbow!” I nearly fell out of my chair when that originally aired, because I was a new Trekkie at the time. Memories…
This sucks!
Reading Rainbow was awesome!
As always, it’s a sad state of affairs in the American Educational system!
So bad in fact, that the children of the alleged number 1 country in the world can’t follow a reading lesson taught by Levar.
If your kid can’t sit through Reading Rainbow, throw them off a cliff & try again! Romulan Style!
LeVar Burton has been mentioning the funding problems for a while in interviews, and I’m very sorry to see that a solution couldn’t be worked out.
I have many, many childhood memories of Reading Rainbow (which I made sure to tell Burton when I met him last year), and there really isn’t an analogue for it in today’s television landscape.
I totally agree with Will Johnson’s comment above that teaching children about the joy of books is about much more than just the mechanics of reading.
I began watching Reading Rainbow every morning as a kid , then I also caught an episode of TNG quite by accident and seen Levar Burton in his VISOR and was hooked .
It’s a shame the show was cancelled but it is also a sign of the times , people are become less concerned with education more concerned with what celebs are doing and the latest technological fads that are here today and gone tomorrow .
*raises glass to Levar*
You will be missed sir!
I watched that show every day with my little brother in the early 90’s just so I could try and see that behind the scenes tour of the enterprise again. Thank goodness for YouTube, and a quality show will be missed. A shame, considering I have a 2-year-old now…
I used to watch the show when teaching–even when the kids were not in the classroom!
No Reading Rainbow is a very sad thing indeed. (;^(
End of Reading Rainbow? Say it aint so! I loved that show as a little girl, even before I fell in love with Star Trek. I think ending Reading Rainbow is a mistake.
I really wish that RR was avaliable on DVD. With a daughter on the way, I’d really love to have some of those stories avaliable with the fun way that LeVar hosted the show.
Fortunately, I love to read, and am already reading to our little lady… but still, this was one of those things I was looking forward to sharing with Clare.
Rob+
My heart sank when I saw the headline.
Relieve me of duty. I am emotionally compromised.
What a crock. I always enjoyed the show whenever I caught it. I think it was a terrific show and just as educational, no matter what the Department of Education thinks. The TNG episode was great! Sad to see this go.
Does anyone remember how Lavar in his first major role on ROOTS was one of the few Slaves that learned to read and write. And his faking all those papers for fellow slaves to do what the slaves wanted not what there masters wanted.
Or is that getting to far back in time, you know the stone age when they had mostly B&W TV and mono sound, and the Betamax was the VCR if you had a grand or so to waste. And if you did not there was this medium called paper books in Hard and Soft cover. And if you were still needing reading help there was Comic books.
You can say in those 25 years he has helped around half the kids with reading problems get past their problems and learn to read far easier than the factory made school teachers.
And for those scared of school education being Mass Programming (brainwashing in their eyes) Lavar was someone that really made it, he helped lower the fear and made the learning process acceptable and available.
For that effort he deserves more than a few emmy’s or even many of them but do they not have enough award shows. Don’t they have an award show for the best performer that learned to tie their shoes by themselves. They have so many award shows if they do not have that show yet give then a year or two,
This is a travesty! I watch Reading rainbow twice daily with my son, always something interesting, even the shows that are 10 plus years old. I hope they come out with a modern version that meets the needs of the network while still utilizes the well proven method RR has used for so many years.
I hope that burtons next show will be science oriented, he is so identified with it. as well as the engineering uniform..if he has it.
:)
I’ll never know why — this guy drives me nuts.
I don’t meant that disrespectfully — there’s just something about him that I can’t stand.
Damn shame. Butterfly in the sky, indeed.
I really hope we shift our views on how we deal with education. I honestly think its far more important for children to want to read rather than them learn perfect grammar and other things at a young age. Reading opens up a new way to interact with the world and children need that, far more than any video games. Its a shame, I grew up watching that show and thought it was so cool that it was the same guy from Star Trek, which I also grew up watching. Burton seems like a good guy to have been dedicated to something like Reading Rainbow for that long. I hope he gets another chance to inspire children soon.
RR is much better than that Word World crap… i can’t believe that RR is being canceled but other shows go on…..
Well, here we go:
1.)Obama is president and can ‘change’ the direction of education and allow for RR to stay on. So if he doesnt ‘change’ something Bush set in motion, then he obviously has no problem with it. Or he is really just the weakest and most ineffective president ever.
2.)I loved RR and remember watching it with my first son, and as a Trek fan, fondly remember the behind the scenes ep. First son is now 19.
3.)If American kids are having trouble reading, it’s likely that they have either a learning disability, or shiftless lazy parents who are waiting on the government to teach them. My kids have all been reading and writing before PreK because my wife and I actually love them and take the time to teach them ourselves.
4.)As much as I appreciated and enjoyed RR with my first born, my other two kids never watched it. I also thought it had been canceled years ago.
Seems a bit of a stretch to blame this on the Bush administration. Any changes in funding formulas would have been felt long before now. And if PBS really wanted to support the show, they could find a way.
Network slimes are network slimes, even at PBS.
RR should go on forever.
I loved this show as a kid. Thank you Levar for doing something good in the world (besides Star Trek which is wonderful). We will all miss this wonderful educational show.
Reaponding to Govt Thugs wont scare us away you know what I love my kids and they were given tools to help them learn. But lazy and shiftless? Thank God you ar the only parents who love their kids. Want to know something I let my kids be kids if that makes me lazy and shiftless so be it, and yes I do expect my kids to go to school and learn what planet are you from? Take your soap box put it you know where, stop patting yourself on the back before you hurt yourself, and toddle on home.
Oh my goodness, I just remembered! I saw the Star Trek episode of Reading Rainbow way before I had every seen Star Trek. I just thought it was another show. Then I saw a picture of the TNG crew and said – it’s the guy from Reading Rainbow!! I still didn’t even know about the show – I thought he was just a guest star! And many years later when I got interested in Star Trek and watched reruns of TNG, I realized what a large role LeVar Burton had.
Oh my goodness, I just remembered! I saw the Star Trek episode of Reading Rainbow way before I had every seen Star Trek. I just thought it was another show. Then I saw a picture of the TNG crew and said – it’s the guy from Reading Rainbow!! I still didn’t even know about the show – I thought he was just a guest star! And many years later when I got interested in Star Trek and watched reruns of TNG, I realized what a large role LeVar Burton had.
I was listening closely for curse words in those flubs. grin.
I watched RR a lot as a kid. I also thought it had ended a long time ago.
Amazing run.
44. hurtzsogood
Nope. You are all wrong buddy. Im proud of my kids, and the job we have done as parents. If you read my post you saw I said my oldest watched it as a kid. My other 2 havent. But they have watched Sesame Street. Both shows have played a part in their education. But, point I am making is it wasnt necessary.
As for lazy and shiftless parents, im not saying those that use these shows as teaching tools are lazy and shiftless. What im saying is that there are lazy and shiftless parents who have no interest in their kids. Wife and I both are or have been in law enforcement, we see this every day. It’s a heart breaker. Kids who cant read anywhere near their grade level, and speak as bad. Parents dont give a crap.
And I find it interesting that you attacked me and then told me to go away :-) , because you didnt like my opinion.
Thats where I got my ‘handle’ from.
This announcement just ruined my whole day!! :(
“…The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling…”
Some one should have explained to the Texas idiot that the problem with that focus is, unless you encourgae basic READING, the development of phonics and spelling is just that..basic.
Then aagin, W was such a moron at speeches anyway a 3 year old had better articululation, reading and writing comprehension.
And still another cancer left from the Bush administration damages the American people….what a loss for Reading Rainbow
When will we ever learn…?
No we wont learn. Look who we just elected. One failure follows another.
Angry, hate filled, elitist racists.
I was in high school when the show premiered but over the years I would drop in every now and then to see what LeVar was up to. This is so wrong.
I’m buying as many Reading Rainbow DVDs as I can. I don’t have any kids yet, but when I do I want them to watch quality childrens TV. Also Mr. Rogers and old-school Sesame Street.
Thanks, Levar, for shaping my childhood through Reading Rainbow, Captain Planet, and of course, Star Trek.
I remember when I learned to read, I mom did it before I even started Kindergarten, and by 1st grade I was at 3rd grade level. Many today think that is what school is for, but the basics like the Alphabet and assembling words from letters seems better when parents do it out of love. Being forced by state governed teachers does more to scare away than educate. Thats unless the teacher can build that person to person bond of care and trust.
Lavar with his personality is able to build this bond even through radio/TV airwaves. I have no idea if Lavar aimed to do this or it just came natural. But it would be nice if this talent could be passed on to all teachers. And this talent came even before he learned how to do his warp core magic.
I never used TV for education as a kid, all I used is for was things like Rocky & Bullwinkle, or Speed Racer. And after the Moon landing it was any Sci-Fi show I could find.
Should Lavar be given the Teachers Golden Apple Award? That is if they still have that award. Or honorary Reading Teacher of the Decade award.
I think an adult version of RR is a great idea. Think of all the orginal fans of RR who are now all in their 20s,30s, and 40s. And Levar Burton is such a lovable guy.
anyone know if levar comes on here? Would be cool to get an interview with him and what his future plans are. I’m really shocked that there was no previous discussion on this.
*conspicuously avoids political discussion*
Just last week, I asked some family if anyone knew whether Reading Rainbow was still on. They all thought it’d stopped making new episodes long ago. I’m pleased to see that they were wrong. I’m very displeased that the way I found out they were wrong was by seeing the announcement that *now* they’re going to stop making new episodes.
The TNG episode of Reading Rainbow was one of *the* major highlights of the year I was three years old, right up there with Christmas and birthday. Combining my two great loves (Star Trek and PBS) was a stroke of genius that had me raving for months.
Strangely, I was still not so good at face or voice recognition in my tiny pre-schooler brain, and it wasn’t until I was five that I finally noticed that the Reading Rainbow guy and Geordi La Forge were the very same person! The revelation was mind-blowing.
Hate to see it go. I’m not caught up on PBS programming these days, so I’ve no idea whether they’ve got anything to replace it with that fills the “love-of-reading” gap. Hopefully there’s something there for kids to latch onto.
Aww c’mon! Easy on the Bush bashing… Ted “Lion of the Democrats” Kennedy co-authored No Child Left Behind bill, don’t forget. Even though his body’s still warm, he too gets an equal share of the blame.
And Word World isn’t so bad. Between that and Super Why? you got a solid hour of education there. But aside from that and Curious George, the rest of the animated stuff on PBS has nothing to do with education as far as I can tell. And Lord knows why Barney and Teletubbies are still on the air if they’re cancelling Reading Rainbow!
Come to think, I don’t even think my PBS affiliate has even carried RR for at least 3 years or so…
Reading Rainbow isn’t about how to read, it’s about WHY you should read. Discussing NCLB is quite relevant because similar funding issues pervade education because of that law. For people who object to the “political digs” let’s remember NCLB was bipartisan and so it’s not about one political side or the other, it’s the whole system. It’s a BAD system, that has sucked imagination and creativity out of education in favor of narrow “skill development”. It may leave no child behind but it utterly fails to push children forward either.
@51:
The Texas idiot couldn’t even figure out the diffrence between tears as a noun and tears as a verb; when he went to Andover, he had to write an essay about an emotional experience-he chose his sister’s death. He used the word ‘tears’ in the essay so many times, that when he had to use another word, he used the word ‘lacerates’. So it was that the essay cantaind this great little sentence, ‘And the lacerates ran down my cheeks’
Of course, the essay got a big fat zero, Andover being a school with expectations of excellence. I shudder to think what kid will become thanks to the cuts imposed by this moron.
Oh my god, it’s over. I remember watching Reading Rainbow all the time when I was a kid, even before learning that LeVar Burton and Geordi LaForge were one in the same. (That just made it better.) I’d often read the books he featured on the show, and it was good fun for me and my siblings. Now that it’s over…wow. Thank you LeVar for teaching me how to read.
So, I guess W should have used a teleprompter like the numbskull in chief does now.
My first exposure to Levar was the original, “Roots”. Great mini series. I guess I was to old to have watched Rainbow. Captian Kangaroo, anyone besides Anthony remember CC and the moose? I kinda remember a rabbit on the show as well.
, I guess W should have used a teleprompter like the numbskull in chief does now.Now that it’s over…wow. Thank you LeVar for teaching me how to read.
OK guys. The fact of the matter is that standardization, focus on mechanics, and rigidity to the point of loss of all creativity for the sake of consistency are all priorities that have been brewing since the 1990s. Al Gore’s educational platform was almost identical to no child left behind. There have been major problems in it but the idea that its a democrat vs. republican issue is a false one. I am a former English teacher who did a comparison of the Bush platform vs. the Gore platform for some graduate work a few years back. I agree that the current focus on mechanics and so-called “professional” writing over love and interest is a mistake. Its like trying to get kids to want to be scientists by making them memorize chemical formulas.
#61 Okay, you’re getting to the vicious. And he went to Phillips Academy which is IN Andover. Not quite the same. I mean, if you’re going to hold a 14 year old to such high standards, you should at least get your details correct. See, he wrote about his sister’s death in the summer between the ninth grade and tenth grade when he was 14. Sure, he’s an adult now, but it’s equivalent to you mocking a 14-year old today writing about the death of his 7-year old sister. Is that IDIC?
[Source, among others: http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Kennedy-Bush/George-W-Bush-Andover-and-yale.html http://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/061000wh-bush.html
His SAT scores were 566 for the verbal part and 640 for math. Let’s see yours? Well? I mean, everyone knocks him, so put your first SAT scores on the line. Mine were 600 verbal, 750 math, at age 13.
But there’s no problem with pointing out that as an adult, he certainly is missing quite a few pages from the dictionary, and has cribbed in a few that don’t exist!
Remember, infinite diversity in infinite combination… if there weren’t people you disagree with, then how the hell could you argue anything you believe? There’d be no give and take, no cooperation, and we’d all be monolithic.
#66 Amen. Part of my professional duties include bringing science outreach to mostly the middle school age level. As my colleagues and counterparts around the country oft say: “Who killed curiosity?”
With Reading Rainbow ending, it’s surely possible that Disney or another cable net would be glad to continue it, for example in a low-commercial zone such as Nick jr.
Part of the problem with CPB and public television the way it’s set up is that it’s really hard to direct our viewer donations *directly* to the programs we’d like to see continue. I’m sure there’s not a single donor that would have a problem with donations going to Reading Rainbow. Instead, many of the local PBS groups fund junk, and their own bureaucracies.
Or your money goes to National Public Radio, which is the most boring pile on the airwaves in the history of radio.
Seriously, I wonder how many people have fallen asleep behind the wheel and died in car accidents because they were listening to their droning voices. NPR is nothing but a welfare program for radio announcers whose voices aren’t exciting enough to get a job on a REAL radio station…
TEXAS IDIOT??? At least he didn’t use a teleprompter. Another president suspiciously becomes a COMPLETE moron when his teleprompter breaks down. Makes Bush look like Einstein in comparison.
Let’s see… Biden? Oh don’t even get me started on this brainiac.
Fact of the matter is, as much as we like RR come’on, let’s face it. When was the last time 9 out of 10 of us here even last saw an episode in the past 2 years? I didn’t even know it was still on.
And to number #61. Do you really want to start a flame war here, buddy?
We can start drawing comparisons between Bush and the cheap empty suit with the Messiah complex that currently occupies the White House.
Before you go and denounce PBS, remember that their daytime programming is broadcast during a time when kids are in school, meaning their audience is preschoolers, for the most part. And the have phonics based shows, reading comprehension shows, and shows aimed at vocabulary expansion. Between the Lions encourages both phonics and love of reading; Superwhy encourages development of problem solving (both interpersonal and preschool level puzzles) and reading, while also developing expansion of cultural literacy in its use of fairy tales (the lose of cultural literacy predates NCLB, I had high schoolers four years ago who did not know Red Riding Hood or the Three Pigs); Word Girl and Martha Speaks both teach vocabulary in context and using repitition; and there’s more. Go ahead and mourn the loss of a great show like Reading Rainbow, go ahead and be upset because it involves a Trek guy, but seriously … It’s not as bad as people are making it out to be. Mt wife and I are pretty involved in our children’s media intake and their education, and we’re very pleased with the current crop of PBS kids programming ( I haven’t even mentioned Fetch, Curious George, Sesame Street, etc.). It’s not perfect, but it’s good. Oh, and our kids enjoy it as well.
NPR blaims PBS cancelling Reading Rainbow on Bush? Typical.
71 — Indeed. And surely RR can be bailed out with tax dollars, right?
As we’ve all heard so many times before, political posts are not allowed on this site….. um… except for the correct ones of course.
Maybe he can take us on a tour of the Bible in Klingonese. Or the original Shakespeare!
Guys, in all honestly education has been going downhill for decades. And while Reading Rainbow was a great program for kids, they need to get both creative and professional learning styles down in the English classroom. It does you no good to be an excellent grammatical and spelling student with no creativity, but also no good to read a lot and have difficulty with writing.
The same can be said of many subjects in public education, who’s curriculum are generally dictated by liberals in the first place. Emphasis is placed too much on subjects like math and science because those are what are tested in nationalized studies, and too little is placed on literature, writing, government, history, and economics. People learn how the physical world works, but not how the actual world operates through culture, histories, hegemonies, and soul. Think of how different the world would be if people understood one another.
Balance in education is likely not going to happen under this administration, much as it has failed in others over the last thirty years. That’s why programs like Reading Rainbow are important, as they make learning for children an enjoyable experience. PBS used to have excellent educational programming such as Wishbone, RR, Carmen Sandiago, and others that actually made learning fun. Now it’s degraded to the same cartoon nonsense that plagues other channels. I remember when the Ninja Turtles would even take the time to stop fighting ninjas and say something educational and the Looney Tunes would help me learn about the Constitution during commercial breaks. The Bush, Sr, educational team seemed to get it right in the late 80’s and early 90’s, as well as the early Clinton administration. However, that seemed to go to the wayside after the 96′ election. We need to push education back where it belongs, in the extracurricular battlefields. Not only confined to a meager 8 hours a day of state-dictated fact-fests.
Oh, and I don’t want to completely trash on liberals in my post. While liberals dictate the horrible educational policies, the Republicans chide them for trying to corrupt the youth and slander teachers as left-wing socialists and gimp out education as well.
Partisan politics are getting out of control and taking the nation down with them. People need to be more educated and elect officials who represent them instead of an agenda.
@67:My info comes not from Faux Noise, Corporate News Network or the Repuke historical officer, but Kitty Kelley’s book The Family, which is all about the Bushes, especially George, and a ton of other books on George Bush that sheeple like you NEVER bothered to read, because it doesn’t jibe with what comes out of the media maw. As for high SAT scores, those only happened because Andover’s (which is what the school is called by everybody that goes there) curriculum was and is so tough, college and university was easy, according to old Bush friend and classmate Kim Jessup. That’s why Bush was able to get into Yale; although once he got there all he did was party, get drunk, and go ‘Toga, Toga, Toga’ every other night, coming in dead last on his finals. Please stop listening to Repuke spin doctor bullshit. Also, cutting education funding, pushing a bogus child act, and getting the nation into two wars in the Mideast is not IDIC, nor is your voting for such a person IDIC, either.
@69: Bush’s foul-ups, bleeps, and blunders are well known to everybody, and it’s been suspected that he’s had a special backpack complete with earphone that gives him answers since those times-without it, he would have been trounced by Edwards in a New York minute during the 2004 election debates. At least Obama can speak properly; how he uses a TelePrompTer is his business, and not yours. Please put your racism aside and face the fact that he is president.
@76: Umm… did you *glance* at #67’s sources? One’s from the New York Times — hardly a bastion of the Republican party — and written by no less than Nick Kristoff. I believe you’ve finally given TrekMovie.com proof postive that liberals can be sheeple, too.
…which reminds me: http://xkcd.com/610/
Anyhow, Mr. Ross has now called everyone who didn’t vote for President Obama a racist, cast aspersions on President Bush’s honesty in debates, stands apparently oblivious to his own audacious hypocrisy in demanding respect for the current President while heaping scorn, derision, and hatred on the previous President. In light of all this and the general badness that’s crept into the mourning of RR can we get a warn for Mr. Ross and/or a modlock on this sad little thread?
It would go a long way toward silencing those voices who accuse this site of left-biased moderation.
IS it just me or has shows like seasame street gone down the tubes. I loved that show as a kid, as well as Mr. Rogers, and reading rainbow. Why go south on any show that shows kids that it is fun to read? and does anyone remember that show Square One, that taught that math is fun. That was great. I think PBS is doing the wrong thing here. Oh well….
#68 – “Seriously, I wonder how many people have fallen asleep behind the wheel and died in car accidents because they were listening to their droning voices. NPR is nothing but a welfare program for radio announcers whose voices aren’t exciting enough to get a job on a REAL radio station…”
–
Basically you are wrong. But, I could give you some selected show to listen to that would prove you wrong. And, get you hooked. In the end, to each his own.
sigh…in a World where the current young generation doesnt even know when World War 2 was, we further abandon the concept of literacy… i see our future coming soon… its called the TOS episodes ‘Miri’ and ‘The Omega Glory’ merged into one…:(
#76 Dear Mr. Neville.
How do you know exactly that I am a racist? How did you arrive at this conclusion? I suppose because I donot agree one wit with most of his policies that automatically qualifies me as racist. I see you are using the Chris Mathews school of logic. Actually, this is a tried and true Democrat tactic from their playbook. Accuse the other side of malfeance when they know they can’t win an argument.
How the hell do you even know what color I am????? Oh, I know why…
I must be white. Because if I were a black man I COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE AGAINST OBAMA. Afterall, ALL BLACK PEOPLE STICK TOGETHER AND THINK ALIKE RIGHT???
#76 In your case, IDIC stands for I DICK
Reading Rainbow was such a great show. One of the best theme songs of all time! I wanted to go find those books when I saw them on tv. But, you don’t have to take my word for it (ba-da-DUM)
82, 81, & 77: if you three want to be sheep and stay deluded about the harm the Bush Administration’s done to America and the planet, that is your choice. But please don’t call yourselves free thinking people, because you’re not-you’re all repeating someone else’s prattle, and ignoring the truth because it doesn’t fit with what you all know.
The truth is Bush is a dunce who became President because of a stolen election, a compliant, servile media, and connections related to oil wealth and having a father be president previously. These things, as well as his domestic policies, have led to the situation that LeVar Burton is now in. The other truth is that George Bush is an ignorant silly man who messed around for most of his life, and only got away with it due to said above-mentioned wealth and status. Having a high SAT score means nothing if all that is done with it is to be drunk and stoned out of your mind for most of your college days, and that is all George Bush seemed to do before Yale, at Yale, and after Yale. It sure as hell didn’t help him understand or appreciate education or literacy-look at the way he was when asked what book he read. This is a man who would care about trying to keep TV shows like Reading Rainbow on the air? No, this is a man who is proud to be ignorant and doesn’t care.
I think Obama needs to try to restore funding to PBS, so that this show can still help kids to love reading.
Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high. Take a look, it’s in a book…A reading rainbow! Reading…rainbow!