LeVar Burton played a ranking officer on a starship that explored the galaxy, but if you ask him, it wasn’t his favorite role. What was? His turn encouraging a generation to love reading in the legendary children’s show Reading Rainbow.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the popular PBS show, and we’ve been highlighting some interesting but unknown trivia about the show. For example, did you know George W. Bush was partially responsible for the show’s cancellation? There’s more! Here’s an interview from Huffpost Live (remember when that was a thing?) wherein Burton talks about which of his two marquee shows he liked better.
“I feel like being the host of Reading Rainbow [is] the best gig I ever had.” The host of the show points out that Burton has had some very high-profile gigs. “You were Kunta Kinte,” the host said, in reference to the groundbreaking miniseries about slavery called Roots.
“I was [also] the chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise,” he replied cheekily. “For me, Reading Rainbow was more than just a job. It’s my passion. I really feel like in large measure it’s what I was meant to do with my life.” He also elaborated on just how it came to be.
“Here’s the story. I had done Roots and saw the sheer power of the medium of television. I watched a nation become transformed in eight consecutive nights of TV. So I knew that television could be very powerful for doing more than simply entertaining. So when the idea was pitched to me [I thought] ‘let’s use this very powerful medium to go to the point of purchase where kids are hanging out, right?’”
This is especially important, LeVar explained, in the summertime when kids are watching more TV. The show is a way to “steer them back to the written word.”
This brings us to one of the most iconic parts of Reading Rainbow: the theme song. Did he have any say in it?
“The theme song was done. That came whole. It’s a huge part of the brand and that’s why people love it. Because it is what it is and it says what is true, right? Pick up a book. ‘Take a look it’s in a book.'” Poetic!
Burton announced the “Rainbow-versary” on Twitter with a fun gif from an account about the ’80s. Everything’s coming full circle. With all this attention, fingers crossed for a reboot.