Elder millennials remember learning about books on public television, not from TikTok. It was a simpler time, and LeVar Burton held our hands as “Butterfly in the Sky” played to announce another episode of Reading Rainbow. But for a new generation, the cult classic WNED PBS literacy program is finally getting an update. Reading Rainbow Live, which begins streaming on Sunday, March 6 on Looped, will be an interactive show with dancing and games hosted by a gaggle of twenty-somethings called “The Rainbows.” Creative director Amy Guglielmo said of the new format, "We have an opportunity through Looped to have kids pop in from home, sort of like a souped up Zoom party.”
It’s certainly a deviation from the original show, which began in 1983 and won multiple Emmys and a Peabody Award. This new iteration definitely sounds like it’s marketed towards kids who grew up with iPads, but that’s kind of the point. It’s not so much a show, but an “event,” as it’s being called. It describes itself as, “inspired by the values of the original Reading Rainbow program: that through books we can go anywhere, and be anything ... Each event consists of a 25-minute show with singing, dancing, field trips, and special guests, followed by a 25-minute Reading Rainbow Live After Show Experience, where those who have purchased an Interactive Ticket can hang out with the Rainbows, meet some of our special guests, and more.” Very 21st century.
