How has there not been a thread started about this yet in here?? If you're one of the 8 people who hasn't heard about this yet, LeVar Burton created a Kickstarter campaign a few days ago to bring back Reading Rainbow. Rather than resurrecting it as a TV program, they will focus on bringing it to the web and into schools (see the video for more details). https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh Also, take a look at the rewards, which may interest some Star Trek fans. There are signed headshots, passes to a convention where you can meet him, private dinners, etc. And then there is the "Ultimate Visor Package," in which you get to attend a private dinner and then try on the visor yourself. It will set you back only $10,000! I'm actually surprised some rich Trekkie hasn't snatched it up yet. Of course, the non-Trek rewards are good as well. They had a goal of $1,000,000 and met it within just a few hours. The new goal is $5,000,000 and they are now at about $3.3 million. Brent Spiner also makes an appearance at the end of the video, it was kind of funny I thought. [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8DLihxcj14[/yt] Some have been complaining that the Kickstarter is a "trick" since the app/web content will have a monthly subscription. Please read the Kickstarter page carefully (ironic, isn't it?) to avoid being crushed when you realize that good content costs money to create. Well anyway, has anyone here contributed? And how much do you love Reading Rainbow??
I thought this was still going on, when did it stop(2009??? Really!?!?)? My favorite thing from my childhood.
If I had the money to contribute, I absolutely would do so. As it is, I do hope they reach their goal, because Reading Rainbow is one of the best ways to get children interested in reading.
I donated a few days ago because I think it's a great cause. I was blown away at how quickly they met their initial goal. They gave themselves 35 days to reach their goal and ended up doing it in 11 hours!
For anyone who hasn't seen Jimmy Fallon's rendition of the Reading Rainbow theme, this is clip pretty cool. I am glad that this Kickstarter Campaign is going so well! http://www.hulu.com/watch/299606
I'm happy for Levar and that he wants to keeping Reading Rainbow going. BTW, I read an article the other day that was critical of this new RR venture. The author said that the old RR was non-profit. But then, Levar bought all the rights for RR and that RR was now a for-profit company. The article was hinting at the fact that most schools will have to pay fees to utilize RR and that it was therefore bad that Levar was using Kickstarter to acquire funds for RR. I didn't like the article. I like Levar and I like RR!!!!
What a wonderfully optimistic, uplifting video. In and of itself, it's inspiring. Consider what can be done with a long-term project! As an educator, I'm thrilled to see this getting such attention and having such success. I'll definitely be adding my contribution.
The money is being used to fund the program, and then distribute it to as many underprivileged schools as they can, for free. This includes what it would cost for equipment, and full access to RR's vast library as well. The goal is 7500 underprivileged schools to get free access, equipment, and the full database. That alone is a worthy goal, and I support it all the way. As for making a profit, what's wrong with that? This isn't public television. The money has to come from somewhere, and Kickstarter campaigns can't always pay the bills. LeVar Burton owns the rights to the name, and the intellectual property. If he wants it to remain solvent, then he'll have to ask for money at some point, and he does that via subscription. I believe the subscription price for the app, service, and library (13,000 children's books), is $5 a month, and is available worldwide. That's one hell of a deal, don't you think? RRKIDZ (that's the name of LeVar's company) isn't getting rich off of this. It pays for the infrastructure, the employees, the maintenance, and everything. So it really is all for the kids. You can't get better than that. As for the article, it's probably the Washington Post article, and people tore that thing apart. The author of that article got so much wrong, that the whole thing was seen as a smear against RR and Burton.
If it wasn't for Reading Rainbow, I probably wouldn't be into books as much as I am. I'm glad they're bringing it back for newer generations.
The ultimate visor package has been updated to include a private dinner with LeVar Burton AND Brent Spiner now. Really cool, wish I just had $10,000 lying around.
If I sold all of my possessions, I would have about $2000. Does anyone want to buy a $10,000 1993 Saturn SL2? It comes with a CD player!