With a reboot of “Reading Rainbow,” children’s programming is about to get a lot more colorful.
This weekend, the classic television show — which went off the air more than a decade ago — returns as an interactive streaming program called “Reading Rainbow Live.” CBS News’ Vladimir Duthiers was invited to appear as a guest following the “CBS Mornings” announcement of the program.
The show may look and sound a bit different than it used to, but the message is always the same: Reading can take you anywhere and help you be anything. Now, that message will be delivered through music and by a diverse cast of young performers known as the Rainbows.
“We really wanted to make sure that kids could see themselves in the Rainbows,” creative director Amy Guglielmo told CBS News.
Representing their viewers is a responsibility that the Rainbows — including Kendall Joseph, Isabella Wager and Eli Hamilton — take to heart.
“We have this opportunity to give voices to children and people of color, I think it’s just so… it’s gorgeous,” Hamilton said. “I really think it’s so special because as a kid, I was always wondering, ‘When am I gonna see myself on television?’ And now, I’m here giving that voice to other people, you know?”
“I think it’s been a long time coming for this, you know?” said Wager. “And I think it’s time for a lot of us to step back and give this space to other people.”
Beginning in 1983 with beloved host LeVar Burton, “Reading Rainbow” was a fixture in households and classrooms across the U.S. for more than two decades. It was created to address what was known as the “summer loss phenomenon”: the idea that kids lose some of their reading abilities during the summer break from school.
This new iteration addresses loss of a different kind: the pandemic.
Executive producer Steven Beer took the idea to Nancy Hammond, who oversees the “Reading Rainbow” brand.
“There’s no magic book that tells you how we should act during a pandemic…” Beer said. “And it just felt like bringing something as simple and basic like books, and music, and dance and adventure was just a great escape. So simple, but really so important at this particular time.”
The next program won’t air on PBS like its predecessor, but its format will be familiar to the remote learning generation. Viewers can watch “Reading Rainbow Live” online.
“It’s created … not to be a passive activity where kids are just watching something on a screen. It’s active,” Hammond told CBS News. “After the kids view the event, they’re going to continue with the dance. They’re going to be singing those songs because it’s going to stick with them.”
Director Bat-Sheva Guez brought that vision to life.
Guez said the goal was “to create a space that’s, like, homey, genuine and earnest,” so viewers would “just want to participate and be part of it and part of the clubhouse.”
Joseph, one of the Rainbows, said “I feel like our imagination is like our greatest superpower.”
“For me, reading books when I was young — it really helped me to, like, dream and believe that I could be anything I wanted to be,” Joseph said. “One of my goals with this show is to give that message to the younger generation.”
“Reading Rainbow Live” premieres Sunday, March 6 at 12:30 p.m. eastern standard time. It will stream on the virtual platform Looped.
You can find more information about the program here.
