How an untested, cash-strapped TV show about books became an American classic

Forty years after the launch of ‘Reading Rainbow,’ ‘Star Trek’ actor LeVar Burton is championing literacy programs for children with the documentary ‘The Right to Read.’

Meanwhile, Lancit and Truett took a well-earned vacation to Puerto Rico, though their minds were elsewhere. “We knew what we wanted,” Lancit says. “If there was going to be a feature book and some sort of adaptation of that book, we decided that there really needed to be some sort of touchstone in real life that made the book come alive, by doing some sort of real-life experience that you can attach to the story that’s in the book. That was the genesis of what we called our field segment.

Among the notables who narrated the Feature Book that first season were actors Madeline Kahn , James Earl Jones and Lauren Tom , and singer Lou Rawls . Sen. Edward Markey has waged a career-long crusade to hold broadcasters accountable for what they aired, particularly to children. He recalls, not at all fondly, his battles with President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Communications Commission, under the leadership of Chairman Mark C. Fowler, which followed the Reaganomics model and rescinded all of the regulations governing children’s TV.

“Is it telegenic? Does it lead to an adventure that would excite the viewer? Is it kid-friendly? Is it about dinosaurs? Did it meet our diversity standards? Were there books that were reflective of children of all colors and cultures? … There were many, many standards for what got selected as a feature book.”

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