LeVar Burton (Credit: WNED Buffalo)

Today marks the end of Reading Rainbow’s 26-year run on public television. Only Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street have aired on PBS longer.

The Emmy award-winning show, hosted by actor LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation and Roots), featured children’s books and literary reviews by and for kids. It has struggled to stay on the air for years, sometimes producing only a handful of episodes per season as funding dried up. Now, as National Public Radio reports, neither PBS nor the Corporation for Public Broadcasting can afford to renew the broadcast rights.

That’s just a shame. Read the rest of this entry »