A classic PBS show is returning on YouTube this time.
Reading Rainbow ran for 21 seasons on the network from 1983 through 2006, with the show’s host, LeVar Burton, inspiring children to develop a love of books and reading
Starting October 4, the series will return on the children’s YouTube channel KidZuko, operated by Sony Pictures Television.
In the updated version, Mychal Threets, a librarian and content creator, will take over hosting duties from Burton.
The new launch will feature four episodes, airing from October 5 through October 25, accompanied by vertical videos optimized for online viewing.
Episodes will premiere on Saturdays at 7 a.m. ET and will be available both on YouTube and at ReadingRainbow.org.
Celebrity guests set to appear include Fantastic Four actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Dancing with the Stars pros Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa.
The books read aloud on the show will also feature celebrity narrators, including Adam Devine, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen.
Reading Rainbow was created in the 1980s as a way to combat the “summer loss phenomenon,” when children normally lose reading and other academic skills during their summer breaks from school.
Quickly after being released for the first time on PBS, the show became the “most-watched PBS program in the classroom,” according to the Reading Rainbow website.
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Although Burton will not be introducing books to the next generation of readers, he has always been a proponent of reading books after growing up with parents who were educators.
“As a Black man who comes from people for whom it would have been illegal to have the facility of literacy, to have grown up and become a symbol of literacy, an acknowledged advocate for literacy, especially childhood literacy in this country, that’s no small thing in my view,” he told People in a 2024 interview.
Burton has also previously discussed book bans as he attempted to read various banned books on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in 2022 to encourage children to read books being banned by their schools.
“I am so excited to read with you today,” he began the segment. “Our first selection is called Rosa and it’s the story of Rosa Parks.”
But before he could explain the premise of the book by Nikki Giovanni, the feed is cut short by a disclaimer that reads, “Please Stand By. Content Violation.”
“As it turns out, that book is banned because reading about segregation is divisive,” Burton said as he returned onscreen. “But since almost any book with Black people these days is considered divisive, here’s one that doesn’t have any people in it at all.”
The skit continued until Burton could only say, “Read banned books!”
