“Reading Rainbow” is back on the screen with a new host and a new way to watch nearly 20 years after initial production ended.
A digital-only reboot of the beloved children’s series, which promoted literacy, will premiere with four new episodes on the KidZuko YouTube channel beginning on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. Other shows will be released on subsequent Saturdays at the same time.
Hosted by Mychal Threets, a Bay Area-born librarian who went viral on TikTok, the revived “Reading Rainbow” will feature appearance by celebrity notables including John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Gabrielle Union, Adam DeVine, Jamie Chung and “Dancing with the Stars” pros Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa.
Threets, also known as “Mychal the Librarian” on social media platforms, announced the news Tuesday morning on Instagram with a special shoutout to “Roots” star LeVar Burton, who hosted “Reading Rainbow” for over 20 years.
“I was raised on Reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton is my hero,” he wrote. “I am a reader, I am a librarian because LeVar Burton and ‘Reading Rainbow’ so powerfully made us believe we belong in books, we belong everywhere.”
Threets, 35, continued: “I am so happy for all of us that Reading Rainbow is returning! YOU all did this!”
KidZuko — owned by Sony Pictures Television — released a trailer for the series, which will also be available on “Reading Rainbow’s” website.
The original series launched in July 1983 on PBS in an effort to motivate children to find joy in reading during summer recess from school. It won a Peabody Award and more than two dozen Daytime Emmys.
After 21 seasons and 155 episodes, “Reading Rainbow” was canceled in 2006.
