I won’t lie as this makes me pretty sad.

Reading Rainbow comes to the end of its 26-year run on Friday; it has won more than two-dozen Emmys, and is the third longest-running children’s show in PBS history — outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.

And why is this happening?

The show’s run is ending, Grant explains, because no one — not the station, not PBS, not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — will put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show’s broadcast rights.

Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.

So it’s possible that the destruction of one of the better shows aimed @ kids is partially to blame on the Bush Administration? Blarg.

I love this last line from John Grant – head of content @ WNED Buffalo – however:

“Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read,” Grant says. “You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read.”

Hell yeah.

Plus, how badass is this:

Tags: Geordi La Forge, public broadcasting, Reading Rainbow

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