'Reading Rainbow' Needs Pot of Gold

Actor LeVar Burton, the show's host and executive producer, pleaded at the Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony in May, "If you're a wealthy philanthropist, I'm not that difficult to find." Since his appeal, PBS has committed to providing Reading Rainbow's production company with enough funding to make five new episodes in the fall of 2003. But Nan Schweiger, the program's national director, says at least 10 new episodes should be taped each year to keep the show viable. Each episode costs $250,000 to make, including the cost of producing support materials for schools and libraries.

Burton's request also brought a groundswell of support letters from adults who watched the program as children and from librarians who have complimented the award-winning show on its uncanny knack of selling reading to young children.

A main reason why the program is in trouble, Schweiger says, is that it can't make money by licensing toys and other products based on the show's characters, as do many other children's television programs. "So much happens around merchandising these days," she says. "We promote the books, and the books belong to the publishers. Because there aren't Reading Rainbow toys, we're probably not in the consciousness of the general public."