Reading Rainbow (found Johnny Kemp opening sequence for PBS children's educational series; 1999)

The Reading Rainbow title card from 1999-2006.

Status: Found

Date found: 10 Jan 2018

Found by: CDCB2 and Drew Trachier

Reading Rainbow was a children's TV show produced by WNED and Lancit Media, that ran on PBS from 1983-2006, with reruns shown until 2009. It encouraged reading through celebrity read-throughs of stories, and kids reviewing books with a similar theme, in segments tied together with host LeVar Burton visiting relevant places. A revival called "Reading Rainbow Live" is currently in development at WNED,and will airing in early 2022. The original Reading Rainbow theme song was composed by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir, and has received several singers over the years.

History

Reading Rainbow episodes produced from 1983-1999 began with an opening produced by Ovation Films, in which Tina Fabrique sang over vignettes combining live-action footage with hand-drawn animation. In the Summer of 1999, the opening underwent a complete overhaul, courtesy of Black Logic. Now, it combined live-action with computer animation and integrated clips from old episodes. The theme song received a new rendition, sung by Johnny Kemp. An instrumental of this version of the song played over the end credits. For consistency's sake, PBS attached these to reruns of past installments.

Availability

Disappearance

The Reading Rainbow theme song and opening underwent some more changes before the show ended. In 2001, Chaka Khan recorded a new version of the song, and the visuals experienced some tweaks. The "butterfly in the sky" mentioned in the lyrics finally disappeared, making the "reading rainbow" appear to materialize by itself. LeVar also received more screentime, at the expense of a computer-animated dragon. This opening and corresponding end credits music were first used as late as September 2001, and accompanied all Reading Rainbow episodes until PBS finally stopped airing the program.

The latest prints of Reading Rainbow, for DVD and digital distribution, mostly use Chaka Khan's rendition of the theme song. Tina Fabrique's rendition remains viewable on Reading Rainbow VHS tapes released before 1999, and on video recordings from the era. Unfortunately, since PBS did not use Johnny Kemp's rendition for very long, it didn't seem likely that it would appear on any of the show's home media releases. Evidence of its existence also seemed rather scarce for several years, coming mostly from the recollections of people who happened to watch Reading Rainbow at this time. This Wiki identified Kemp as the singer via email correspondence with Steve Horelick.

Findings

On December 29th, 2017, YouTube user CDCB2 uploaded an end credit sequence from a recording of a 1999 broadcast of the Reading Rainbow episode "Bored, Nothing to Do!", which features the Johnny Kemp version of the theme song playing in the background. On January 10th, 2018, YouTube user Drew Trachier found the opening sequence with Johnny Kemp, though this upload eventually disappeared. On March 4th, 2018, YouTube user Vance's TV Archive uploaded a higher quality version of the intro. Judging from the brief shot of the Starship Enterprise, this upload came from a rerun of "The Bionic Bunny Show" (which LeVar hosted from the set of another of his most famous TV shows, Star Trek: The Next Generation); the description explains that Vance got the tape from a trade with "Game Hero". On May 14th, 2018, YouTube user ClosingLogosHD uploaded the intro in even better quality, sourced according to the comments and description from Amazon's print of the season eight premiere, "The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth."

Gallery

A high-quality version of the 1999 Reading Rainbow intro.

Clip of the credits from a 1999 broadcast of "Bored, Nothing To Do!", featuring the Johnny Kemp rendition of the theme playing in the background.

See Also

Bumpers

• Bookworm Bunch (partially found interstitials from PBS Kids channel block; 2000-2001)
• PBS Kids (partially lost schedule bumpers and interstitial material of TV channel block; 1999-present)
• PBS Kids Vote-A-Rama (lost bumpers of "Arthur" themed marathon; 2002)
• Someday School (partially found PBS Kids channel block; 1998-2000)

PBS

• Adventures with Kanga Roddy (partially found PBS children's series; 1998-2000)
• Backyard Safari (found PBS children's educational series; 1997)
• Barney & Friends "Season 9" (partially found alternative version of PBS children's series; 2004-2005)
• Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found holiday special of PBS children's educational series; 1977)
• Feeling Good (lost PBS health series; 1974-1975)
• Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992-1995)
• Mister Rogers Talks About Conflict (found episode arc of PBS children's educational series; 1983)
• The Puzzle Place (partially found PBS puppet series; 1994-1998)
• Shining Time Station (found season one intro of PBS series; 1989-1990)
• Springtime with Mister Rogers (found primetime special for PBS children's educational series; 1979)
• Storytime (found PBS children's reading series; 1992-1998)
• Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? "Auld Lang Gone" (non-existent episode of PBS children's game show; 1992)
• Zoom (found pilot of revival of 1972 PBS children's series; 1995)
• Zoom (partially lost revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)

PBS Kids

• The Charlie Horse Music Pizza (partially lost PBS Kids "Lamb Chop's Play-Along" spin-off series; 1998-1999)
• Curious George (lost test pilot of PBS Kids animated series based on books; existence unconfirmed; 2004/2005)
• Cyberchase "The Poddleville Case" (found test pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 1999)
• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated musical series; 2006-2008)
• Dragon Tales "One Small Step for Cassie" and "Circle of Friends" (lost pilots of PBS Kids animated series; 1999)
• Dragon Tales Live! (partially found footage of live stage shows; 2001-2006)
• The Good Night Show with Melanie/Leo (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2005-2006)
• The Good Night Show with Nina & Star (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2006-2017)
• Jet Propulsion (partially found pitch pilot of "Ready Jet Go!" PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2013)
• Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
• The Let's Go Show (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2007-2008)
• Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
• Molly of Denali (partially found pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated series; 2018)
• Nature Cat (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; early 2010s)
• Peg + Cat (partially lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 2011)
• Preschool Musical... On a Stick (partially lost PBS Kids Sprout "High School Musical" parody; 2008)
• Seven Little Monsters (found episodes of PBS Kids animated series; 2000-2004)
• Space Race (partially found PBS Kids web series; 2011)
• The Sunny Side Up Show (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2007-2017)
• Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
• Super Why! (lost second pitch pilot of PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2004-2006)
• What's The Big Idea? (non-existent pitch pilot of "Sid The Science Kid" PBS Kids CGI animated series; 2007)
• WordGirl (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
• WordWorld (found test pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated educational series; 2005)

External Links

• Wikipedia article of Reading Rainbow.
• Reading Rainbow official website.
• Amazon Video page for Reading Rainbow season eight.
• A website about Steve Horelick, who developed the theme for Reading Rainbow.