The Reading Club (partially found WHUT talk show; 1999-2001)

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The Reading Club Logo.gif

Logo of the show.

Status: Partially Found

The Reading Club was a public TV show that was made by Howard University Television, in cooperation with Dunbar Productions and WHUT, a local Washington, D.C. channel.[1] The talk show was hosted by former WCBS New York anchor Carol Martin, with Renee Poussaint taking over as host for the show's second season after "working on a documentary about a meeting between historian John Hope Franklin and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa."[2] The first season of the talk show went on for 13 weeks.[3][4]

Premise

Allison J. Davis, one of the many executive producers of The Reading Club was inspired by her friends, to create and air a talk show on books.[5] The series focused on serving "the African American community by educating, informing and inspiring individuals to broaden their horizons through more reading." Each episode had different "club members," which were various African American women selected from book clubs across the U.S.[1] Usually, they would discuss various topics in several books like self-discovery and love.

Availability

The lack of video footage is due to the fact that The Reading Club only aired episodes for a short time. Only 26 half-hour episodes were produced.[6] It is speculated that the series aired reruns until September 30, 2002, when the PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch block was airing, thus kicking the show to obscurity.

While the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Colletion does own every episode of the show, they are currently unavailable to the public outside of the first three episodes.[7]

Television Station Location Date of Debut
WCEU Daytona Beach, Florida Sep 5, 1999
KNME Albuquerque, New Mexico Sep 6, 1999
WTBU Indianapolis, Indiana Sep 6, 1999
WTVS Detroit, Michigan Sep 6, 1999
WHUT Washington, District of Columbia Sep 7, 1999
KDTN Dallas, Texas Sep 8, 1999
WKMJ/KET 2 Louisville, Kentucky Sep 9, 1999
KLCS Los Angeles, California Sep 10, 1999
KLRU/2 cable Austin, Texas Sep 10, 1999
WNET New York, New York Sep 10, 1999
WPTO Oxford/Cincinnati, Ohio Sep 10, 1999
KRCB Rohnert Park, California Sep 12, 1999
WHUT Washington, District of Columbia Sep 12, 1999
WGVK Grand Rapids, Michigan Sep 13, 1999
KTCI Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota Sep 14, 1999
WHMG Schenectady, New York Sep 26, 1999
WLAE New Orleans, Louisiana Oct 1, 1999
Kentucky ETV Statewide Kentucky Oct 2, 1999
Mississippi ETV Statewide Mississippi Oct 2, 1999
Nebraska ETV Statewide Nebraska Oct 2, 1999
WXXI Rochester, New York Oct 4, 1999
WYIN/Channel 56 Merrillville, Indiana Oct 6, 1999
WKAR East Landing, Michigan Oct 18, 1999
WYBE Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Nov 1, 1999
WIPB Muncie, Indiana Jan 9, 2000
Vermont ETV Statewide Vermont Unknown; Only mentioned June 18, 2000

Episodes

The series debuted on WCEU on September 5, 1999.[8]

Season 1 (1999-2000)

# Book Host Status
1 Lawrence Graham's Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Carol Martin Found
2 Pearl Cleage's What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day Found
3 Jill Nelson's Straight, No Chaser: How I Became a Grown-up Black Woman Found
4 Benilde Little's The Itch Lost
5 Shireen Dodson's Mother and Daughter's Book Club Lost
6 Janet McDonald's Project Girl Lost
7 Iyanla Vanzant's Yesterday, I Cried Lost
8 Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth Lost
9 Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of Bones Lost
10 Harriett Cole's How to Be: A Guide to Conscious Living for African American People Lost
11 Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever Lost
12 Myrlie Evers-Williams' Watch Me Fly Lost
13 Linnie Frank and Andria Hall's This Far by Faith Lost
13 Renita Weems's Listening to God Lost

Season 2 (2000-2001)

# Book Host Status
1 The Color of Water by James McBride Renee Poussaint Lost
2 Diane McKinney's Blues Dancing Lost
3 Wilson Wesley's The Devil Riding Lost
4 Van Whitfield's Something's Wrong With Your Scale! Lost
5 Breena Clarke's River Cross My Heart Lost
6 Eric Jerome Dickey's Cheaters Lost
7 T.D. Jakes' Maximize the Moment: God's Action Plan for Your Life Lost
8 Douglas F. Greer's Blind Ambitions Lost
9 Shay Youngblood's Black Girl in Paris Lost
10 Tananarive Due's The Black Rose Lost
11 A'Lelia Bundles's On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam CJ Walker Lost
12 Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Talents Lost
13 Rene Swindle's Please, Please, Please Lost

Gallery

Videos

An interview with Janet McDonalds about Project Girl.

Gallery

External Links

References