Reading Rainbow (1983)
Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.
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Episode 1 - Tight Times
Release Date: 1983-06-06A young girl's father loses his job.
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Episode 2 - Miss Nelson Is Back
Release Date: 1983-06-07As part of his birthday celebration, LeVar gets made-up like a movie monster, and then gets involved in Harry Blackstone's magic act. Ruth Buzzi reads Miss Nelson Is Back, all about a group of rowdy students who try to take advantage of their teacher's absence when she's out sick one day, and how she gets revenge on them by pretending to be "the meanest teacher in the world, Viola Swamp."
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Episode 3 - Bea and Mr. Jones
Release Date: 1983-06-08LeVar is already worn out after working on several scenes all day long on the production of the series. He feels he needs to take on another identity, segueing into introducing the featured book, Bea and Mr. Jones. Madeline Kahn reads the book about a kindergarten student and her father who get so bored with their jobs that they decide to experiment by switching places for the day.
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Episode 4 - Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
Release Date: 1983-06-09Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
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Episode 5 - Louis the Fish
Release Date: 1983-06-10Louis the Fish
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Episode 6 - Digging Up Dinosaurs
Release Date: 1983-06-13Technically not the first science-related show in its history, LeVar seeks a place where archaeologists retrieve dinosaur bones. At the end of the program, LeVar buries a time capsule, containing (among other things) a can of old Coke and his picture. Linda Gilman reads Digging Up Dinosaurs, a story about how paleontologists unearth dinosaurs skeletons and preserve them in museum exhibits.
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Episode 7 - Liang and the Magic Paintbrush
Release Date: 1983-06-14Liang and the Magic Paintbrush
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Episode 8 - Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport
Release Date: 1983-06-15In the featured book, a young boy and his family move from New York City to the Southwest and he has many misconceptions about what his new home is like.
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Episode 9 - Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
Release Date: 1983-06-16Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
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Episode 10 - The Gift of the Sacred Dog
Release Date: 1983-06-17The first of many programs favoring Native Americans. In this instance, a Midwestern legend suggests how horses arrived to the tribe. Later in this episode is the song "Ancient Places, Sacred Lands" which lists several words originating from various locations of the United States and the tribal meaning of their names.
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Episode 11 - Gregory, the Terrible Eater
Release Date: 1983-06-20Today's subject is goats and what they eat.
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Episode 12 - Three by the Sea
Release Date: 1983-06-21Three by the Sea
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Episode 13 - Arthur's Eyes
Release Date: 1983-06-22LaVar explores seeing and our other senses, as Bill Cosby tells the story of how the young aardvark, Arthur Read acquired his pair of glasses.
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Episode 14 - The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
Release Date: 1983-06-22The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
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Episode 15 - Ty's One Man Band
Release Date: 1983-06-23LeVar is ready to find music everywhere, and he does. This show includes the animation Onomatopoeia. Lou Rawls reads the story of Ty's One-Man Band, about a man who teaches a boy how to make music using household items.