Thank you, Reading Rainbow

This story from NPR makes me very 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.

My family watched Reading Rainbow from Day 1 and continued tuning in for years and years and years. The theme song was uplifting and inviting, "Take a look, it's in a book - Reading Rainbow." It became a sort of soundtrack for our day when my children were younger.

entling no. 1 was a wee tyke when the first Reading Rainbow episode aired. Lavar Burton was an enthusiastic and gracious host. I was raised listening to Robert Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) read classics like Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel and Make Way for Ducklings.

Reading Rainbow celebrated the NEW classics. This was when we became aquainted with Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, Imogene's Antlers, Perfect the Pig, and A Three Hat Day. The kid's reviews at the end of the show were a new twist. Let the kids, speak for themselves and recommend book titles. That had never been done before.

The books were wonderfully narrated, with clever pan and scan editing of the illustrations. This series celebrated reading-aloud and the stories leapt through the television screen and into our hearts.

I can go anywhere!
Friends to know and ways to grow - Reading Rainbow.

DVD: Slings and Arrows

Treebeard and I finished watching the first season of Slings and Arrows last night. I didn't know anything about the show but Mental Multi-Vitamin recommended it.

This jaw-dropping series from Canada originally aired in the USA on the Sundance channel. NPR billed it as a refuge for Sopranos-mourners. I never watched the Sopranos but I am drumming my fingers waiting for the next DVD of this series to get here from Netflix.

There are so many surprises and astonishing moments in the first six episodes that I almost hesitate to tell you anything about it because part of the delight of this show for me was having no idea what was coming next.

The basics, to pique your interest, (in case my recommendations and M-MV's are not enough) The New Burbage Festival has seen better days. Its productions of Shakespeare are stale, the director and actors are uninspired. When the company finds itself in need of a new artistic director, a former Burbage player, Geoffrey Tennant, reluctantly takes charge despite his history (he had a breakdown while onstage in the middle of Hamlet, years earlier) with the company.

Economic forces are constantly at odds with art. Actors' lives are messy and dramatic. Young movie stars (think Keanu Reeves/Orlando Bloom) seek growth and legitimacy through Shakespeare. There is language and sex (we watched it while the entling was a-promming) but if you let that put you off, you will miss moments like this:




Blast, it is Sunday. No mail delivery today.
... drum, drum, drum...

TV

Meg Cabot and I are watching the all the same TV shows. As a professional writer person, she puts it so perfectly in her Jan. 23 post.

The Office:

And if you are not watching The Office, well, I just don’t know what to say. I guess if I were to say to you, “Jim said yes,” it would mean nothing to you.

If, however, you were watching The Office, and I were to say, “Jim said yes,” to you, you would inhale sharply and squeal, “I KNOW!” in a delighted manner. These words would take on a whole new meaning to you. Because this is seriously the hottest, most romantic show on TV, besides being the funniest, and if you aren’t watching it, well, I kind of feel sorry for you.

Cabot watches the Food Network like I watch the Food Network and her take on 24 is exactly where I am, alas. I am afraid I was cheering "Now that's what I'm talking about!!!" at the plastic bag thing this past week.

Jane Eyre and Lorna Doone, that is why I like her books so much I guess.