] In a plea for the life of "Reading Rainbow," host LeVar ] Burton returned to a familiar setting: the stage where he ] picked up the PBS show's seventh Emmy Award for best ] children's television series. ] ] "If you are a wealthy philanthropist out there, I'm not ] that difficult to find," said Burton, the show's ] executive producer and host since it began in 1983. ] ] He's still waiting. And "Reading Rainbow," which has ] counterintuitively used television to introduce children ] to a world of books, may only have a few months to live. ] ] "Reading Rainbow" has several strikes against it in the ] battle for funding. For starters, it has no access to ] merchandise licensing deals, an increasingly important ] part of PBS' funding scheme for children's shows. There ] are no "Reading Rainbow" action figures to sell, no ] "Reading Rainbow" jammies to keep kids warm at night. ] ] The series is also 20 years old when many corporate ] benefactors prefer being involved with something new. And ] the show's narrow audience -- children 6 to 8 who are ] just learning to read -- doesn't give sponsors the broad ] exposure they're seeking, said Amy Jordan, senior ] researcher on children and the media at the University of ] Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. $2m a year - jeez, we spend many times that on those useless "drugs are bad, mmmkay" ad campaigns, don't we? Somebody give this show a budget. At least they're doing some good. 'Reading Rainbow' fights for survival - May. 29, 2003 |