So for everyone wondering about the emotionally charged comments here like me, here’s the brief explanation from what I found -
- LeVar Burton and his company RRKidz licensed the brand of Reading Rainbow from it’s parent company WNED in 2011. Although the deal isn’t public, WNED asserts that the deal was for digital publishing only.
- In 2012, Burton helped create a Reading Rainbow ipad app branded under that license that provided access to a curated collection of books and new videos with Burton and other guests which was widely successful.
- From 2014-2016, Burton and RRKidz first ran a Kickstarter campaign to revive the show (raising nearly $6.5 million), then went on to release Skybrary by Reading Rainbow, a subscription service for books and videos, and then Reading Rainbow Skybrary for Schools, a digital library service for elementary schools. They were also reportedly in discussion with Netflix about what they claim was an unrelated project.
- In 2016 WNED terminated their licensing deal, claiming Burton and his company violated the terms with their attempts to make new episodes and “assert control over the brand”, subsequently hurting WNED’s own efforts at a revival of their own. RRKidz filed suit to defend their actions, then WNED countersued and further added litigation against Burton’s use of Reading Rainbow terminology in his personal podcasts and projects.
- A settlement was reached in 2017, ultimately leading to RRKidz losing the license to Reading Rainbow, but allowing Burton to keep using catchphrases from the show. RRKidz ended up rebranding as LeVar Burton Kids and the app is now just Skybrary.
In short, Burton licensed the brand from WNED and ended up pushing further with creative development than WNED was comfortable with, leading to a splitting off of his projects and the new, official Reading Rainbow content. Personally, I see two entities trying to do good that got wrapped up in messy legalities and its unfortunate consequences. Thankfully, Burton and his projects are still ongoing, and WNED, a public media company, still holds the reigns for this new series. It’s not perfect, but I feel like it could have ended a lot worse.
The sources I pulled from:
- Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Rainbow#Reboot
- Hollywood Reporter - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/reading-rainbow-owner-accuses-levar-burton-theft-extortion-lawsuit-1027372/
- Current - https://current.org/2016/03/wned-and-rrkidz-trade-lawsuits-over-reading-rainbow-licensing/
I know this is controversial but Mychal Threets is actually a really cool guy and I think he’s a perfect fit for this role.
Approved
So, about that…
After the original show was cancelled, Burton signed a contract with WNED / Buffalo Toronto Public Media to develop stuff for the Reading Rainbow brand. He did a Kickstarter, raised $5M and talked to Netflix about making a series but reportedly didn’t get Buffalo Toronto Public Media’s OK first, so they sued him. They eventually settled with Burton abandoning the Reading Rainbow brand name.
Burton is still out there promoting childhood reading but not using the Reading Rainbow name.
I backed that Kickstarter. I guess I should have paid more attention to what happened afterwards.
Burton could and would still have returned and done an amazing job.
No hate to Threets for taking the gig at all tho
Stuff like this gives me hope for the future.
It’s on YouTube. I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Even of it’s good it just gets little kids hooked into the YouTube environment. That shit is toxic.
This sparks joy
There seem to be polarizing opinions about this.
They are making a mockery of Levar Burton and I don’t like it.
So some garbage media group stole something beautiful from one of the nicest people to ever live, and they immediately hollowed it out to a soulless husk and shat something out of it.
Every single person involved should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
Good God get outside and touch grass
They literally did steal it from Levar Burton though. He created it and owned it, and has championed childhood reading for decades. He partnered a media group to do more with the brand, and then when he was talking with Netflix about a potential show, the group sued him for not asking them first. They ended up with all the rights and left Burton in the dust.
Pretty freakin’ ghoulish.
After seeing some of the comments on Lemmy, I’m starting to believe there are less good people that left Reddit because Reddit sucks but more bad people because they were banned and are too stupid to figure out how to get back on to it.
Touching grass would do them good and possibly get them grounded in reality but unfortunately it seems the opposite has happened.
Reading Rainbow without Levar Burton is a crime against humanity. I am so tired of this timeline.
Should have been Eric Andre.
What an awful thing to say.
What? In thumbnail he looked like Eric Andre. Has he done something horrible? Am I missing something?
I’m just not a fan, he’s extremely not funny and doesn’t seem like he’d be a good fit for an educational channel. Bring back LeVar!
It was a joke, Eric isn’t a child program material.
Eric Andre the Zionist?
Eric Andre the comedian is Zionist?
Seems like he changed his tune last year, but the sincerity is in question.
Ok but when are they gonna do an episode about Gravity’s Rainbow? I mean it is right in the name…
Loved that book as kid!
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