Reading Rainbow
Tight Times
TV Flash files “Tight Times” as a desk essential hour — Reading Rainbow (1983–2006) on PBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1983-06-06, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 155 in the Reading Rainbow guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1983-06-06 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Miss Nelson is Back” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Tight Times”. Tight Times is the PBS contract: a book, kid reviewers, field-trip passport. Burton already a generation's librarian on camera.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
LeVar visits a pet show and discovers all kinds of unusual pets, including pet rocks. He explains that even during "tight times" there are all kinds of ways to have fun and that working together and using imagination are what is important.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Tight Times sit in the Reading Rainbow guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 155 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Reading Rainbow S01E01 air?
Tight Times aired 1983-06-06 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is it only for kids?
PBS literacy as after-school adventure. Adults return for Burton and the catchphrase. The Kickstarter revival proved nobody actually outgrew the librarian on camera.
In the series
Why this series still plays
LeVar Burton takes you into a book, then kids review it, then the catchphrase: you don't have to take his word for it. PBS literacy as after-school adventure, with field-trip segments that treated reading as a passport. A generation's librarian on camera — the Kickstarter revival proved nobody actually outgrew him.
The catchphrase is the contract. PBS, premiere 1983 through 2006: LeVar Burton introduces books, field trips, and kid reviews that sell the joy of reading — you don't have to take his word for it. Reading Rainbow, from Twila Liggett, Cecily Truett Lancit, and Larry Lancit, made literacy appointment television. After-school adventure treated reading as a passport: theme song as permanent childhood earworm, multiple Daytime Emmys, Burton as a generation's librarian on camera. If you came for a blotter item about a…
Filed against
- LeVar Burton as Host
LeVar Burton’s breakthrough as young Kunta Kinte on Roots made miniseries history — eight ABC nights, event television that forced a nation to watch and talk together. Later Star Trek: TNG and Reading Rainbow sealed educator-icon status.…