Reading Rainbow
Hot-Air Henry
TV Flash files “Hot-Air Henry” as a desk essential hour — Reading Rainbow (1983–2006) on PBS, season 2, episode 1, aired 1984-09-03, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E01: listed hour 16 of 155 in the Reading Rainbow guide, first listed hour of season 2. It aired 1984-09-03 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Ty's One Man Band” (S01E15). Next is “Simon's Book” (S02E02).
Essential hour: “Hot-Air Henry”. Hot-Air Henry is season two's balloon title: after-school adventure still treating reading as travel, not homework.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
LeVar experiences a colorful and exciting expedition in a hot-air balloon. He takes viewers to a hot-air ballooning event, then provides a comical look into the past at some flying machines that never made it off the ground. Finally, LeVar visits the National Space Camp where kids find out what it takes to become an astronaut.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Hot-Air Henry sit in the Reading Rainbow guide?
S02E01 is listed hour 16 of 155 — first listed hour of season 2, season 2 episode 1.
When did Reading Rainbow S02E01 air?
Hot-Air Henry aired 1984-09-03 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.…