Reading Rainbow
Mystery on the Docks
TV Flash files “Mystery on the Docks” as hour 19 of 155 in the TV Flash guide — Reading Rainbow (1983–2006) on PBS, season 2, episode 4, aired 1984-09-06, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E04: listed hour 19 of 155 in the Reading Rainbow guide, hour 4 of 5 in season 2. It aired 1984-09-06 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Ox-Cart Man” (S02E03). Next is “A Chair for My Mother” (S02E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
LeVar takes a trip to the docks to find out about "Big Momma Blue", a crane that loads and unloads freighters, and then goes for a spin on a tugboat to find out how they are used.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Mystery on the Docks sit in the Reading Rainbow guide?
S02E04 is listed hour 19 of 155 — hour 4 of 5 in season 2, season 2 episode 4.
When did Reading Rainbow S02E04 air?
Mystery on the Docks aired 1984-09-06 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.…