LeVar Burton, the man who's been blowing up the Internet lately with his wildly successful Kickstarter campaign to bring back "Reading Rainbow" sat down with Huffpost Live to relive some of the most memorable experiences of his storied TV career.
Burton, who's raised over $3 million in donations for the online revival of his literacy program let slip that the children's show was easily his favorite job on television. "Really, I feel that being the host of 'Reading Rainbow' is the best gig I've ever had," Burton said. For a man that's been a part of two iconic TV series -- he was the chief engineer of the Enterprise in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and played Kunta Kinte in the "Roots" miniseries -- that's a pretty loaded statement. But Burton revealed that being the host of the popular kid's show might just be his life's calling.
"For me, 'Reading Rainbow' is more than just a job," Burton said. "It's my passion. It's really, I feel like in large measure, it's what I was meant to do." Burton explained it was the prospect of working with a powerful medium like TV to both entertain and educate young people that really appealed to him when he was first approached for the job. And while the show has certainly benefited school kids, the host admitted there are some definite perks that come with what he does.
"Over the 25-plus years we were in production I learned how to fly a plane, I learned how to scuba dive, we went hot air ballooning, I had some fantastic adventures," Burton said.
With the show's comeback basically a sure thing at this point, we're sure Burton will be going on even more adventures when "Reading Rainbow" makes its online debut.
Before You Go
