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Actor-host LeVar Burton is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the first-ever Children's and Family Emmys in December 2022, the Television Academy announced this week.
The beloved former Reading Rainbow host also took over as producer of the children's program on PBS Kids in 1983 where he read books and talked about current events for kids. The show ran for 23 years and won 12 Daytime Emmy awards and a Peabody Award.
In response to the news about this latest honor, the Roots: The Gift star tweeted just one word: "Whoa."
The Children's and Family Emmys is the first separate Emmys show since the Television Academy first aired the Sports Emmys and News & Documentary Emmys in 1979, the governing body said in a statement. Children's programs were typically nominated for Daytime Emmys, until now.
While Reading Rainbow was canceled in 2006, Burton still worked with WNED to create digital products for the program. He also launched the Reading Rainbow app for kids through his RRKidz production company.
Burton created a Kickstarter campaign entitled, "Bring Reading Rainbow Back" that amassed a whopping $1 million within 24 hours, becoming the most widely support Kickstarter at the time. The campaign eventually grossed some $5 million.
WNED sued Burton for alleged trademark infringement and accused him of developing new episodes of the show and speaking with Netflix without their permission.
As it stands now, the show is set to be rebooted under the name Reading Rainbow Live and will be hosted by a group of youth named "The Rainbows."
Burton is staying busy, though. Most recently, the Star Trek: Generations actor hosted episodes of Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek and as a host of the pre-show at the Grammys. Burton is slated to host the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee in June.
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