The BEST episodes directed by Larry Lancit
#1 - Gregory, the Terrible Eater
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 11
Oh, there's something wrong here. Goats don't just eat everything, despite LeVar's visit to a suspect diner. And then there's that obligatory something completely different: a professional chef letting kids chip in on a meal fit for humans.
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#2 - The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 14
LeVar visits a pet store to discuss the featured book, and imagines that one of the pets from the store followed him home. It's a field day for the farm animals, and not a place for the faint of heart (or so the featured book would have it). The show also attends a state fair to investigate livestock competitions. Kaleena Kiff and Laura Hicks read the featured story of a little girl telling her mother about a school fieldtrip to a farm, and the chaos that ensued when her classmate brought along his pet snake to introduce it to the farm animals.
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#3 - Ty's One-Man Band
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 15
LeVar is ready to find music everywhere, and he does. This show includes the animation Onomatopoeia. Lou Rawls reads the story of Ty's One-Man Band, about a man who teaches a boy how to make music using household items.
#4 - A Chair for My Mother
Reading Rainbow - Season 2 - Episode 5
LeVar and eight other actors are rehearsing for a musical number called "Teamwork." Amy Linker ("Square Pegs") reads A Chair for My Mother, about a family that has to save up money to replace furniture lost when their apartment burns down in a fire. It also tells about how the rest of the neighborhood pulled together to help them during their loss.
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#5 - Bea and Mr. Jones
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 3
LeVar is already worn out after working on several scenes all day long on the production of the series. He feels he needs to take on another identity, segueing into introducing the featured book, Bea and Mr. Jones. Madeline Kahn reads the book about a kindergarten student and her father who get so bored with their jobs that they decide to experiment by switching places for the day.
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#6 - Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 4
How do you envision the rain, or any kind of weather? Some of the things to ask about in this show of weather legends. When LeVar's plans of attending a picnic and softball game are derailed by a downpour, he decides to stay home to read a few books instead. James Earl Jones reads Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, an African story written in the style of "The House That Jack Built," about how one action leads to another to help bring water to a drought torn region.
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#7 - Louis the Fish
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 5
Starting at the New England Aquarium, LeVar gets into a lengthy observation of aquatic life. Vincent Gardenia reads the story of Louis the Fish, a fanciful tale of a man, forced to take over his family's butcher business but secretly longing to take care of fish instead, wakes up one morning to find he magically turned into a giant salmon.
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#8 - Liang and the Magic Paintbrush
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 7
LeVar goes to Chinatown for a look at Chinese culture. In something completely different, a New York technology institute draws a traditional Chinese dragon boat.
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#9 - Miss Nelson is Back
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 2
As part of his birthday celebration, LeVar gets made-up like a movie monster, and then gets involved in Harry Blackstone's magic act. Ruth Buzzi reads Miss Nelson Is Back, all about a group of rowdy students who try to take advantage of their teacher's absence when she's out sick one day, and how she gets revenge on them by pretending to be "the meanest teacher in the world, Viola Swamp."
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#10 - Digging Up Dinosaurs
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 6
Technically not the first science-related show in its history, LeVar seeks a place where archaeologists retrieve dinosaur bones. At the end of the program, LeVar buries a time capsule, containing (among other things) a can of old Coke and his picture. Linda Gilman reads Digging Up Dinosaurs, a story about how paleontologists unearth dinosaurs skeletons and preserve them in museum exhibits.
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#11 - Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 8
LeVar is out to disspell misconceptions of unknown things. When the boy in the feature book is convinced he'll find gila monsters when he arrives at an airport out in the West, this raises the question: What is a gila monster? A nature visit to the West shows us a gila monster up close. Later in the program, LeVar discusses with children the new experiences they have had to face.
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#12 - Tight Times
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 1
What can you do with very little money? That's what the featured book and LeVar must face. To set the tone for the entire series, LeVar shows a friend a wealth of fun at the local library. Patrick McCaffrey reads Tight Times, a story about how a little boy talks his parents into letting him adopt a stray cat even though they have to make budget cuts after the father is laid off from his job.
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#13 - Ox-Cart Man
Reading Rainbow - Season 2 - Episode 3
LeVar visits Sturbridge Village in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to experience reenactments of life in Colonial America.
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#14 - Perfect the Pig
Reading Rainbow - Season 3 - Episode 5
LeVar visits a pig farm in Hawaii to find out why pigs are so popular. He also interviews Kermit the Frog to ask him about his famous girlfriend, Miss Piggy.James Coco reads the story of Perfect the Pig, about a little runt pig who makes a wish to have wings in order to be special, and how he found a special person to be his friend and companion.
Watch Now:Amazon#15 - Arthur's Eyes
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 13
How do you see things? Different people see things in different ways. And the best way to see things is through caring and understanding.
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#16 - Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
Reading Rainbow - Season 1 - Episode 9
LeVar takes a camping trip with some young friends. They make a photo album of their trip and some other kids share their photo albums they made to show what they did over the summer. Carolyn McMahon narrates Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe, a story about a girl and her cousin who go on a camping trip with their mothers and ride in a canoe on the river.
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#17 - Hot-Air Henry
Reading Rainbow - Season 2 - Episode 1
LeVar goes to South Carolina to ride a hot-air balloon. In a totally unrelated scene (not mentioned in GPN's Reading Rainbow media guide), schoolchildren visit the Space Camp for Aspiring Young Astronauts.
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#18 - Simon's Book
Reading Rainbow - Season 2 - Episode 2
In the feature book, a doodle goes on the loose and it's up to Simon to tame it. The reality is, books take many people and special machinery to make. Such is explained in the song In The Bindary.
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#19 - Mystery on the Docks
Reading Rainbow - Season 2 - Episode 4
As LeVar explores the docks, Raul Julia narrates the story of Ralph, a short order cook who foils a kidnapping plot to hold Eduardo, a famous opera singer, hostage.
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#20 - The Tortoise and the Hare
Reading Rainbow - Season 3 - Episode 4
LeVar has entered a bicycle race. He's in competition not just with the other bikers, but with himself as well. This program also includes a lengthy piece on a karate class. Comedienne Gilda Radner reads the Aesop's tale of "The Tortoise and the Hare," about an arrogant rabbit that's over confident that he can beat a determined turtle in a foot race.
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