Butterfly in the Sky

Year 16, Day 174 - 6/23/24 - Movie #4,763

BEFORE: I know, I know, I said no last-minute additions, but sometimes fate takes over and suggests something.  This film came back on to my radar at just the right time, I'd worked at a screening of it at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022, but I forgot to put it on my list, I guess I just figured I'd never be able to link to it, so why bother?  But then I saw it in passing on Levar Burton's IMDB page and realized that it's on Netflix AND that I could squeeze it in between the two documentaries I was reviewing and preparing to watch.  What are the odds? 

So I'm going to double up today, it's fine, plenty of slots to spare, and it's too hot outside to leave the house anyway, we've got a heat wave taking over the whole East Coast.  I went out for bagels this morning, that's enough, we were going to go grocery shopping today but my wife's not up for it, so OK, two movies and two reviews.  Newscasters and talk show hosts (like Carson, and Dinah, and Dick Cavett, and maybe Oprah) are the mortar for the next month that will keep my chain alive.  

Connie Chung carries over from "Being Mary Tyler Moore".  

THE PLOT: Chronicles the journeys of broadcasters, educators and filmmakers who believed television could inspire a lifelong love of reading and where involved in the production of "Reading Rainbow" on PBS.  

AFTER: I never watched "Reading Rainbow", but I "met" Levar Burton when he came to the theater during Tribeca two years ago, and I had to remind him to keep his mask on, we were still under pandemic protocols.  I hated to bother him with this, but he complied and was very nice about it. 

Well, it's really the best advice I can give to anyone who wants to work in filmmaking or TV production, think about what means something to you, and then look for work in that arena.  I started out in music videos, because they were big at the time, and then I kept my eyes and ears open for other opportunities.  When something came up at an animation company (actually it was a sales agent for animation companies, kind of a go-between linking the animators and advertising agencies) I leapt at it.  It was just stuffing envelopes at first, and I got the gig because someone else wanted to go work for Robert Redford and threw a bone to me in the form of the gig she didn't want, but I took it and ran with it.  From there I met someone who had a job working for a real animator, and she didn't want the job any.more because she wanted to go work at Sesame Street, so she threw me a bone too.  For decades I was working at two jobs that other people didn't want, but I didn't mind.  Eventually I had enough connection to take jobs that I wanted, and not other people's hand-me-downs.  

I guess I feel a little guilty now that I didn't keep working for the director who wanted to make more dance pieces and short educational videos for "Sesame Street", but in my defense she was a few months behind in my pay and really, I needed to pay rent.  Perhaps if I'd stayed I could have found something similarly meaningful and made it my calling, instead of going off in pursuit of a different calling that also came with a steady paycheck.  But I don't have kids, I don't plan to have kids, so working in children's TV never held any appeal for me. 

A lot of the people who worked on "Reading Rainbow" may have taken the job for, well, whatever reason, but at the core of the show was a group of people for whom child literacy was a very important issue.  So a show all about encouraging kids to read by recommending them books was a big freaking deal.  It was a different time, the 1980's, when public and government money was being spent on getting kids to read more books.  These days, a lot of conservative political money is focused on getting certain books OUT of the hands of kids, because, well, we don't want our kids getting smarter, do we?  And we certainly don't want them to learn about any issues that might make us feel uncomfortable, or not in line with our religious beliefs or anything that seems "icky" to us, like gay marriage or people feeling more comfortable as another gender, or letting kids know where babies come from.  Really, I can't help feel that society is progressing backwards in some ways, and if the path to enlightenment doesn't come from reading more, and learning more, and being a more understanding, tolerant person, like, what are we even DOING?

And really, the dividends came in the people they met and the experiences they had - the show traveled to exotic locales like a Hawaiian volcano, or a giant cave full of bats in Texas, among other places.  Why not get a few essentially free trips around the world while PBS is paying (or the government grants, whichever) - ride that horse, grab all the experiences you can get while you can, because eventually the show will cease production, or the grants will run out, or you want to get married and raise kids yourself, if that's your thing. "Reading Rainbow" had 161 episodes and ran from 1983 to 2006.  Levar Burton stayed with the show even after getting cast on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and he really didn't have to, but he felt the work being done was very important. 

And there, I've got my through-line for the first three films in the Doc Block - three subjects who became known for two main film series or TV series.  Stallone had "Rocky" and "Rambo" films (plus more), Mary Tyler Moore had "The Dick van Dyke Show" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (plus more) and Levar Burton had "Reading Rainbow" and "Star Trek: TNG". (umm, and "Roots", I know, but work with me here.)

Also starring  Levar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg (last seen in Moonlight and Valentino"), Kenny Blank, Tony Buttino, Ellen Doherty, Jamie Duneier, Robin Fogleman, Jill Gluckson, Ari Haberberg, Stephen Horelick, Barbara J. Irwin, Pam Johnson, Kathy Kinsner, Cecily Truett Lancit, Larry Lancit, Twila Liggett, Mark Mannucci, Dean Parisot, Tom Puckett, Alisa Reyes, Jason Reynolds, Ellen Schecter, Nikki Silver, Ed Wiseman, Orly Wiseman, 

the voices of Angela Bassett (last seen in "Waiting to Exhale"), Peter Falk (last seen in "The Kid Stays in the Picture"), James Earl Jones (last seen in "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street"), Regina King (last seen in "Flag Day"), 

with archive footage of Larry Blackmon, Ed Bradley (last seen in "What's My Name: Muhammad Ali"), Alison Brie (last seen in "Somebody I Used to Know"), Yvette Nicole Brown (last seen in "Disenchanted"), George W. Bush (last seen in "The Special Relationship"), Johnny Carson (last seen in "Sly"), Sandra "Pepa" Denton (last seen in "Coming 2 America"), Cheryl "Salt" James (ditto), Michael Dorn (last seen in "Ted 2"), Jimmy Fallon (last seen in "Marry Me"), Jonathan Frakes, Newt Gingrich, Donald Glover (last heard in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"), Jam Master Jay (last seen in "Air"), Darryl McDaniels (ditto), Joseph "Run" Simmons (ditto), Michael Jordan (ditto), Walter Koenig (last seen in "For the Love of Spock"), Angela Lansbury (last seen in "Glass Onion"), Samm Levine (last seen in "Not Another Teen Movie"), Joel McHale (last seen in "Assassination Nation"), Daryl Mitchell (last seen in "10 Things I Hate About You"), Eddie Murphy (last seen in "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only"), Nichelle Nichols (last seen in "Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project"), Trevor Noah (last heard in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"), Rosie O'Donnell (also carrying over from "Being Mary Tyler Moore"), Alan Rickman (last seen in "Quigley Down Under"), Mo Rocca, Sam Rockwell (last seen in "Better Living Through Chemistry"), Fred Rogers (also last seen in "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street"), Tony Shalhoub (last seen in "Pain & Gain"), William Shatner (last seen in "Senior Moment"), Patrick Stewart (last seen in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"), George Takei (last seen in "Gilbert"), Kenan Thompson (last seen in "Bros"), Sigourney Weaver (last seen in "You Again"), Steven Wright (last seen in "Loser")

RATING: 6 out of 10 Daytime Emmy wins