Reading Rainbow: Celebrity PR on Seth MacFarlanes

Donation to Education
Kickstarter is an online campaign phenomenon, a virtual charity where people donate
money to worthy projects funded to help the world each day. Participants donate money towards
unique inventions in the source of film, books, games, food, culture, clothing, and other
categories. The creator sets a time limit and certain amount of funding he/she needs to complete
the project. Once the creator reaches his or her goal, they work to bring the special project to
light. Some projects include bigger prizes for certain fans who donate a specific amount of
money. For example, someone donating $1,000 for a film release could be rewarded with a redcarpet style screening of the movie itself. The website provides various projects aimed to revive
an old television series back to the modern world.
A recent kickstarter project this summer has been receiving money to bring back an
educational classic. LeVar Burtons Reading Rainbow series has been campaigning to resuscitate
the classic show where adults read fictional storybooks to children, encouraging them to think
through their wildest imaginations. The fantasy-styled storybook series started its chapter on
June 6th, 1983 on PBS Kids. Reading Rainbow ran its course for 155 episodes with Burton
taking kids on a magical journey through storybooks. This storybook series may have closed the
books 8 years ago, but LeVar Burton has been busy campaigning for a comeback this year.
Burtons kickstarter pledge goal was a cool $1 million to crack open the books again on the
Reading Rainbow series. Reading Rainbow found huge success by the audiences, raking in at
over $5 million at the end of the campaign. A well-known celebrity made a generous donation
towards the cause, being responsible for one-fifth of the funding. That generous donator happens
to be Seth McFarlane.

Reading Rainbow,
popular Childrens
show that premiered
in 1983.

Creator of animated series Family Guy, American Dad, and Cleveland Show, McFarlane
donated $1 million to LeVar Burton for the revival of Reading Rainbow. You know him as the
voice of Peter Griffin, a buffoonish father of 3 who gets himself into wild escapades with his
neighbor friends Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe in the city of Quahog. McFarlane also lends the
voice of evil baby genius Stewie and alcoholic writer Brian Griffin, the liberal unemployed dog
of the Griffin Family. This is not the first instance where Seth McFarlane has been involved in
working towards an educational program for the general audience. Seth MacFarlane teamed up
with famous astrophysicists Neil deGrasse Tyson for a modern take of Cosmos: A Personal
Voyage with the update version, Cosmos: A Space Odyssey. As executive producer of the series,
McFarlane produced 13 episodes of the show that began on March 8th, 2014. Host Neil deGrasse
Tyson takes viewers through an incredible journey through space, the planets, the galaxies, and
various unknown destinations of the universe. The space series was a paid tribute to former Carl
Sagans Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, a hit science show that originated in late 1980.

Seth MacFarlane, creator of

animated series Family Guy,
American Dad, and

Even through his animated series on FOX, Seth MacFarlane has always worked to throw
in educated lessons to learn about life. Family Guy characters Brian and Stewie Griffin are
portrayed as the intelligent members of the family, yet they squabble over frivolous problems
during their side-story. In various instances, the genius duo team together for crazy journeys
around the world (Road to Rhode Island, Road to Rupert) with insights towards historical events.
For example, Stewie and Brian time travel to the era where Poland becomes invaded by
Germany in the episode Road to Germany, where the duo works to save Mort Goldman from
Nazi Germany. Seth MacFarlanes other animated series follow the same pathway. In the
American Dad episode Red October Sky, Stan provides a song-and-dance number with the
means of teaching his son Steve about communism. The Cleveland Show episode Die SemiHard is a parody of the 80s hit film Die Hard. It is no secret that McFarlane has a thing for the
80s era, with different scenes featuring hit entertainment from the 1980s.

Brian and Stewie, the

dynamic duo in Family

Seth Macfarlane is currently working with various projects this summer. His latest film
1000 Ways to Die in the West released on May 30th, grossing in at over $84 million in the box
office. MacFarlane is stationed in Boston with Mark Wahlberg to film Ted 2, the sequel to the
infamous story about John and his friendship with teddy bear Ted. Ted 2 will be filming around
the areas of Boston, with some shots filmed in Appleton Farms of Ipswich. The sequel is
scheduled to release in summer of 2015. His animated hit series Family Guy will feature a
special Simpson-Family Guy crossover episode in the fall. Family Guy and American Dad are
picked up for new seasons in the fall as well. As well as his infamous series on FOX, McFarlane
will introduce his new animated series Bordertown, centering on two families residing near the
border between United States and Mexico. Fans have much to look forward to from the works of
Seth Macfarlane.
Coming from the voice of blundering Irish dad Peter Griffin, Macfarlane educates the
general public through instances of his work. Whether it is Brian and Griffin exploring new
universes or Stan Smith lecturing his children on gun safety, viewers learn a thing or two through
Seth Macfarlanes entertaining work. Macfarlane is not the only noted celebrity working to
educate people in the country. Veteran Indie film actor Robert Redford is an activist for various
causes including LGBT rights, environmentalism, the arts, and Native American rights. Known
as the Godfather of Indie Film, Redford supports various political causes aimed to better the
country. Mark Ruffalo, playing as The Hulk on The Avengers and lead actor on Ryan Murphys
The Normal Heart, is an environmentalist who strongly opposes Hydrofracking in the country.
Lately, Ruffalo worked with Detroit residents to bring water back into the infamous Motor City
of Michigan. Many other celebrities push their political agenda out to the audience, each
bringing in new dilemmas to fight against.

Mark Ruffalo,
activists for
artistsagainstfracking

With all these celebrities fighting for worthy causes, it is interesting to see who is really
making an impact on the world. It is astonishing to hear about a crude animator like Seth
MacFarlane works towards educating the general public better than our politicians. For a
celebrity spitting out dirty jokes on his buffoonish animated series, Macfarlane provides
intelligent insights towards ideas on making America a better place. These celebrities are
generating more praises from the average Americans than certain political figures. Politicians
should take note of these instances, since the general audiences have been shifting towards the
ideas of celebrities. In this twenty-first century, who should we rely on most to find answers on
various problems in the world? A crude animator who writes controversial and dirty jokes for
Family Guy or various politicians scheduling secret board meetings? One thing is for sure:
celebrities seem more in tuned with rallying to make America a better place to live. We dont
know what MacFarlanes next project will be, but we are sure that he will likely educate us on
the controversial subjects we shy away from. Seth Macfarlane is one of the growing celebrities
in America currently working towards educating the American people about complex problems,
one day at a time.

Seth
MacFarlane

Work Cited

http://time.com/2932860/seth-macfarlane-reading-rainbow-kickstarter/
http://screenrant.com/bordertown-seth-macfarlane-fox-tv-series/
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/reading-rainbow-kickstartercampaign-raises-6-million-article-1.1853788
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-forevery-child-everywh
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/21/mark-ruffalo-protests-detroit-watershutoffs-its-a/
http://hollowverse.com/robert-redford/