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LeVar Burton cries after 'Reading Rainbow' campaign raises $1 million

Keith Wagstaff
WATCH LIVE
LeVar Burton, host of the Reading Rainbow.
JB Lacroix | WireImage | Getty Images

Fans of "Reading Rainbow" had until July to raise $1 million to bring the show back for the Web. It took 11 hours.

An emotional LeVar Burton watched as the Kickstarter campaign that he had launched on Wednesday hit the $1 million mark, and then, with tears in his eyes, he thanked the people who had funded it.

"I am overwhelmed," the former "Reading Rainbow" host said into the camera. "Thank you so much. This is going to enable us to really, really, really do a lot of good."

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"Reading Rainbow," which aired from 1983 until 2006, was brought back as a tablet app for children in 2012. Now, it will be ready for the Web, where Burton hopes it will be able to reach at least 1,500 classrooms with additional teacher materials.

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It looks like the campaign from the former "Star Trek: The Next Generation" star continues to move forward at warp speed. By Thursday afternoon, with 34 days to go, it had raised nearly $2 million.

—By Keith Wagstaff, NBC News