PBS Kids Gets Cat in the Hat TV Series

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Dr. Seuss’s classic character The Cat in the Hat is finally getting his own series on PBS KIDS.

Production has begun on 40 animated half-hour episodes of The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, with actor Martin Short voicing the lead character.

The preschooler series is the first to star the iconic children’s book character, who has also appeared in animated specials and feature films.

The show is set to premiere in fall 2010 and is being developed by Portfolio Entertainment and Collingwood O’Hare Productions. The series will be specifically based on The Cat in the Hat Learning Library books published by Random House.

The series will follow 6-year-old friends Sally and Nick who explore natural science discoveries around the world with the Cat in the Hat as their guide.

To further extend the TV series learning, an activity-filled Web site for kids will exist on pbskids.org, with additional parent and teacher resources available on PBS Parents (pbsparents.org) and PBS Teachers (pbsteachers.org).

Random House Children’s Books will publish a full line of original books to support the television series launch and Random House Children’s Entertainment will oversee all licensing and merchandising.

Additionally, a deal has been made for Canadian broadcast rights with Treehouse, which will be premiering the show concurrently with PBS.