The Cat in the Hat Comes to Television

TORONTO: The Dr. Suess classic book The Cat in the Hat has been made into an animated television series entitled The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That! and Portfolio Entertainment has secured rights for international distribution.

The series is developed and produced for television by Portfolio Entertainment Inc. and Collingwood O’Hare Productions, in association with Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Random House Children’s Entertainment, and it is based on Random House’s bestselling Beginner Book franchise, The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library.

Currently in production and starring award-winning actor Martin Short as the voice of The Cat, the first season of The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That! will consist of 40 half-hour episodes also available as 80 twelve-minute episodes.

Treehouse in Canada and PBS KIDS in the U.S. have already signed on to concurrently air the series in the fall of 2010. The show features six-year-old Sally and Nick, best friends and next door neighbors, who are transported on a magical journey to all corners of the globe to make natural science discoveries, with The Cat in the Hat as their guide.

“It’s extremely rewarding to see Dr Seuss’s iconic Cat coming to life and we are thrilled to offer broadcasters at MIPCOM a sneak-peek of such a wonderfully entertaining series,” said Lisa Olfman, founder and co-president of Portfolio Entertainment.

“Random House Children’s Entertainment is thrilled to have Portfolio on board as international distributor. Frankly, I can think of no one more capable of handling this property internationally,” added Kate Klimo, the executive director of development for Random House children’s entertainment and VP and publisher of Random House children’s books. “Lisa and Joy [Rosen, founders and co-presidents of Portfolio Entertainment] have the contacts, the smarts, the experience and the sheer get-up-and-go to take this icon and usher him onto the international stage.”