Nature Cat (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; early 2010s)

Prototype logos for the series which the third one was allegedly used for the pilot.

Status: Lost

Nature Cat is an educational animated series that been airing on PBS Kids since 2015. The series takes place in Chicago, Illinois with a house cat name Fred who, when his owner leaves for work, changes into Nature Cat and explores the great outdoors from his backyard with his friends while helping kids develop a better understanding of nature.

Pitch Pilot

In 2009 Spiffy Pictures originally pitch the show to PBS with various hand drawn sketches, when the network approved, they then created a pilot to help get the show greenlit. The pilot was allegedly made sometime in the early 2010s and shown to a test audience of preschoolers.

No footage from the pilot had resurfaced, the only concrete evidences of it's existence comes from a WTTW article mentioning the pilot that feature Nature Cat and two other characters Hal and Ronald along with two images taken from said pilot. While some production art taken from an issue of Animation Magazine had surfaced, no other information on this pilot is available as of 2021.

Gallery

Images

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  Image from an animatic for the pilot (1/2).

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  Image from an animatic for the pilot (2/2).

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  Screenshot from the pilot (1/4)

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  Screenshot from the pilot (2/4)

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  Screenshot from the pilot (3/4)

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  Screenshot from the pilot (4/4)

Concept Art

One of the first sketches made to promote the show.

See Also

Bumpers

• Bookworm Bunch (partially found interstitials from PBS Kids channel block; 2000-2001)
• PBS Kids (partially lost schedule bumpers and interstitial material of TV channel block; 1999-present)
• Someday School (partially found PBS Kids channel block; 1998-2000)

Other

• Backyard Safari (partially found PBS children's educational series; 1997)
• Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found holiday TV special; 1977)
• Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
• Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992-1995)
• Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
• The Puzzle Place (partially found PBS puppet series; 1994-1998)
• Storytime (found PBS children's reading series; 1992-1998)
• Sesame Street (partially lost children's educational TV series; 1969-present)
• Sesame Street "Episode 847" (found "Wicked Witch of the West" episode of children’s educational TV series; 1976)
• Space Race (partially found PBS Kids web series; 2011)
• Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
• Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? "Auld Lang Gone" (non-existent episode of PBS children's game show; 1992)
• Zoom (partially lost revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)

Pilots

• Curious George (lost test pilot of PBS Kids animated series based on books; existence unconfirmed; 2004/2005)
• Cyberchase "The Poddleville Case" (found test pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 1999)
• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated musical series; 2006-2008)
• Dragon Tales "One Small Step for Cassie" and "Circle of Friends" (lost pilots of PBS Kids animated series; 1999)
• Jet Propulsion (partially found pitch pilot of "Ready Jet Go!" PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2013)
• Peg + Cat (partially lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 2011)
• Sesame Street (partially found test pilots of children's educational TV series; 1969)
• What's The Big Idea? (partially found pitch pilot of "Sid The Science Kid" PBS Kids CGI animated series; 2007)
• WordGirl (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
• WordWorld (found test pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated educational series; 2005)

External Links

• Nature Cat Wiki page on the pilot.