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 has aired on PBS Kids since 2015. The series takes place in Chicago, Illinois with a house cat named 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 evidence of its 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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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)
• PBS Kids Vote-A-Rama (lost bumpers of "Arthur" themed marathon; 2002)
• Someday School (partially found PBS Kids channel block; 1998-2000)

PBS

• Adventures with Kanga Roddy (partially lost PBS children's series; 1998-2000)
• Backyard Safari (partially found PBS children's educational series; 1997)
• Barney & Friends "Season 9" (partially found alternative version of PBS children's series; 2004-2005)
• Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found holiday TV special; 1977)
• Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992-1995)
• Mister Rogers' Neighborhood "Mister Rogers Talks About Conflict" (found episode arc of PBS children's educational series; 1983)
• The Puzzle Place (partially found PBS puppet series; 1994-1998)
• Reading Rainbow (found Johnny Kemp opening sequence for PBS children's educational series; 1999)
• Shining Time Station (found season one intro of PBS series; 1989-1990)
• Storytime (found PBS children's reading series; 1992-1998)
• Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? "Auld Lang Gone" (non-existent episode of PBS children's game show; 1992)
• Zoom (found pilot of revival of 1972 PBS children's series; 1995)
• Zoom (partially lost revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)

PBS Kids

• The Charlie Horse Music Pizza (partially lost PBS Kids "Lamb Chop's Play-Along" spin-off series; 1998-1999)
• 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)
• The Good Night Show with Melanie/Leo (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2005-2006)
• The Good Night Show with Nina & Star (partially found PBS Kids Sprout series; 2006-2017)
• Jet Propulsion (partially found pitch pilot of "Ready Jet Go!" PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2013)
• Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
• Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
• Molly of Denali (partially found pitch pilot of PBS Kids animated series; 2018)
• Peg + Cat (partially lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; 2011)
• Preschool Musical... On a Stick (partially lost PBS Kids Sprout "High School Musical" parody; 2008)
• Seven Little Monsters (found episodes of PBS Kids animated series; 2000-2004)
• Space Race (partially found PBS Kids web series; 2011)
• Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
• 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.