Super Why! (lost second pitch pilot of PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2004-2006)

The final logo for the series.

Status: Lost

Super Why! is a children's animated television show that ran from 2007 to 2016 on PBS Kids. The series is about 6-year-old Whyatt Beanstalk who calls his book club when trouble arises in the fictional Storybrook Village, where they transform into the Super Readers and jump into books to solve problems.

Pitch Pilot

Initially, Super Why was pitched to Nick Jr. in 1999 as a stop-motion series, and was ultimately rejected. After this, another pilot was made, and it was pitched again by Curious Pictures instead to PBS Kids, where it was then accepted.

A name considered for the series during this timestamp was Super Readers to the Rescue. The name was short-lived and was ultimately scrapped, but was later reused several times for the final show before being abandoned in 2010.

Not much is known about the pilot, and it is very undocumented outside of certain articles and brief mentions from before the series aired. According to John Allemand's resume, the pilot was produced sometime in 2006 by Curious Pictures.

Another LinkedIn profile states that the person worked on Super Why from 2004-2005, suggesting that the pilot may have been produced around then.

Another identified production member of the pilot was Aram Song, who also worked for Curious Pictures and additionally had screenshots of the pilot available on her website. However, the website has since been taken down years ago, and no content from the pilot on her website was archived.

According to the file names for the images on Song's website, the pilot was likely based on the first episode The Three Little Pigs, similar to how the earlier pilot was. There was also a scene with a clubhouse where the Super Readers presumably met.

It is speculated that the pitch pilot was animated in 2D rather than 3D, evidenced by an early model for Whyatt, however, this has not been confirmed as of now.

Other information about the pilot, including its name, length, cast, and plot is also unknown.

Availability

As of 2024, no content from the pilot itself has resurfaced, and its production is still heavily undocumented.

Recently, an image of an early model for Whyatt as mentioned previously was found on a PBS Kids SlidePlayer slideshow dated October 22nd, 2007, and some evidence was found suggesting the existence of the pitch pilot.

Prior to that, during the search of the earlier 1999 pilot, 2 images were found on another SlidePlayer slideshow. No other information outside of what has resurfaced is available as of now.

Gallery

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  An early model of Whyatt with a placeholder logo for the series.

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  A model of Willie from the earlier pilot with a placeholder logo for the considered name of the series.

See Also

Super Why!

• Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
• Super Why! (found stop-motion Nick Jr. pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated series; 1999)

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 found PBS children's series; 1998-2000)
• Backyard Safari (found PBS children's educational series; 1997)
• Barney & Friends "Season 9" (partially found alternative version of PBS children's series; 2004-2005)
• The Charlie Horse Music Pizza (partially lost PBS Kids "Lamb Chop's Play-Along" spin-off series; 1998-1999)
• Christmastime with Mister Rogers (found PBS holiday special of children's educational TV series; 1977)
• Kratts' Creatures (found PBS children's educational series; 1996)
• Lamb Chop's Play-Along (partially lost PBS children's puppet series; 1992-1995)
• 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 (partially lost revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)

PBS Kids

• 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 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)
• Make Way for Noddy (partially found PBS Kids version of British children's TV series; 2005)
• Nature Cat (lost pitch pilot of PBS Kids educational animated series; early 2010s)
• 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)
• What's The Big Idea? (non-existent 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)