THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS! Returns to PBS KIDS This Season

Families can kick off the holiday season on November 27 with the return of the PBS KIDS blockbuster hit THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS! The holiday special follows the Cat, Nick and Sally on a journey around the world to help a lost reindeer find his way home to Freezeyourknees Snowland in time for Christmas. The entertainment continues with additional programming from favorite series across the schedule featuring the variety of holidays that families celebrate at this time of year, including an Elmo Christmas special from SESAME STREET, new episodes from THOMAS & FRIENDS and DANIEL TIGER'S NEIGHBORHOOD, and encore presentations from favorites such as CURIOUS GEORGE: A Very Monkey Christmas, ARTHUR'S PERFECT CHRISTMAS and SHALOM SESAME's Chanukah: The Missing Menorah throughout December (check local listings). PBS Kids will also feature holiday- and winter-themed games from THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! and other series starting in early December on pbskids.org.

"PBS KIDS hopes to bring families together with our lineup of holiday programming," said Lesli Rotenberg, General Manager, Children's Programming, PBS. "Millions of children and their families welcomed the holiday season with THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS! last year, with more than 3.6 million households tuning in* and 27 million video streams.**"

THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS! - Airs on November 27, 28, 29, 30 and December 1, 13 and 24

A PBS Kids holiday tradition, this adventure finds the Cat in the Hat, Nick and Sally on a journey around the world to help a lost reindeer find his way home to Freezeyourknees Snowland in time for Christmas. On the way, the Thinga-ma-jigger breaks down, and they depend on a variety of animals - from African bush elephants to bottlenose dolphins to red crabs - and their remarkable abilities to help them make an amazing journey home. With gorgeous animation and pull-out-all-the-stops musical numbers, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS! will have families singing and celebrating all season long.

PBS Kids Holiday Week - December 9-13

This December, PBS Kids will air a week of holiday and winter-themed programming from favorite series across the schedule. "Holiday Week" features two episode premieres, both from THOMAS & FRIENDS: "Snow Stops Play" and "Tinsel & Trains." Holiday Week also includes encore presentations of holiday-themed episodes from favorite PBS Kids series and holiday favorites CURIOUS GEORGE: A Very Monkey Christmas and ARTHUR'S PERFECT CHRISTMAS.

CURIOUS GEORGE: A Very Monkey Christmas - Airs on December 9, 14, and 25

Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat are having a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas. There's only one dilemma - neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present! In the end, both gift-giving predicaments are simply and beautifully resolved, Revealing the true spirit of the holiday season.

ARTHUR'S PERFECT CHRISTMAS - Airs on December 10 and 25

Everyone's favorite aardvark gives kids a new spin on seasonal traditions in his first one-hour Primetime special, showing children many ways to celebrate "the holidays." Plans are underway in Elwood City for the best holidays ever as Arthur, D.W., their family and friends make preparations for perfect gifts, perfect parties and perfect family traditions for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and even "Baxter Day" (Buster and his mom's special celebration). The only problem is, just like real life, perfection is hard to attain and things start to fall apart.

DANIEL TIGER'S NEIGHBORHOOD

Snowflake Day! - Premieres on November 25

In this thirty-minute holiday musical episode, the Neighborhood is celebrating Snowflake Day! Daniel has a very important role as the snowflake in the Neighborhood's Snowflake Day Show and he can't wait to say his lines! The Enchanted Garden is full of excitement and winter cheer as everyone pitches in to make the celebration a true Neighborhood success!

A Snowy Day - Premieres on December 2

It's snowing in the Neighborhood! Miss Elaina is coming over to Daniel's house to play in the snow. When it's time to go outside, Mom Tiger helps Daniel change out of his pajamas into clothes that will keep him warm and he learns how important it is to choose the proper clothes.

Elmo's Christmas Countdown - Premieres on November 27, repeats on December 11 and 25

There's a miracle on Sesame Street in this special holiday tale. Elmo, Abby Cadabby and their new friend Stiller the Elf (voice of Ben Stiller) are going to count down to Christmas with the Christmas Counter-Downer. But all the counting boxes have gone missing and Christmas may never come again! Can Elmo, Abby and Stiller the Elf save Christmas? With the help of very special guests Sheryl Crow, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley, Ty Pennington, Steve Schirripa, Tony Sirico and Kevin James (as Santa Claus), Elmo and friends learn to believe in Christmas miracles.

SHALOM SESAME - Chanukah: The Missing Menorah - Check local listings for air dates

Moishe Oofnik is selling 2,000 year old sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts traditionally eaten on Chanukah), and Anneliese is bringing her family's menorah to light at Shoshana's in celebration of the first night of Chanukah. Grover the waiter is serving levivot (potato pancakes or latkes), when he and Anneliese are both startled by Brosh and a chicken. Anneliese's menorah (a nine-branched candelabrum) goes flying. Anneliese can't find her menorah anywhere, so everyone helps her look. The pressure is on to find it before sunset, and everyone sings a song about the search. Finally, Avigail finds it and everyone heads inside to light the candles. In the end, the Sumsum crew lights the menorah together and sings a song.

Encore presentations of holiday and winter-themed episodes of a variety of PBS Kids shows will also air throughout the holiday season.

*Ratings Source: NTI NPower Live+7 AA Reach (000), with a 6 minute qualifier and 75% unification

**Source: Google Analytics Event Tracking, November 2012

About THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!

THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! was created in response to recent findings that children graduating from kindergarten are less prepared to learn about science than about other subjects. The series supports young children's science learning by introducing scientific inquiry skills, teaching core science concepts and vocabulary, and preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and first grade science curriculum - all in whimsical style.

A team of science and early childhood experts developed the curriculum for the series, each episode of which begins with a question posed by Sally or Nick. Although the Cat in the Hat knows a lot of things, his insatiable Curiosity to learn more about the world leads to adventures with Sally and Nick in his one-of-a-kind Thinga-ma-jigger, a marvelously Seuss-ian contraption that sprouts wings, pontoons, booster rockets, skis and just about anything else needed to find the answer. The inquisitive gang travels to the bottom of the sea to observe giant sea worms, zips to the rain forest to visit animals living in kapok trees and shrinks to bee-size to visit a hive and learn how honey is made. Guided by the Cat in the Hat, the kids figure things out by observing, collecting and managing clues, making connections, constructing and evaluating theories and having discussions - all in a preschool-appropriate manner.

THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! is a Portfolio Entertainment/Collingwood O'Hare Production, A Canada UK Co-Production produced with PBS (USA), Treehouse (Canada), in association with Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Random House Children's Entertainment and with the financial participation of the Canadian Media Fund, the Shaw Rocket Fund, and the Government of Canada. The series is distributed by Portfolio International.

ABOUT DR. SEUSS ENTERPRISES, L.P.

The primary focus of the Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. is to protect the integrity of the Dr. Seuss books while expanding beyond books into ancillary areas. This effort is a strategic part of the overall mission to nurture and safeguard the relationship consumers have with Dr. Seuss characters. Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) said he never wanted to license his characters to anyone who would "round out the edges." That is one of the guiding philosophies of Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Audrey S. Geisel, the widow of Dr. Seuss, heads Dr. Seuss Enterprises as CEO.

About PBS KIDS

PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online, mobile and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including the PBS Kids video player, now offering free streaming video accessible on computer- and mobile-device-based browsers. For more information on specific PBS Kids content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom or follow PBS Kids on Twitter and Facebook.

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