Henson "Comes Over to" New Dr. Seuss Series!

The Jim Henson Company is developing a new series based on the Dr. Seuss book Come Over to My House that they hope will re-engage children socially long after the pandemic lockdown.

Come Over to My House will be a live-action unscripted series for kids 5-8 based on Dr. Seuss' 1966 children’s picture book of the same name.

While the book tells the story of an American boy who travels around the world and is introduced to the homes and customs of kids in different countries, the Henson series will re-cast the lead as a puppet (tentatively named Katie) and be filmed documentary-style with real kids in their real homes.

Having previously collaborated with the Suess estate for The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, this time the Henson Company wanted to reimagine another book together—but one that didn’t feature Seuss’ familiar characters and feels grounded in reality.

To achieve this, Halle Stanford, president of television at Henson, hired documentary filmmaker Tiffanie Hsu to direct the series. 

Though “These aren’t the classic Cat in the Hat fantasy characters, we hope to capture the joy of an unfettered, unstructured day of play between a kid and a puppet.”

Elmo in Sesame Workshop's International Rescue Committee 

“Because we’ll be using real kids and loose scripts, and we won’t be shooting on sets, I went into the doc world to find a creator" she said. 

Though no release date has been set, Stanford plans to pitch the series in early spring. Despite the fact that unscripted content tends not to travel as well as animation, which is easier to dub, she’s confident broadcasters will be interested in the stories and drawn to the production’s potential speed to market.

“We’re hoping for 20 half hours, and if we set it up with the right partners, the show will come out at a time when kids and families across the globe will need to re-embrace connection as we start to come out of the pandemic."

Sesame Workshop's International Rescue Committee 

The series will also have a small crew and Stanford expects production could begin as early as this summer and be delivered quickly to networks that need content.

She says the biggest challenge will be figuring out where the show can shoot, and how it can be done safely if filming begins this year."

Come Over to My House sounds very much like Sesame Workshop's International Rescue Committee project and their recent 50th Anniversary road trip videos, but as an internationally released show. 

We'll keep you posted as we learn more about this latest Henson series.