Dr. Seuss’s iconic Cat in the Hat is getting the TV treatment with new series The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That!, slated to air on US pubcaster PBS Kids in fall 2010.

Random House Children’s Entertainment, in association with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, has teamed up with co-producers Portfolio Entertainment and Collingwood O’Hare Productions for the series. Comedian Martin Short has been tapped to voice the mischievous feline.

Portfolio and Collingwood O’Hare are currently in production on 40 half-hours for the first season, that features six-year-old best friends and nextdoor neighbors Sally and Nick, who are taken on a magical journey around the world to make natural science discoveries, with the title feline to guide them.

An activity-filled Cat website will also debut on pbskids.org, with additional parent and teacher resources available on PBS Parents (pbsparents.org) and PBS Teachers (pbsteachers.org).

To support the TV launch, Random House Children’s Books will publish a full line of original books, and will also oversee all L&M activities. Over in Canada, Treehouse TV has snapped up Canuck broadcast rights and is airing the show concurrently with PBS.