This page is about the behind-the-scenes development of the Nickelodeon animated series Harvey Beaks (formerly named Bad Seeds).
C.H. Greenblatt confirmed on his blog that he came up with the concept for Bad Seeds in 2009-2010 when his other series Chowder had been coming to an end. He has said that he had come up with different versions of the logo and the series had originally been called The Terrible Three. He stated:
"I enjoy making logos (I did the Chowder logo), so I thought I’d post some concepts and works in progress from my Nickelodeon pitch. The original title of the show was The Terrible Three but the network made me change it because they thought it sounded too young (like the “terrible twos”.) Eh, whatever. The show takes place in a forest and the three main kids are troublemakers, so I wanted to incorporate some of that personality. I got to bust out my ink and brushes! The pine cone was something I grabbed from my front yard and smashed up a bit, photographed, and then drew over. But I liked the leaf concept the best. I wasn’t totally satisfied with the first version, so after re-doing the lettering and re-arranging the layout, plus some simplification, I’m really happy with it now. It reads well both big and small. It doesn’t have the punky the feel that some of the others do, but it feels fun. I made a poster and it looks really nice with the background and the characters. There’s no real news about the pilot yet. It went into more focus group testing today. There are four other pilots it’s up against and it’ll be a another month perhaps before any decision is made. It’s been 45 months in development and I’m just looking forward to it being over, one way or the other."
In January of 2014, C.H. Greenblatt posted some concept art of characters that didn't make it into the show. He stated:
"These are some extremely early concepts for Bad Seeds characters that are no longer in the show. I had the notion that some of the trees would be living characters, but that just become too crazy to do in a forest. Which ones are mobile and which ones are just trees? I guess it works for Ents… The moss-pile and the tree-guy were attempts at a stoner forest handyman. That bear is the early version of Technobear, who is now a kid. The current cop is now more magical, less bird. The tree stump is patterned after the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock, a sage they’d go to for advice. This is all part of development. You come up with a ton of characters and say “Sure, these kinds of people could be in the show!” Then as you really figure it out, you get a better sense of who fits and who doesn’t. The three main characters have only changed in slight cosmetic ways, making me happy that the show is still so close to the original concept."
In November of 2014, C.H. Greenblatt confirmed the name Bad Seeds was scrapped because of copyright issues.
"Bad Seeds is no longer the show name due to trademark issues. We don’t have an official new name yet, so I’m still going to refer to it by the old name until we get one."
In January of 2015, C.H. Greenblatt confirmed that the name is Harvey Beaks! He also posted some backgrounds.
"So we officially have a new name. Bad Seeds is no more. Long live Harvey Beaks! (Nickelodeon decided it would be best to name the show after our main character.) To celebrate, here are some of our beautiful backgrounds."
In January of 2015, Nickelodeon tweeted:
"Remember that show we're working on called Bad Seeds? It's got a new name! Keep an eye out for Harvey Beaks".
They also posted a picture.
In January of 2015, Nickelodeon announced that Harvey Beaks will in Spring of 2015. In February, a teaser came out. Announcing the show for March 2015.