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A new PBS cartoon titled Jelly, Ben & Pogo has been drawing a lot of buzz.

But the three-minute long animation, created by Filipino American animator Jalysa Leva, almost did not make it on screen. The initial pitch to PBS fell short.

"The fact that we knew that we got second place, against essentially those already established from big competitors, we’re just excited that we even got that far, because we just made it and threw it out there in the wind and hoped that it would catch someone’s attention. It actually didn’t sting too bad," Leva stressed.

The children's network, however, loved the concept and urged Leva and her team to highlight the characters’ Filipino heritage even more.

"Having the network tell us, 'No, this is what we want to see,' really encourages us to tell those stories, and be more detailed and to have more stories that focus on the culture, too."

The characters Jelly, Ben, and Pogo are based on Leva and her two brothers who all grew up in New York and South Carolina. Leva asserted that creating episodes like on making halo-halo and their lola talking in Tagalog is not just fun, but meaningful to her.

"I think I came away with this with so much more love and acceptance and appreciation for my own heritage," Leva said. "I think for a long time, especially someone who’s Filipino, you don’t think that people want that content, 'cause you don’t see it. So you assume ‘Oh, nobody is going to want to watch this, it’s not important.'"

But Jelly, Ben & Pogo is proving that it is. Leva hopes that the show "inspire other Filipino creators to tell their version, their experience, so we can see what those look like."

Meanwhile, as millions enjoy episodes of Jelly, Ben & Pogo seen on the PBS Kids website and YouTube page, Leva is busy working on new projects: more animation and stories about Filipinos.