Janice Burgess obit

Janice Burgess, creator of ‘The Backyardigans,’ dies

She was not on the list.

Janice Burgess, the creator of the Nickelodeon show ‘The Backyardigans’ and a writer for ‘Winx Club,’ has died, according to a long-time friend. She was 72 years old.

Fracaswell Hyman, a long-time friend who previously worked with her, confirmed on Monday that Burgess had recently died. Her cause of death was not immediately known.

“Janice created The Backyardigans and guided countless other shows for Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, Disney and Apple TV,” Hyman wrote. “Her script/story critiques were astute, clear and constructive – and I really thank her for that.”

“I will miss my dear friend,” he added.

Burgess, who celebrated her birthday just last week, worked on a number of shows for Nickelodeon, including ‘Gullah, Gullah Island,’ ‘Allegra’s Window,’ ‘Blue’s Clues’ and ‘Bubble Guppies.’

A spokesperson for Nickelodeon was not available for comment.

Burgess grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended The Ellis School. Planning to become an art historian, she graduated from Brandeis University in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in art history.

According to an interview with Investor's Business Daily, Burgess did not enjoy traveling "in art circles with collectors and high society," so she sought out a different career after college. She volunteered for a job at the public television station WQED, where she was put in charge of craft services.

In the early 1990s, Janice Burgess held positions at the Children's Television Workshop, including as an assistant travel coordinator for 3-2-1 Contact and project manager for Ghostwriter. For the latter, she coordinated the efforts of a tie-in magazine and teacher materials with the content and goals of the television show. It was during this job that she was notified of an opening at Nickelodeon; Burgess joked that she interviewed for the job "about 11,000 times." She was hired as the executive in charge of production for Nick Jr., overseeing the development of Blue's Clues and Little Bill. Burgess later became the vice president of Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. division.

While working as an executive, Burgess attended scripting and concept development meetings, where she enjoyed helping the creative teams with characters and storylines. Burgess was eventually given the opportunity to transition to a creative role by the senior vice president of Nick Jr, Brown Johnson. She asked Burgess to develop an idea for a new Nick Jr. show, and Burgess produced a pilot episode called "Me and My Friends" at Nickelodeon Studios Florida in 1998. The pilot was a live-action, full-body puppet show that featured music and dance. It was not picked up for a full series, but several months after the rejection, Brown Johnson asked Burgess to retool the concept. She liked the characters and music from Burgess's pilot and felt the show would work better in animation.

Using the characters from "Me and My Friends," Burgess wrote a second pilot, which was produced at Nickelodeon's New York studio in 2001. The show, now fully computer-animated and renamed The Backyardigans, was greenlit for a full season of 20 episodes. Reflecting on the shift to animation, Burgess said, "Sometimes your first attempt is just not all that great. In this case, my second attempt was much better." The Backyardigans premiered on Nickelodeon on October 11, 2004.