The animation and childrens television world is in mourning, with news that The Backyardigans creator Janice Burgess has passed away at 72.
While no cause of death has been immediately revealed, her passing was confirmed by fellow animation writer Fracaswell Hyman in social media posts.
He shared an image of Burgess enjoying her time in a beach setting while revealing how he first met her back in the early 1990s.
Hyman wrote, “Janice Burgess 1952-2024. I met Janice Burgess early in my career when I was head writer on GULLAH GULLAH ISLAND and she was assigned to be our Executive in Charge of Production.” He continued, “This is the person the network sends to the set to make sure the money is not going to waste.”
He went on to praise Janice’s “acid-tongued wit, flowing Hermes scarves and omnipresent cigarettes”. He added, “Instead of an overseer, she became a friend. She recognized my magic before I did and made sure I was in the room and under consideration for many of the shows that came my way including LITTLE BILL and TAINA.”
Reeling off her TV credits, he said, “Janice created THE BACKYARDIGANS and guided countless other shows for Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, Disney and Apple TV.
Prior to her passing, Burgess had a decorated career, spanning 30 years, in the field of children’s animation.
In the early 90s, Burgess volunteered for a job at a local TV station, WQED, where she was put in charge of craft services (food). She worked her way up to higher positions, eventually getting a job at the Children’s Television Workshop. While at the Workshop, Burgess was told about an opening at Nickelodeon, where she really wanted to work.
Burgess joined Nickelodeon in 1995 as an executive-in-charge of production. In her words, she interviewed for this job “about 11,000 times.” In 1998, Janice was given the opportunity to pitch a live action-TV pilot at the request of her manager, Brown Johnson. She liked Janice’s characters, but Brown didn’t approve the show for production. Brown asked Janice to retool her idea into an animated show, and another pilot was made.
Janice’s animated pilot was approved for a first season of 20 episodes in 2003. Janice Burgess was the executive producer for the show, which continued to run for three more seasons. In 2006, she described her work on the show very positively: “making The Backyardigans has become sort of like an adventure that I go on with my friends. Of course, we get paid, but we do get to be carefree in our work, enjoy each other, hang around a lot, travel a little bit, and make up stuff.”
In addition to The Backyardigans, she oversaw hit shows such as Blue’s Clues, Allegra’s Window and Gullah Gullah Island.
She also served as story editor on Winx Club and co-developed the series Bubble Guppies as well.