Janice Burgess, Nickelodeon Executive And ‘The Backyardigans’ Creator, Dies At 72
Janice Burgess, a former Nickelodeon executive and the creator of the popular preschool tv series The Backyardigans, has died in Manhattan. She was 72.
The cause of death was breast cancer, according to The New York Times.
Burgess was born on March 1, 1952, and grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she attended The Ellis School. She later graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, with a degree in art history but quickly realized that the world of fine art was not for her.
She subsequently found work at WQED, the public tv channel in Pittsburgh, where she developed a love for the creative side of kids’ entertainment. There, she would accept any menial task that would allow her closer to the production side of the industry and volunteered to work in craft services for WQED’s shows.
Speaking with Investor’s Business Daily in 2009, she said of those early years:
I got to know about the schedules and made sure the caterer came at the right time and the table was set up. That’s how I got started… I didn’t have any glamorous jobs when I was starting out. The great thing about being young is that you have less pride and you need less money.
She later relocated to New York and worked for the Children’s Television Workshop, known as Sesame Workshop today, where she was involved in the admired programming of the era such as 3-2-1 Contact and Ghostwriter.
In the mid-1990s, Burgess heard about a job opening at Nickelodeon and thought she would be a good fit. She joked that she interviewed for the role “about 11,000 times” before finally landing it in 1995.
After joining Nickelodeon, Burgess oversaw the production of Emmy and Peabody-winning children’s shows, including Blue’s Clues and Little Bill. In a statement on Tuesday, Nickelodeon said, “We are saddened to learn of the passing of one of the great architects of Nick Jr. … Janice was one of the greats − inherently creative and kind, and dedicated to the preschool audience everywhere.”
Burgess said that in the late 1990s, top talent wasn’t interested in making preschool shows, so she and fellow Nick executive Chris Gifford were asked to develop ideas for a new preschool program and that one of the ideas would be given a production greenlight.
The challenge issued to the two proved to be extremely fruitful for Nickelodeon, with Gifford creating Dora the Explorer. Burgess’s idea was a pilot called Me and My Friends, a musical, full-body puppet show. That show never made it into production, but four of the five characters developed for Me and My Friends went on to star in The Backyardigans.
Around six months after the development challenge, Nick Jr. vice president Brown Johnson asked Burgess to revisit her idea, but as a cg-animated program rather than a live-action puppet show. Nickelodeon teamed with Canadian outfit Nelvana on production.
In the Investor’s Business Daily profile, Johnson explained how unique it was to have an executive who was also such a talented creator:
She combines the magic of being a creator with being a producer-realist. She is very left- and right-brained. I find her to be smart, funny, perceptive, and a really deep thinker.
Speaking at a 2009 National Press Club event about diversity in children’s television programming, Burgess explained where the idea for The Backyardigans came from:
Here’s how I think I did it. I thought about when I was a kid, but I thought more about what I like now. I am a great fan of big fat stupid adventure movies. Car chases, dinosaurs rampaging through cities, people flying through outer space. I love that stuff… Another part of me that I like a lot is music and dancing. I cannot sing, I do not play an instrument, and I cannot dance at all other than in the privacy of my own home. But I’ve always enjoyed those things and watching people do them.
Burgess said that by combining her memories from childhood with the things she loved as an adult, she was able to flesh out the idea for The Backyardigans. The show premiered in 2004 and ran for four seasons, spawning merchandise, albums, and a live theater show.
During the National Press Club discussion, Burgess talked about the good and the bad that comes with creating one’s own tv show:
It’s a little bit be careful what you wish for. I always wanted to be the creator of a show, and quite frankly, it’s really hard work. But on the other hand, making The Backyardigans has become sort of 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, and, sometimes, we sing and dance too.
Colleague Fracaswell Hyman wrote about his friendship with Burgess in an Instagram post:
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. This is the person the network sends to the set to make sure the money is not going to waste.
Janice swept in with her acid-tongued wit, flowing Hermes scarves and omnipresent cigarettes. 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.
Janice created THE BACKYARDIGANS and guided countless other shows for Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, Disney and Apple TV. Her script/story critiques were astute, clear and constructive – and I really thank her for that.
Janice, Maria Perez-Brown and I developed shows together, gossiped together and oh, how we laughed! I will miss my dear friend. RIP. Oh, how we laughed…