Janice Burgess (March 1, 1952 - March 4, 2024) worked at Nickelodeon from 1995 to 2014. She created the Nick Jr. cartoon The Backyardigans, then became the story editor and creative director on Nick's revival of Winx Club. According to interviews with Janice, she took a lot of inspiration from action/adventure movies and liked to recreate their magic in a kid-friendly way.
Burgess joined Nickelodeon as an executive-in-charge of production, overseeing '90s shows like Gullah Gullah Island. She later pitched her own show, a live-action pilot called Me and My Friends, which was based on her own childhood that she spent playing in her backyard. The idea went through some changes before Nickelodeon picked it up, eventually getting turned into an animated show called The Backyardigans.
On Backyardigans, each episode is an animated mini-musical of its own, with its own original songs and choreography. In an interview,
Burgess explained: "As for why it is a musical - why not?" Across its four-season run, she wrote many of the episodes, like "Whodunit" and the two-part special "Robot Rampage".
After Backyardigans ended production, Burgess moved onto Nickelodeon's revival of Winx Club. She was a story editor for the half-hour specials as well as a writer and creative director for the regular episodes. A lot of her Backyardigans co-workers also joined as writers for the show.
Burgess passed away on March 4, 2024.
Executive credits
- Gullah Gullah Island: executive in charge of production
- Blue's Clues: executive in charge of production
- Little Bill: executive in charge of production
- Whoopi's Littleburg: executive in charge of production
Creative credits
- The Backyardigans: creator, writer
- Bubble Guppies pilot: development
- Winx Club (Nickelodeon revival): story editor, creative director, writer
