Janice Burgess, Creator Of ‘The Backyardigans’ And A Prolific Kids TV Executive, Dies At 72

Janice Burgess, creator of The Backyardigans, has died. She was 72.

Television writer Fracaswell Hyman shared the news on social media.

“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 explained in an Instagram Post.

He went on to share that in that role, “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.”

Hyman shared later in the caption. He also added that Burgess was behind “countless other shows for Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, Disney and Apple TV+.”

He concluded the caption by sharing how much he’ll miss “my dear friend.” ‘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,” he wrote.

Burgess was born in Pittsburgh and, after graduating from Brandeis University in 1973, worked craft services for WQED TV station.

She held different positions at Children’s Television Workshop, where she worked on shows like 3-2-1 Contact and Ghostwriter. Before creating The Backyardigans, Burgess worked at Nickelodeon as an executive in charge of production for the network’s Nick Jr. channel.