Janice Burgess, a longtime Nickelodeon TV executive who spent decades cultivating children's curiosity and playfulness by helming popular shows like “Blue's Clues” and “Little Bill” and hosting her own musical children's show “The Backyardigans.” “, died on Saturday in hospice care in Manhattan. She was 72.
Her death was confirmed by Brown Johnson, a longtime friend and creator of Nick Jr., who said the cause was breast cancer.
In “The Backyardigans,” five cartoon animals – Tyrone, Tasha, Pablo, Austin and Uniqua – imagine their backyard as a place of adventure, traversing deserts, oceans, jungles, rivers and space while dancing and singing to music .
With the series, Ms. Burgess hoped to help children use their imaginations to have fun. In 2004, Ms. Burgess said in an interview with The New York Times that the idea for the show came from memories of playing in her own backyard in Pittsburgh as a child.
“I really remember it being a wonderful, happy, safe place,” she said. “You could have these great adventures just by running around. From there you could go anywhere and do anything.”
The series became a favorite of American preschoolers after its premiere on Nickelodeon in 2004. It was turned into a live show called “The Backyardigans Live!” Tale of the Mighty Knights in 2008.
Several Backyardigans songs were released in 2021, including “Into the Thick of It!” and “Castaways” found a large and nostalgic audience on TikTok, years after their original release in 2005.
“Janice really taught me about representation in children’s media and how important it is for children to not only see themselves, but hear themselves,” Ms. Johnson said.
Ms. Burgess was careful to cast children of color, and the roles were recast every few years as their voices changed, Ms. Johnson said. Ms. Burgess wanted their voices to sound natural and “not Broadway,” she said. Ms. Burgess, a music lover, included 80 different genres of music in “The Backyardigans,” Ms. Johnson added.
“It was like writing a musical every week,” she said.
The music was composed by Evan Lurie, who said in an interview that Ms. Burgess's “ability to get to the heart of what was necessary was simply amazing.”
Janice Burgess was born on March 1, 1952 to John Wesley Burgess and Alma Naomi (Thomas) Burgess. She grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh and attended the Ellis School, a college preparatory school for girls. According to the university's website, she graduated from Brandeis University in 1974.
She worked at WQED, Pittsburgh's public television station, and Sesame Workshop before joining Nick Jr. in 1995. Working on Nick Jr. taught her everything she needed to know about creating a television show for young children, she said at a National Press dinner in 2006.
At Nick Jr., she oversaw production on “Blue's Clues” and “Little Bill,” which went on to win Peabody and Emmy awards. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2008 for her work on The Backyardigans. In a statement, Nickelodeon called Ms. Burgess “one of the great architects of Nick Jr.”
Ms. Burgess is survived by her mother and a brother, Jack Burgess.
Ms. Burgess told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2006 that she modeled “The Backyardigans” on action films like “Die Hard” and the “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” series, toning down the high-stakes thrills Bring narratives to a level appropriate for preschool children.
“I'm really a pretty cultured person, but there's nothing I like more than cops and robbers and gunplay and crazy driving and speed and speed,” she said. “When you think about little children, you don't want to scare them, and I'm not in favor of showing any kind of violence or aggression, but you can certainly have a great adventure even if you're three years old.” ”
Ms Burgess said in her interview with The Times that the music she danced to as a child also influenced the creation of her show, which took children on musical adventures in addition to imaginary geographical adventures. The five animal friends sang and danced to jazz, funk, bossa nova, Irish jig, township jive, tarantella and psychedelic soul.
“I loved musicals, and my mom put on a record and used it to get me and my brother to move the sweeper,” she said. “You can jump around and pretend you’re Fred Astaire or Michael Jackson or whoever your current musical idol is.”
The dances on “The Backyardigans” were adapted from performances by five Alvin Ailey dancers, Ms. Johnson said. The dancers were videotaped and shown to the animators, who used their movements as a reference for the show's creatures.
Ms Burgess hoped these characters would inspire children's sense of adventure.
“I hope they will feel like they can create their own adventures by seeing what's on the screen and playing with it however they want,” she told the Times. “If they want to put on pirate hats and go into space, that’s fine.”