Trivia

Planning to become an art historian, she graduated from Brandeis University in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in art history.

In the early 1990s, Burgess held positions at the Children's Television Workshop, including as an assistant travel coordinator for 3-2-1 Contact and project manager for Ghostwriter. For the latter, she coordinated the efforts of a tie-in magazine and teacher materials with the content and goals of the television show. It was during this job that she was notified of an opening at Nickelodeon; Burgess joked that she interviewed for the job "about 11,000 times.

She frequently played in her backyard, and she later used those memories as inspiration for The Backyardigans. "I really remember it as a wonderful, happy, safe place... you could have these great adventures just romping around. From there, you could go anywhere or do anything.

Janice Burgess was given the opportunity to transition to a creative role by the senior vice president of Nick Jr, Brown Johnson. She asked Burgess to develop an idea for a new Nick Jr. show, and Burgess produced a pilot episode called "Me and My Friends" at Nickelodeon Studios Florida in 1998. The pilot was a live-action, full-body puppet show that featured music and dance. It was not picked up for a full series, but several months after the rejection, Brown Johnson asked Burgess to retool the concept. She liked the characters and music from Burgess's pilot and felt the show would work better in animation.

Burgess served as executive producer for The Backyardigans throughout its run of four seasons. The series received eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and Burgess won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program.

She created the Nick Jr. series The Backyardigans and worked as a writer and story editor for Nickelodeon's revival of Winx Club. Both shows were produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio.

According to an interview with Investor's Business Daily, Burgess did not enjoy traveling "in art circles with collectors and high society," so she sought out a different career after college. She volunteered for a job at the public television station WQED, where she was put in charge of craft services.

Janice Burgess was an American television executive, screenwriter and producer for Nickelodeon.

Burgess joined Nickelodeon in 1995 as executive-in-charge of production.