The Backyardigans

The Backyardigans
The main characters of the series. From left: Tyrone, Pablo, Uniqua, Austin, and Tasha
Also known as	Backyardigans
Genre	Adventure Comedy Musical
Created by	Janice Burgess
Directed by	Bill Giggie (season 1) Mike Shiell (seasons 1–2) Dave Palmer (seasons 3–4)
Voices of	Various see below
Composers	Evan Lurie Douglas Wieselman
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	80 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Janice Burgess Michael Hirsh Robert Scull Jonny Belt Kay Wilson Stallings
Running time	21–23 minutes
Production companies	Nelvana Limited Nickelodeon Studios Florida (pilot) Nick Digital (pilot) Nickelodeon Animation Studio (credited as Nick Jr. Productions for seasons 1–3)
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon (U.S.) Treehouse TV (Canada)
Release	October 11, 2004 (2004-10-11) – July 12, 2013 (2013-07-12)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Backyardigans (/bækˈjɑːrdɪɡənz/ ^ⓘ bak-YAR-dih-gənz) is an animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess for Nickelodeon. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio.^[1] It centers on five anthropomorphic animal neighbors who imagine themselves on fantastic adventures in their backyard. The show's title is a portmanteau of "backyard" and "cardigan". Each episode is set to a different musical genre and features four songs, composed by Evan Lurie with lyrics by McPaul Smith. The Backyardigans' adventures span many different genres and settings. The show's writers took inspiration from action-adventure films, and many episodes are parodies of films.

Janice Burgess had worked as Nick Jr.'s production executive since the mid-1990s. The Backyardigans originated as a live-action pilot episode titled "Me and My Friends", filmed at Nickelodeon Studios Florida and completed in September 1998. The characters were played by full-body puppets on an indoor stage. The pilot was rejected by Nickelodeon, and Burgess decided to rework the concept into an animated series. In 2002, a second pilot was animated at Nickelodeon Digital in New York. The second pilot was successful, and the series entered production.

The show ran for four seasons, totaling 80 episodes. Most episodes aired on Nickelodeon on weekday mornings. In 2009, the show was planned to continue beyond the fourth season.^[2] However, in 2010, Burgess decided to move onto a different series: Nickelodeon's revival of Winx Club. Burgess worked as a creative director and writer for Winx Club before eventually retiring from Nickelodeon in 2014.

The Backyardigans received generally positive reviews from audiences and critics who consider it superior to Nickelodeon's other preschool shows because its writing was sophisticated and enjoyable for older viewers. The New York Times and Common Sense Media commended the show for including frequent nods to an older audience,^[3] such as references to action-adventure franchises. The quality of the show's music was also well received by critics, and the show received eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations for its music.