Lyrick Studios was an American video production and distribution company based in Allen, a Dallas suburb. The company was best known for its distribution of home videos, audio products, children's books, and toys for the children's television series Barney & Friends and Wishbone. The company was also known for its production and distribution of home videos, audio products, children's books, toys, video games, 2D and CGI animation, visual effects, feature-length motion pictures, and television shows.
History
The company traces its origins to 1988, when The Lyons Group was formed as a division of DLM, Inc (Developmental Learning Materials), an educational company owned by Richard C. Leach. Lyons began producing and distributing a direct-to-video series titled Barney and the Backyard Gang, which was created by Sheryl Leach, the daughter-in-law of Richard. Three years after the home video series debuted, Barney caught the attention of PBS executives, and the concept was subsequently revamped for television. Barney & Friends began airing on the Public Broadcasting Service on April 6, 1992, at which point the Lyons Group separated from DLM and became its own company.
Lyrick Studios was formed in 1994, and the Lyons Group became a division of the new company, under the name Lyons Partnership. Dick Leach, creator of Barney, became the company's CEO in 1997. The company developed the Wishbone series for PBS in 1995, a show about a talking dog living in the fictional town of Oakdale, Texas. This series was produced by Big Feats! Entertainment, another Lyrick division. The series was filmed at the studio and on location in Plano. By the late 1990s, Lyrick Studios turned its primary focus to distribution of children's TV shows and films. Lyrick acquired the distribution rights for VeggieTales and The Wiggles, and also distributed book publishing and video gaming rights for some Humongous Entertainment video game characters like Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish and Pajama Sam.
On February 9, 2001, the company was acquired by HiT Entertainment for a $275 million deal, and Dick Leach died during the sale process. Lyrick began distributing TV shows owned by HiT Entertainment, such as Bob the Builder (on May 22, 2001), and Kipper (on June 5, 2001). Though HiT purchased the company on February 9, 2001, most of its' VHS tapes still used the Lyrick logo until August 31st of the same year, when it was officially folded into the company.
Projects
Original works
- Barney & Friends (1992-2001)
- Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie (1998)
- Wishbone (1995–1999)
Distribution only
- Kids for Character (1996)
- Kids for Character: Choices Count! (1997)
- Groundling Marsh (US distribution) (1997–1999)
- Joe Scruggs (1997)
- VeggieTales (US mass market distribution) (1997-2001)
- Shelley Duvall's American Tall Tales and Legends (1998)
- Shelley Duvall's Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1998)
- The Wiggles (US distribution) (1999–2001)
- Bob the Builder (US distribution) (2001)
- Kipper (US distribution) (2001)
Releases
All re-releases were mass market reprints of videos previously released exclusively to Christian retailers
- Where's God When I'm S-Scared? (March 1998; reprinted in 2000)
- God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! (February 1999; reprinted in 2000)
- Are You My Neighbor? (March 1998; "tested" in 1997 and reprinted in 2000)
- Rack, Shack and Benny (August 1998; reprinted in 2000)
- Dave and the Giant Pickle (August 1998; reprinted in 2000)
- The Toy That Saved Christmas (October 1998; reprinted in 1999 and 2000)
- Very Silly Songs! (June 1999; reprinted in 2000)
- Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! (February 1999; reprinted in 2000)
- Josh and the Big Wall! (June 1999; reprinted in 2000)
- Madame Blueberry (October 1999)
- The End of Silliness? (May 2000)
- Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed (March 2000)
- King George and the Ducky (August 2000)
- Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen (January 2001)
- Lyle the Kindly Viking (March 2001)
Albums
- VeggieTunes (1998 reissue)
- A Very Veggie Christmas (1998 reissue)
- VeggieTunes 2
- A Queen, a King, and a Very Blue Berry
Compilations/Triple Features
- Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories!
- More of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories!
- Junior's Favorite Stories
- Larry's Favorite Stories!
Trivia
- According to Phil Vischer, he chose the company to release the videos since Lyrick Studios' founder and former chairman Richard C. Leach was a committed Christian, and the company let the religious tones on the shows remain intact, unlike other distributors Big Idea had asked beforehand.
- The 1997 reprint of Are You My Neighbor?, using the original 1995 version of the episode and with only the Interpol FBI warning screens at the beginning of the tape, was presumably a test to see if the VeggieTales videos were "acceptable" for a mass market release.
- This is the only VeggieTales Lyrick Studios VHS not to have the Lyrick Studios logo anywhere on the VHS box cover nor at the beginning or end of the video, other than on the cassette ink label. However, there are some very scarce copies with the 1997 Lyrick Studios logo at the beginning and end of the tape.
- The 1998 release of Bob and Larry's Favorite Stories! contains trailers for Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor?
- The 1999 reprints of Very Silly Songs! and Josh and the Big Wall! contains a trailer for the 1999 reprint of Madame Blueberry.
- The 1999 reprints of Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, The Toy That Saved Christmas, and Madame Blueberry contains the trailer for Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed.
- The 2000 reprint of The End of Silliness? contains a trailer for King George and the Ducky.
- The 2000 VHS of King George and the Ducky and The Toy That Saved Christmas contains the teaser for Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen.
- The 2001 reprint of Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen contains a teaser for Lyle the Kindly Viking and a message from Phil Vischer.
- The 2001 VHS and DVD of Lyle the Kindly Viking contains one of the teasers for Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.
- Five VeggieTales tapes have the text "Distributed by" in white font on a black background before the Lyrick Studios logo. The first two have the 1997 "Distributed by" Lyrick logo, and in 1999, these were both averted by using the 1998 Lyrick Studios logo with "Distributed by" above the logo and later a still version of said variant.
- The Lyrick promos for Where's God When I'm S-Scared? and Are You My Neighbor? were narrated by Earl Fisher. A year later, Earl would begin to provide the voice for Pasqually from Chuck E. Cheese's which began their tie-ins with Big Idea on the very show where he debuted as Pasqually (Dance Party from April 1999).
Gallery
- Main article: Lyrick Studios/Gallery