Lyrick Studios

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, Wishbone, and for the TV series The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth. This 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, presented by CPTV from 1992-2005, and from 2006-2010 by WNET.

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 on distribution of children's TV shows and films and Sony Wonder's lease trial with Lyrick Studios expired and Lyrick became independent. Lyrick acquired the distribution rights for Sanrio, Sooty (taking over the license from Family Home Entertainment), VeggieTales and The Wiggles (whom they discovered during a performance at Disneyland), and also distributed book publishing and video gaming rights for some Humongous Entertainment video game characters like Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, and Pajama Sam.

Around the same time, Lyrick Studios purchased licensing company ADV Films, which then became the licensing division of Lyrick, and began distributing TV shows licensed by the company such as the Slayers anime trilogy, Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden, Tama & Friends, Monster Rancher, Flint the Time Detective (via Saban Entertainment), and Those Who Hunt Elves. Lyrick Studios also signed a deal with Pax TV (alongside DIC Entertainment) to produce a five-hour children's programming block called Freddy's Firehouse, to air on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The block of animated series was instead launched on September 5, 1998, as "Cloud Nine", featuring a trio of winged teenage angels that hosted the wraparound segments that bridged breaks during the block's shows, which were mostly sourced from the DIC/Lyrick library (including ADV Films' library). "Cloud Nine" was discontinued in the spring of 1999, and was replaced by a new block under the title "Pax Kids". Pax TV discontinued the "Pax Kids" block in September 2001, as a result, it became the first major commercial broadcast network in the U.S. that did not supply children's programming. The reason for the blocks closure is currently unknown, though it was possible that closed following the folding of Lyrick to HiT Entertainment, or due to low ratings and finaical troubles.

In 2001, Lyrick began distributing TV shows owned by entertainment company HIT Entertainment such as Bob the Builder (on May 22, 2001), and Kipper (on June 5, 2001). On February 9, 2001, the company was acquired by HIT for a $275-million deal, and Dick Leach died during the sale process. Though HiT purchased the company on February 9, 2001, most of its VHS tapes still used the Lyrick logo with the HiT logo until August 31 when it was folded into the company.

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