Susie Carmichael

Susanna "Susie" Yvonne Carmichael is a character from the Nickelodeon shows Rugrats and All Grown Up!. She and her family were introduced in the Rugrats story titled "Meet the Carmichaels" (first US airing: January 10 1993).

Rugrats
During her time on Rugrats, Susie wore her black hair in three braids with a flower at the end of each, and wore a yellow and purple dress, black leggings, a green bracelet, and red ballet flats. She was one of the few African American characters on the show. Susie was shown as the youngest of her siblings (she was shown to have two brothers, Buster and Edwin, and one sister, Alisa). Susie's dad Randy was established as writing for "Dummi Bears" (which is among the other babies' favorite TV shows), and her mother Lucy was revealed in The Rugrats Movie as being a doctor (she had previously had the occupations of airplane pilot and chef). Although Angelica did not appear in their first story, Susie was soon made as a rival to Angelica, and was shown to be better than her in many things ("Susie-Monique vs. Angelica"). However, the Carmichaels' roles were significantly smaller than those of the other characters and their families, as they appeared in fewer episodes. The movies reflected this well:
 * The Rugrats Movie: Susie's brief musical number with Angelica during a baby shower was her entire contribution to the movie, and Lucy was Didi's obstetrician who delivered Dil Pickles.
 * Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Susie appeared in both wedding party scenes, and briefly made fun of Angelica in French, but did not go on the other characters' trip to Paris, France.
 * Rugrats Go Wild!: Susie, with a video camera, tagged along with the other characters on their ocean trip, but unlike the others, was not accompanied by her parents.

Susie did not appear in as many episodes as the other characters. This may be explained by the fact that during the Rugrats years, Susie's voice actress Cree Summer had many roles on several shows.

Later in the show's run, there was consideration to give Susie her own spin-off, The Carmichaels, which was slated to have her move to Atlanta, Georgia. However, due to subsequent continuity issues that were raised by the green-lighting of two other spin-offs, it was eventually shelved.

In one of the Rugrats: Tales from the Crib DVDs, she stars as Snow White (release date: September 27, 2005).

All Grown Up!
When Suzie sang at Didi's baby shower in the first movie, it was the first time that she displayed her talent for singing, a talent that would later become the most important part of her character. In fact, the 2001 Rugrats story "And The Winner Is" (first US airing: March 9 2001) featured her singing at a talent show.

But in 2003, when the spin-off All Grown Up! was put into production, a press release for the show announced that "smart, spunky Susie (Cree Summer) &mdash; still a crusader for what's right &mdash; upstages Angelica as a singer with real talent", which implied an increased role for Susie in the new spin-off.

The very first episode of the regular run, "Susie Sings The Blues" (first US tx: November 29, 2003), concerned Suzie and her singing talent. Since then, she has appeared in a majority of the episodes (although still in less than the other characters. This may be explained by the fact that by the time All Grown Up! premiered, Summer had less regular roles on other shows.

Also, while Susie and Angelica still treat each other as rivals (especially at singing, see "Susie Sings The Blues" and "It's Karma, Dude!" for cases in point), the two actually hang out with each other. Angelica has become jealous of Susie's singing. On the other token, Suzie has become somewhat of a "best" friend to Angelica. Susie helps Angelica find her doll in "Saving Cynthia".

Nationality
Though Susie is an African-American Susie may also be an Zimbabwean-American. In one episode Susie and her family celebrated a tradition which would normaly be from Zimbabwe.

Trivia

 * In the episode of Rugrats where Susie's family moves to the area, their new house is rumored to have been built on an ancient Indian burial ground, like the house featured in Poltergiest or the hotel in The Shining.
 * In the pilot to All Grown Up!, she was hired as a babysitter to look after Tommy, who had been grounded, while the parents went to a disco contest, and it was revealed that she still lived across the street.
 * Besides her singing talent, it was revealed that she knows 10 languages ("Runaround Susie"). This fact has been criticized by fans as coming out of nowhere, even though she made fun of Angelica in French in the 2nd Rugrats movie.
 * Things she has wanted to be when she grows up: doctor, lawyer, chef, singer
 * Susie keeps a wall of sticky notes to plan her daily schedule.
 * Susie was a child prodigy even as a toddler. At the age of three, she was fluent in French, and she was able to master photography and the Dewey decimal system.