Susie Carmichael



Susie 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 tx: January 10, 1993).

Rugrats
During her time on Rugrats, Susie wore her hair in three pigtails with a flower at the end of each, and wore yellow and purple clothes, a green bracelet, and red slippers.

The Carmichaels were the only African-American characters on the show. Susie was shown as the youngest of their children (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 first 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 at her in many things ("Susie vs. Angelica"). However, the Carmichaels' roles were significantly smaller than those of the other characters and their families, as they appeared in much less 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 obsterician 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.
 * Rugrats Go Wild!: Susie, with a camera, tagged along with the other characters on their ocean trip, but unlike the others, was not accompanied by her parents.

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!, and her singing talent
When Susie sang at a 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 tx: March 9, 2001) featured her singing at a talent show.

But in 2002, when the spin-off All Grown Up! was put into production, a press release for the show announced that "smart, spunky Susie (Cree Summer) -- still a crusader for what's right -- 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 Susie and her singing talent (Alisa made an appearance as well in this ep, but none of Susie's siblings have appeared since). 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, Susie has become somewhat of a "best" friend to Angelica. Susie helps Angelica find her doll in "Saving Cynthia".

Voice actress
Susie is usually voiced by Cree Summer. However, there were a few Rugrats stories in 1993 where E.G. Daily (Tommy Pickles) had to substitute for her (namely, "Angelica's Birthday" and "The Last Babysitter").

Susie's name was mentioned in Tuesday's diary in an episode of The X's.

Trivia

 * 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 (prompting continuity concerns, as at the time, The Carmichaels was still being considered).
 * 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