Weekly Character Wednesdays: Chica

 CHICA

Hi, Sproutlets. Today I launched the Parents and Kids Share Together forum on Delphi, where you can talk about Sprout and other stuff. Anyways, welcome to Weekly Character Wednesdays.

PERFORMED BY:

• Forrest Harding (squeaks)
• Ed Pokropski
• Jenn Santee
• Brendan Gawell
• Jackie Payton
• Kimberly Diaz
• Scott McClennen

FIRST APPEARANCE:

The Sunny Side Up Show, 2007

MOST RECENT APPEARANCE:

Universal Kids spots, 2019

BEST KNOWN ROLE:

Four and a half year old co-host of The Sunny Side Up Show. Non-talkative squeaker.

WHO IS CHICA?

Chica the Chicken is the Sunny Side Up Show's on-air sidekick. She first appeared when the block launched in Fall 2007, and got her own show, none other than The Chica Show, in 2012. Chica squeaks like a squeaky toy instead of using actual dialog. Why? This is because her performer is an associate producer.

Chica has not only appeared on Sunny and her show, but she also had dolls and backpacks on Sprout and CafePress' Shop Sprout website. In 2008, a Sprout anniversary special focused on Chica celebrating her birthday.

With the Sunny Side Up refresh in 2015, Chica started to play a backseat to the hosts, and started having less screentime, being replaced by the hosts' Sproutlet friends, but she was still pretty popular. She strangely does not appear in the above picture. When Sunny Side Up got replaced by Sprout House/Snug's House in 2017, she still appeared in segments, and appeared in a few spots on Universal Kids once her show returned to the airwaves for a brief period.

Before The Sunny Side Up Show began, senior vice president Andrew Beecham wanted the puppet co-host to be an animal, and Sprout executives (including Betsy Oliphant) contemplated a chicken since the block's title was a reference to sunny side up eggs, even though Beecham didn't think the Sproutlets at home could connect well with chickens.

WHY DOES SPROUT NEED CHICA?

As the hosts' sidekick, Chica represents her preschool viewers. She knows what they see and what they know.

Click here to squeak about it on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!