The Chica Show

The topic of this page has a wiki of its own: The Chica Show Wiki.

The Chica Show is an original series created by Sprout. It is a preschool show about a puppet named Chica who, along with her parents and friend Kelly, runs a costume shop known as The Costume Coop, and when the shop closes, she and her friends become animated and go on an adventure. It is a mix between live-action and animation.

The show premiered on November 24, 2012, averaging Sprout's highest W18-49 delivery for a new program launch in the network’s history. To promote its premiere, Chica pressed on the logo in the Sprout screenbug amid shows (such as Justin Time and Poppy Cat) making the characters imitate her, and a promo of real people in a park imitating her was made. These were written, produced, and edited by Marc Cantone, and The Sunny Side Up Show made a parody of The Voice called "The Squeak" to promote. Mr. and Mrs. C guested together on The Sunny Side Up Show with Chica and Sean,^[2] and a sneak peek aired on October 31. It aired at 9:00AM, 11:30AM, 1:00PM, 3:00PM, 5:45PM, and 8:00PM ET, replacing Chloe's Closet on Sunny, a show with a similar theme of dressing up and going on adventures, at the 11:30 timeslot. The last new episode aired in December 2014, but reruns continued to air until July 2017. However, the show returned to Universal Kids on May 20, 2019, along with Moon and Me, a series from the creator of Teletubbies, and Mofy, but stopped airing in early 2020. However, the show reaired on the network on December 24th and 25th, 2022. As of 2024, according to Universal Kids’ website, it appears to be airing on the channel again, although it is unclear if it is part of its regular lineup.

Description[]

"Get ready for playful adventures with Chica as the doors of "The Costume Coop" open for business! Every preschooler loves to dress up and now they can join Chica, everyone's favorite chicken, for play dates that will take them under the sea, rocketing into space and time traveling back to caveman days. Set in a colorful, quirky shop stuffed to the beams with every kind of costume, accessory and prop imaginable "The Chica Show" is a Sprout Original preschool sitcom that features animation, live-action and a whole lot of surprise" (link)

What Kids Learn About[]

"Adventure, Creative Play" (link)

History on Sprout[]

The show was convinced after Chica became a popular character and dolls of the chicken immediately sold out. Originally, the show was going to take place in a farmers' market and focus on nutrition and healthy eating.

To promote the show, Chica appeared on the Sprout screenbug during shows such as Poppy Cat and Justin Time, causing the characters to make noises imitating her.

The show also aired Saturday mornings on NBC Kids starting February 9th, 2013, thus doubling its reach to 115 million homes nationwide.

To promote the show's second season in 2013, Sprout held the Call the Coop Contest, in which children could call Kelly via a video and a winner would receive a gift box. Season 2 premiered on July 29th, 2013, with episodes airing at 11:30 with a repeat later that day, with a 38% increase (108k from 78k) with Sprout's audience of two to five year olds, from its program lead-in.^[3]

Characters[]

Chica (squeaks provided by Forrest Harding) - A chicken puppet and Mr and Mrs. C's daughter. Chica often causes problems in the live-action segments, which means Kelly has to teach her a lesson, which is demonstrated in the cartoon segment. Chica avoids using words and instead speaks through squeaks only those around her can understand.
Kelly (Kelly Vrooman) - The shopkeeper of the Costume Coop. She is often seen alongside Chica.
Mrs. C - Mr. C's wife and the mother of Chica, she only appears in the live-action segments. They both work at The Costume Coop, and have starred in many plays in the past. Prior to The Chica Show, she made occasional appearances on The Sunny Side Up Show, where she was here called Chica's Mom and wore a yellow necklace.
Mr. C - A rooster who is Mrs. C's husband and the father of Chica, he only appears in the live-action segments. They both work at The Costume Coop, and have starred in many plays in the past.
Stitches (voiced by Mario Lopez) - A ragdoll who sits out The Costume Coop’s window in the live-action segments, but comes to life in the animated segments. He has also been in several of Mr. and Mrs. C's plays.
Bunji (voiced by John Taylor) - A rabbit who lives in a tank in the live-action segments, but, like Stitches, comes to life in the cartoon.
Jett (performed by Christopher Brasfield) - The Costume Coop's "on the fly" delivery guy.

Episodes[]

Season 1[]

Season 2[]

Online[]

The show had its own page on Sprout's website, SproutOnline.com. To promote the show's premiere, six online activities were made for the site:

Mr. and Mrs. C's Melody Maker - A game headlined by Chica's parents that encouraged kids to find instruments around the Costume Coop.
Costume Catch - A game headlined by Mr. C that encouraged viewers to find costumes.
Puzzle Play - A game headlined by Stitches
Spot the Difference - A game headlined by Kelly Vrooman.
Mystery at Carrot Castle - A game headlined by Kelly Vrooman.
Chica's Adventure
Chica's Sled Game
Chica's Holiday Card Maker

Notes[]

ChicasCostumeCoop — Chica's Costume Coop.

The Costume Coop was probably named after "Chica's Costume Coop," the original name for the Dress Chica segment, as well as the show's pitch.
When the series premiered, it averaged a combined household coverage area 0.38 rating / 205k homes. In a comparison to year-to-date averages in the time periods, the show had double-digit percentage gains in HHs (+46%), kids 2-5 (+36%), kids 2-11 (+59%) and women 18-49 (+56%).
What is presumably unused footage from "Tweet Dreams, Chica" was shown in Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon, as well as the Pajanimals lullaby at the end of The Good Night Show.
This is the first time Mario Lopez has voiced a cartoon character (Stitches).
Mr. C's glasses and Mrs. C's necklace were features on My Little Sproutlet.
A SproutOnline.com article about the show notes it premiering on November 26th, 2012.
The show received two apps, Chica's Adventure and Chica's Tap a Tune.
The show wasn't on SproutOnline.com's schedule page until the site rebranded in 2013.
As of early 2015, the show was listed as a programming block on SproutOnline.com's TV schedule, in place of The Super Sproutlet Show, which dissolved that year.

Gallery[]

See The Chica Show/Gallery

Videos[]

Sprout - The Chica Show Launch Promo - What's Squeaking (2012)

Sprout Chica Show Prelaunch Full compressed

The Chica Show promo

The Chica Show Season 2 Launch - Superfan (2013)

External links[]

References[]

[1] ttps://twitter.com/BeauInMaryland/status/460572951465582592

[2] ttp://web.archive.org/web/20130627185659/http://www.sproutonline.com/videos/family-visit

[3] ttps://together.nbcuni.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/04/about_sprout_533efc6c8efbd.pdf

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[2]

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PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki