iCarly is an American Nickelodeon teen sitcom television franchise created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007 to November 23, 2012. The series stars Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress, Jerry Trainor, and Noah Munck. The series tells the story of Carly Shay, a teenager who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam Puckett and Freddie Benson in the apartment loft that she and her older brother Spencer Shay live in. As the web show quickly becomes an internet phenomenon, the youngsters are tasked with balancing their normal teenage lives with the wacky situations their newfound fame lands them in.
During the first five seasons, the show was taped at Nickelodeon on Sunset before relocating to KTLA Studios in Hollywood for the sixth and final season. It was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Children's Program five times.
Although the show received mixed reviews from critics, it became popular with audiences. The January 2010 episode "iSaved Your Life" reached 11.2 million viewers, the second-most-viewed telecast in Nickelodeon history.
In December 2020, a revival of the series also called iCarly (2021–2023) was ordered by Paramount+ with Cosgrove, Kress, and Trainor returning.
The Franchise's Plot[]
iCarly[]
When Carly and her best friend Sam improvise comedy at a school talent show audition, tech-savvy Freddie records it and posts it online without informing them. After seeing the girls' strong chemistry and banter, the online audience clamors for more, and the iCarly webcast is introduced. The three teenagers find their normal adolescent lives thrown for a loop when they discover that they have become online sensations as their show – which features talent contests, recipes, problem-solving, and random dancing – garners international accolades.
Carly lives in Seattle with her adult brother and guardian Spencer, and produces the show in a makeshift third-floor studio loft in their apartment. Their father, Steven Shay, is a U.S. Air Force officer stationed on a submarine and is often mentioned, but is only seen during the series' finale episode, "iGoodbye".
Exterior shots of the Shays' apartment building, Bushwell Plaza, are digitally altered images of the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles.[1]
Sam & Cat[]
Ever since Carly Shay moved to Italy with her father, Sam Puckett has been touring the West Coast on her motorcycle and stops in Venice, Los Angeles. She witnesses Cat Valentine being thrown into the back of a garbage truck and rescues her. They become friends and Cat convinces her to become roommates after Cat's cheerful and supportive grandmother Nona moves to a retirement home called Elderly Acres. To make money rather than getting traditional after-school jobs, Sam and Cat develop an after-school babysitting business called "Sam and Cat's Super Rockin' Funtime Babysitting Service", which leads them into a series of wacky adventures. Besides Nona, other people involved in their lives are Dice, their next door neighbor who is notorious for helping people for money, and Goomer, a dim-witted professional MMA fighter whom Dice manages.[2]
iCarly (2021)[]
A decade after the events of the previous series, Carly Shay has moved back to Seattle, where she shares an apartment with her roommate Harper. Carly's older brother Spencer has become a wealthy artist after accidentally creating a renowned sculpture. Following two divorces and a failed tech start-up, Freddie Benson has moved back to live with his mother, accompanied by his adopted 11-year-old stepdaughter Millicent. All main characters live in Bushwell Plaza, the apartment building where the original show was set. When Carly decides to relaunch her iCarly webshow, she receives help from Spencer, Freddie, and her new friends.
Series' pilot[]
:Main article: iPilot
The pilot of show is also the series premiere of the Nickelodeon TV show, iCarly on September 8, 2007. The premise starts with Carly Shay, a thirteen-year-old student at Ridgeway Middle School, gets in trouble by taking the blame for her best friend, Sam Puckett, for 'Photodocking' their English teacher's, Ms. Briggs, head to a photo of a rhinoceros. Carly is punished and is forced to spend her Saturday judging the school's talent show auditions instead of going to a concert of her favorite band, Cuddlefish. Carly decides to make Sam go with her because it was Sam's wrongdoing, not Carly's until later, For their first show, they invite all the acts they originally wanted to be in the talent show and have them demonstrate their bizarre talents. The show is an immediate success so Carly, Sam and Freddie have a "Crazy Hat" party to celebrate and the episode ends with Sam and Carly dancing in the middle of a huge crowd. The pilot episode itself has just 5 ruuning goofs during it's on-live audiance. It has 4.1 million viewers watching it live & at home.
TV Series[]
- Main article: ICarly (2007)
After finishing the series' pilot episode iPilot, Nickelodeon promoted many episodes such as "iDo", "iHire an Idiot", "iPity the Nevel", "iDate Sam & Freddie", etc. as specials, despite being regular episodes. The lower case i which begins the episode titles represents the internet, as in "iCarly". The show was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Children's Program in 2009. The series ended on November 23, 2012, with the one-hour special episode "iGoodbye". A total of six seasons and 109 episodes were produced, broadcast as 97 aired episodes. The largest audience of the series was 11.2 million viewers, with the special episode "iSaved Your Life" premiered in January 2010.
The series was created and executive produced by Dan Schneider who has created many other shows for the network. The show was produced by Schneider's Bakery and Nickelodeon Productions. The series is filmed at Nickelodeon on Sunset Studios in Hollywood, California. The theme song "Leave It All to Me" written by Michael Corcoran and is performed by Miranda Cosgrove, featuring Drake Bell.
All episodes from this season were originally produced in the 16:9 format, then cropped to 4:3 for broadcast and 16:9 for widescreen release. The season began production in January 2007.[3]
TV Series' reboot[]
- Main article: ICarly (2021)
On December 9, 2020, it was announced that Paramount+ had ordered a revival of the series, with Cosgrove, Kress, and Trainor returning and Schneider not being involved with the production of the series. Jay Kogen and Ali Schouten signed on to develop the series.[4][5] McCurdy suggested during her podcast that she will not reprise her role on the series, as she has left the acting profession and felt embarrassed by her past career.[6] On February 25, 2021, it was reported that Kogen left the project due to "creative differences" with Cosgrove.[7] On March 18, 2021, the show officially entered production, with Laci Mosley playing Carly's new best friend and roommate Harper, and Jaidyn Triplett playing Freddie's stepdaughter Millicent. The series premiered on June 17, 2021.[8][9]
According to DiscussingFilm, the series revival will take place 10 years after the original Nickelodeon show, following Carly's journey through her twenties alongside returning characters played by Jerry Trainor and Nathan Kress. Jennette McCurdy's Sam is not expected to return with the show reportedly set to introduce a new best friend character in her place. The best friend/roommate will "be part of the LGBTQ+ community as a pansexual character who dreams of becoming a fashion stylist after her wealthy family lost all of their money."[10] The series will also introduce Freddie's social media-obsessed step-daughter who sees Carly as "washed up" and as competition to her own growing influencer status.[10]
TV Specials[]
| Title | Type | Air date | Synopsis | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "iDate a Bad Boy" | Two-part special | May 9, 2009 | When Spencer's motorcycle is "stolen" by Griffin, their new neighbor who claims he was only "borrowing" it, Carly immediately hates him for his wrongdoing whereas Spencer gives him a chance and drops the charges. Eventually, much to Carly's dismay, Spencer begins mentoring Griffin. However, after getting to know him, Carly actually falls for Griffin and makes out with him passionately. Spencer walks in on them and becomes angry and grounds her until college. Eventually, Spencer realizes he was being over-protective and allows them to resume dating, as long as they don't take their relationship too far. While they are dating, however, Carly finds out a big secret about Griffin that she does not like at all; he collects "PeeWee Babies." This leaves Carly conflicted, and she has to decide if she should continue dating him or end their relationship. Meanwhile, Freddie attempts to build Sam a website after making a contract deal with her, and Sam experiences nightmares about a monster eating her soup, leading Spencer to help her get over her dream through confrontation. | 7.1[11] |
| "iFight Shelby Marx" | Two-part special | August 8, 2009 | When Carly jokingly challenges the champion martial arts fighter, Shelby Marx, during a web show, Shelby arrives at the Shay loft along with her manager, etc., to accept her challenge. It turns out to be the manager's idea and it is not a real fight, but an exhibition fight intended for fun. However, during a press conference, Carly accidentally knocks Shelby's grandmother down during a mock fight, which Shelby takes really seriously, prompting her to decide to fight for real. Later, Carly explains that it was all an accident and that she was pushed. Shelby accepts her apology, they make up, and the fight is an exhibition match once again. Meanwhile, Spencer has allergies and a doctor gives him pills to get rid of them forever. However, he must first be able to cope with troublesome side effects for a certain period of time. | 7.9[11] |
| "iQuit iCarly" | Two-part special | December 5, 2009 | After the iCarly crew agrees to help the web show hosts for the Fleck and Dave Show, they make a video for a website video contest. Fleck and Dave fight which leaves their friendship in jeopardy due to their conflicts with each other. The iCarly crew attempts to bring them back together as friends, which only leads to conflict for Carly and Sam when their comparison of conflicts with each other with Fleck and Dave's conflicts eventually breaks them up, even to the point where the web show is put in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Spencer becomes determined to win a boat through a televised contest in which a contestant must be able to answer the most boat-themed questions correctly and send them in, which Spencer eventually wins. Gibby tags along in his attempt to find parking for the boat, only to stumble upon a mishap with someone else's parkway space and lose the boat through force to the person's baseball team. | 9.9[11] |
| "iPsycho" | Two-part special | June 4, 2010 | The iCarly crew is getting ready for Webicon when they stumble upon an iCarly video mail from a girl named Nora Dirshlitt. She has a somewhat sad life and invites the iCarly crew to her upcoming birthday party. Feeling sympathetic, the crew divides their time to take a trip to Webicon to attend Nora's birthday party. The clown at the party suffers an aneurysm and is immediately hospitalized, with no guarantee of surviving, leaving Nora very sad. Feeling very sorry for Nora, the gang decides to do a web show in order to convince Nora's peers at School that the crew are really at her party. After the party, Nora decides to take advantage of the crew and locks them up in a basement studio hoping this will boost her popularity and help her gain more friends, leaving Carly, Sam, and Freddie in a sticky situation – from which they must escape. Meanwhile, Gibby decides to camp at the Shay loft, after not being able to attend his camp for another year due to age. | 8.2[12] |
| "iStart a Fan War" | Two-part special | November 19, 2010 | The iCarly crew once again head to Webicon for a panel, while Carly has a crush on a guy named Adam at Ridgeway High School. While Carly converses with Adam via video chat, Adam mentions that fans create forums and discuss whether Freddie should be with Carly or Sam. The fans call themselves "Creddies" and "Seddies". During the panel at Webicon, Sam starts a fan war between Creddies and Seddies which gets out of hand. This not only makes things bad at the panel, but makes things bad for Carly and Adam's connection. Meanwhile, Spencer tags along with them at Webicon dressed as Aruthor from "World of Warlords" to win a costume contest, only to meet a man dressed as Aruthor's mortal enemy, Aspartamay. | 5.0[13] |
| "iStill Psycho" | Two-part special | December 31, 2011 | Nora is released from prison, and is having a welcome home party. The iCarly gang rushes to court to try to keep Nora behind bars at any cost but fail. The iCarly trio plus Spencer and Gibby go to the party, but this time Nora and the rest of her family are in on trapping them. Freddie finds a way to contact his mother but will she be able to save the day? | 5.5[14] |
| "iShock America" | Two-part special | October 6, 2012 | Jimmy Fallon invites the gang to New York after Carly dedicates a webshow to him parodying his famous skits. Gibby bought street pants and caused a few problems during the show. While the gang starts dancing, Gibby's street pants fall down and he isn't wearing underwear, causing the NCC to show up. People start to blame Jimmy for the incident by saying he deliberately wanted Gibby's pants to fall. Carly and her friends do an episode of iCarly saying it was their fault and not Jimmy's. They have to pay $500,000 or the NCC will shut down iCarly. So Jimmy blogs asking America for their spare change to help the iCarly gang get $500,000. Jimmy got the iCarly gang to the studios and the fans got them more than $500,000. | 3.6[15] |
| "iGoodbye" | Two-part special | November 23, 2012 | Carly is expecting her father Colonel Shay to arrive in Seattle to escort her to the Father-Daughter Air Force Dance, only to receive his email saying he will actually be unable to make it. To comfort her, Spencer asks to escort her to the dance, and she accepts. Meanwhile, prior to the dance, he attempts to repair a motorcycle for Socko's cousin Ryder. Sam instantly marvels at the vehicle and volunteers to assist Spencer in fixing it. Shortly after this, however, Spencer becomes sick from being sneezed on by Lewbert, the apartment building's doorman, and is unable to take his sister to the dance. Meanwhile, Freddie and Gibby are at the mall to create a replica of the latter's head, after losing his original copy at a pawn shop in Las Vegas. They are informed by Sam over the phone of Spencer's illness and offer to escort Carly to the dance, to which she cries as a sign of rejecting the offer. Colonel Shay arrives at Carly's home, much to her sudden and pleasant surprise, and escorts her to the dance. Upon returning, Colonel Shay informs everyone that he has to return to his base in Italy and invites her to travel with him. Despite her initial reluctance, Carly accepts the offer, and the gang streams their last iCarly webcast together with Colonel Shay present. Sam receives the motorcycle from Spencer after Socko changes his mind about giving it to his cousin. Carly and Freddie kiss each other for the last time in the iCarly studio alone before she departs. On an airplane, Carly is seen viewing a montage of archived iCarly webcasts as she and her dad are bound towards Italy. This is the final episode of the iCarly series. | 6.4[16] |
Crossovers[]
TV Crossover special[]
- Main article: ICarly: iParty with Victorious
a 2011 special 90-minute television movie crossover episode of the television series iCarly and Victorious. It premiered on Nickelodeon in June 11, 2011. The movie was watched by 7.3 million viewers. It also marked Kenan Thompson's brief return to Nickelodeon.
Spinoff[]
- Main article: Sam & Cat
Two spin-off series have been proposed as pilots for Nickelodeon, and were both announced during the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on August 3, 2012.[17]
The first is Sam & Cat, which paired Ariana Grande from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy together in a traditional "buddy sitcom" setting as their characters, Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett. They played roommates who launch a babysitting business together. The show was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012,[2] and premiered on June 8, 2013. The series was cancelled on July 13, 2014 with the final episode airing on July 17.[18]
The second proposed spin-off featured Noah Munck's character Gibby Gibson into a self-titled sitcom named Gibby where the character works at a recreation center as a mentor to four middle school students.[19][20] Even though a pilot was filmed,[21] Gibby was not picked up as a series, and the pilot episode has never aired.[22]
Other media[]
Music[]
Columbia Records and Nickelodeon Records have released an eponymous soundtrack for the show, entitled iCarly. It includes the theme song and four original songs by Miranda Cosgrove, several tracks by guest artists, and cast dialogue. A follow-up soundtrack, titled iCarly: iSoundtrack II, was released January 24, 2012.[23]
Website[]
The iCarly.com website when accessed outside the show contained many promotional videos by the cast (as their respective characters), as well as content created and sent in by viewers. Other features on the site included characters' blogs, pictures from the set, songs, games, and comments from viewers. Many fictional websites from this show redirected to this page. For example, zaplook.com, splashface.com, ToonJuice, craigsmix.com, nevelocity.com, GirlyCow.com, WebFlicks.com, RadioDingo.com, PillowMyHead.com, AggressiveParenting.com, SamPuckett.com, TheValerieShow.com, SendMeaSack.com, Beavecoon.org, NeverWatchiCarly.com, iSnarly.com, SprayYourChildren.com, WhatsWrongWithMyBody.com, and any other website mentioned on the show redirected to that page. icarly.com now just redirects to the nick.com iCarly information page.
Video games[]
An animated PC hidden object game, iCarly: iDream in Toons, was released by Nickelodeon in 2009.[24] Jerry Trainor is the only actor from the cast who lends his voice to the game, the rest of the characters' speech being dubbed with typing sounds on a keyboard.
On May 13, 2009, Nickelodeon announced they had reached an agreement with Activision to produce an iCarly video game for the Nintendo DS and Wii. The game was released October 28, 2009. The cast lent their voices in the videogame. A sequel, iCarly 2: iJoin the Click!, was released on November 16, 2010 for the same platforms.
On December 4, 2009, an app was released for iPhone and iPod Touch titled "Sam's Remote", consisting of an interactive version of the remote Sam uses on live casts of iCarly in the show, where one pushes different buttons and they make silly sound effects.[25] Available through the iTunes App Store for $1.99 download.
References[]
- ↑ "11 Things You Didn't Know About 'iCarly'".
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nordyke, Kimberly. "Nickelodeon Greenlights Spinoff of 'iCarly,' 'Victorious'", The Hollywood Reporter, November 29, 2012. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "SAM&CATPICKEDUPHWR" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ "DanWarp: iCarly: Second Season? Third Season? Huh?!?". Danwarp.blogspot.com (September 1, 2009).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:0 - ↑ Petski, Denise (2020-12-09). "'iCarly' Revival With Original Stars Miranda Cosgrove, Jerry Trainor & Nathan Kress Ordered By Paramount+" (en-US). Deadline Hollywood.
- ↑ Sparks, Hannah (2021-03-02). "'iCarly' star Jennette McCurdy on quitting acting: ‘I’m so ashamed’" (en-US). New York Post.
- ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (2021-02-25). "'iCarly': Jay Kogen Exits As Co-Showrunner Of Revival Series For Paramount+" (en-US). Deadline Hollywood.
- ↑ "'iCarly': Laci Mosley & Jaidyn Triplett Join Cast As Paramount+ Revival Starts Production" (March 18, 2021).
- ↑ Yang, Rachel (May 14, 2021). "Miranda Cosgrove reveals iCarly premiere date, talks set photos and characters 10 years later".
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "First Details on Paramount’s ‘iCarly’ Revival (EXCLUSIVE)". DiscussingFilm (6 February 2021).
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Top 100 Most-Watched Telecasts On Basic Cable For 2009 – Ratings". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com.
- ↑ "Football, Yankees, 'iCarly,' 'Video Music Awards' Lead Cable's Top Telecasts Of 2010 – Ratings". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com.
- ↑ "Friday Cable Ratings: iCarly > Celtics-Thunder; Sanctuary, Friday Night Smackdown! Drop Back +Big Time Rush & More – Ratings". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com.
- ↑ "Cable Top 25: 'Monday Night Football' Saints/Falcons On Top One Last Time". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com.
- ↑ "Saturday's Cable Ratings: College Football Tops Demos for ESPN". The Futon Critic.
- ↑ "Friday Cable Ratings:'Gold Rush' Wins Night, 'iCarly:Goodbye', 'Jungle Gold', 'Duck Dynasty', 'WWE Smackfown' & More". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com.
- ↑ "Nickelodeon greenlights an 'iCarly' spinoff and other new shows", Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2012.
- ↑ Matt Webb Mitovich. "'Sam & Cat' Cancelled by Nickelodeon — Racy Photos, Contract Dispute - TVLine".
- ↑ Snierson, Matt (July 2, 2012). "Nickelodeon greenlights spin-off pilots for 'iCarly,' 'Victorious' from creator Dan Schneider – EXCLUSIVE". EW.com.
- ↑ "Sam & Cat,' 'Gibby' Get Pilots From Nickelodeon Starring Ariana Grande, Jennette McCurdy And Noah Munck". Entertainment & Stars (July 2, 2012).
- ↑ Schneider, Dan [@DanWarp] (August 31, 2012). "I'm here editing the very 1st episode of GIBBY (or whatever we end up calling the show). It's making me LAUGH HARD @NoahMunck = GENIUS! :)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2020 – via Twitter.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto module").
- ↑ "8 Unaired TV Pilots We Still Need To See", MTV News, November 30, 2016. (in en)
- ↑ "iCarly: iSoundtrack II – Music From And Inspired By The Hit TV Show: iCarly: Music".
- ↑ "iCarly: iDream in Toons". Gamezebo (July 2, 2009).
- ↑ "iCarly: Sam's Remote". Common Sense Media.
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