ICarly (2007)
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iCarly is an American teen sitcom that ran on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007 until November 23, 2012. The series, created by Dan Schneider, focuses on teenager Carly Shay, who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam Puckett and Freddie Benson.
The show stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan Kress as Freddie, Jerry Trainor as Spencer, and Noah Munck as Gibby, and was taped at Nickelodeon on Sunset (seasons 1–5) and KTLA Studios (season 6) in Hollywood, California. The show was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Children's Program five times. The series finale, "iGoodbye", aired on November 23, 2012.
Plot
Carly Shay finds her previously "normal" life turned upside down when her Internet show, "iCarly," becomes an instant smash with young Web heads. With her parents traveling abroad, Carly must rely on the help of friends Sam and Freddie, and her quirky older brother, Spencer, to cope with the newfound success.
iWhy We Leave It All to Carly
- Great and memorable characters.
- A lot of famous people like Emma Stone, Jimmy Fallon, Michelle Obama, Jane Lynch, Jim Parsons, Jack Black, One Direction and many more have guest starred on this show.
- There are tons of hilarious jokes and running gags, like the Gibby dance.
- Speaking of the Gibby dance, Gibby became a popular meme.
- Hyperactive and realistic acting gives the characters a sense of reality.
- The theme song is incredibly catchy.
- A handful of creative, well-paced, and funny episodes, such as:
- "iPilot" (a good way to start the series)
- "iWant More Viewers"
- "iNevel"
- "iScream on Halloween"
- "iRue the Day"
- "iHatch Chicks"
- "iFence"
- "iWin a Date"
- "iGo to Japan"
- "iChristmas"
- "iTwins"
- "iFight Shelby Marx"
- "iSaved Your Life" (the highest viewed episode)
- "iPsycho"
- "iBeat the Heat"
- "iGot a Hot Room"
- "iStart a Fan War"
- "iParty with Victorious"
- "iBloop 2: Electric Bloopaloo"
- "iStill Psycho"
- "iGo One Direction"
- "iShock America"
- "iGoodbye" (an emotional, yet heartwarming, sendoff to the series)
- Sometimes deals with serious topics, such as parents in the military and bad Christmas experiences.
- Very good morals for everyone, especially the fans. For example, the two-parter episode, "iStart A Fan War" was made to explain to fans that they focus too much on hypothetical relationships between the characters (aka shipping) and not on what iCarly is meant to do, which is provide comedic entertainment (even if this lesson does contradict itself which is explained how in BQ #8).
- It had a crossover with Victorious, another great Nickelodeon sitcom that happens to also be created by Dan Schneider.
- Despite Sam & Cat being a step-down to this series we at least got to see some of our favorite characters again.
- In 2021, it spawned a revival series on Paramount+, which is surprising good and lives up to the standards of the original series.
iBad Qualities
- Its sequel/crossover/spin-off series Sam & Cat was not well received and got cancelled after one season.
- Some of the characters are unlikable, mean-spirited, annoying, and dumb, although they are most likely intended to be so.
- Sam frequently harasses Freddie during the initial seasons of the show. Fortunately, their friendship evolves positively over time, although their romantic involvement is ultimately unsuccessful.
- Freddie's mother, Marissa Benson, is extremely overbearing and overprotective. She does redeem herself in the revival series, thankfully.
- Lewbert Sline is the annoying, short-tempered, and loudmouth doorman (with a large wart on his face) of the building where Carly, Spencer, Freddie and his mother all live in. He’s supposed to be hated, though.
- Ms. Francine Briggs and Mr. Marty Howard, the school teachers from the iCarly series, are known for their excessively strict behavior and seemingly unjust treatment of students.
- Some insensitive jokes towards the homeless.
- While the acting is good, it can be overly exaggerated and cringe inducing at times.
- There are some occasional bad episodes, such as:
- "iRocked the Vote"
- "iMeet Fred" (arguably the worst episode of the series)
- "iGo Nuclear"
- "iMoveout"
- "iMust Have Locker 239"
- "iEnrage Gibby"
- "iGet Pranky"
- "iSell Penny Tees"
- "iHire an Idiot"
- The four-part Seddie Arc:
- "iLost My Mind"
- "iDate Sam and Freddie",
- "iCan't Take It" (widely considered the worst of the Seddie arc and one of the worst of the entire series)
- "iLove You" (a bad way to start season 5)
- "iApril Fools" (a poor way to start season 6)
- "iPear Store"
- Many feet references and jokes, possibly to satisfy the creator's foot fetish, which got the creator, Dan Schneider, involved in a huge scandal.
- Tons of gross-out humor.
- Like many popular Nickelodeon shows at the time, the show wasn’t safe from losing quality in its final 3 seasons. But at least it didn’t get as bad as SpongeBob (during its dark age) and The Fairly OddParents did.
- Season 4, while still good, is weaker than the first 3 seasons, since it has less episodes, making the plots feel a little rushed (especially iSell Penny-Tees), romance started to pop up in small amounts, and the end of the season started the "Seddie arc" in "iOMG".
- Season 5, while not terrible, is considered the weakest season, as it focused more on romantic relationships than its original purpose: comedy, thus the humor was drastically watered down, and it also had a few bad episodes in the form of the "Seddie" arc (iLost My Mind, iDate Sam & Freddie, iCan't Take It, and iLove You), which started the season on a sour outlook. Thankfully, Season 6 improved the issues and got the show back to its comedy goodness again.
- While season 6 is better than seasons 4 and 5, it’s still weaker than the first 3 seasons since while the comedy has improved, romance still popped up every now and then, the episodes still feels average and not as good as the first three seasons, and it also started Sam's flanderization which slowly kick in.
- Sam's frequent binge eating led to her actress, Jennette McCurdy developing an eating disorder, as she disclosed in her memoir "I'm Glad My Mom Died".
- The segment with Jojo the Gigantic Baby on the iCarly web show is disgusting and unsettling as he’s really just a baby head photoshopped onto an obese man’s body.
Reception
iCarly received mixed-to-positive reviews, and was praised for its innovative concept of a web show within a TV show, relatable humor, and strong cast chemistry. While its quirky storylines and guest stars engaged fans, some criticized the repetitive plots and lack of character development, especially regarding the Carly-Sam-Freddie love triangle. As the series progressed, the focus on absurd stunts and celebrity appearances led to a perceived dip in quality. Despite these issues, iCarly became a cultural phenomenon, and its 2021 reboot was appreciated for tackling mature themes while retaining the original's humor.
It currently has a 6.7/10 on IMDb with over 35,200 ratings.
Trivia
- This show marks the first transition to HD for Nickelodeon.