iCarly is a popular television sitcom that premiered September 8, 2007 on Nickelodeon. It started airing on YTV a month later, and now currently airs on The N and Nickelodeon. In Easter 2008, iCarly premiered on Nickelodeon UK but only the first 12 episodes have been shown.
| ICarly | |
|---|---|
| File:ICarlylogo2.jpg The show's title card, showing from left to right, Jennette McCurdy, Miranda Cosgrove, and Nathan Kress, excluding Jerry Trainor. | |
| Genre | Comedy Sitcom |
| Created by | Dan Schneider |
| Starring | Miranda Cosgrove Jennette McCurdy Nathan Kress Jerry Trainor |
| Opening theme | "Leave It All To Me" sung by Miranda Cosgrove and Drake Bell |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 29 (List of Episodes) |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Seattle, Washington Filmed in, Los Angeles, California |
| Running time | 22 min. |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nickelodeon YTV The N Nickelodeon UK |
| Release | September 8, 2007 – present |
Main Characters
Carly Shay
Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove) is a 13-year old girl who is the star of her own titular web show (helped by her two friends, Sam and Freddie), iCarly. She lives with her 26-year old brother Spencer in an apartment in Seattle. Her parents are in the Navy and stationed on a submarine. Even though Carly is considered a "local celebrity", which sometimes helps her get out of sticky situations, Carly is still an average teenage girl and never lets "fame" get to her head. Carly sticks up for Freddie when Sam ridicules him, and tries to encourage Sam to stay out of trouble. Carly is very aware of Freddie's crush on her, but just shrugs it off for the most part. She is usually a cool-headed person but when she is mad, she tends to act out in a loud voice. Carly is quite intelligent and hates to lie about anything or anyone, as shown in the episode iPromise Not to Tell, where she was overtaken by guilt when forced to keep Sam's actions a secret. Carly has very high grades in school and was even offered a scholarship to an elite private school in iMight Switch Schools. Carly is the most mature character on the show and is usually the mediator between Sam and Freddie, though Carly and Sam did get into quarrels where Freddie was the mediator.
Samantha "Sam" Puckett
Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) is best friends with Carly and Freddie, but often verbally torments Freddie. Sam bullies just about everyone, like Gibby, but mainly for humor. She is Carly's co-host on iCarly. She is the "unlikely" girl: brutish, aggressive, obnoxious, and rebellious. Sam spends most of her time at Carly's house, and makes herself at home there. Her mom isn't the best out there and thinks Sam spending time with Carly will keep her out of jail (Many of her family members are/were in jail). She has unusual cravings for meat (ribs, ham, etc.), and will usually do anything and "will eat anything that does not eat her first", and was revealed in iHate Sam's Boyfriend that she likes to eat porkchops in bed. She is very sarcastic. Sam gets into trouble in school very often, earning several detentions and a special day to talk to the principal about what bad things she did that week. She isn't unintelligent, but her poor grades are because of a lack of effort and laziness. Her last name was revealed in the episode iPromise Not to Tell. Sam also possesses amazing lockpicking skills when she unlocked the door of Freddie's apartment in iWill Date Freddie as well as the "abandoned" apartment 13-B in iScream on Halloween within seconds. Sam was so used in insulting Freddie that she had withdrawal symptoms when she cannot insult Freddie due to a bet, as seen in iHeart Art. It's implied that she has a poor sense of cleanliness by littering soda cans and corn kernels in Carly's apartment, and as said by Freddie in iSaw Him First, "When was the last time Sam washed her hands?", noting Sam's unhygienic nature.
Fredward "Freddie" Benson
Freddie Benson (Nathan Kress) is the girls' closest male friend, as well as Carly's next-door neighbor in her apartment complex. Being a fan of electronics and a techno-wiz kid, he is the technical producer of iCarly. He has a playful crush on Carly, and suffers insults constantly from Sam; in one episode, he actually came to Carly's apartment with a baseball bat in order to protect himself from Sam in case she was there. It is revealed on the episode iFence that he is a descendant of an experienced circus fencer, making him a decent fencer as well. Being a computer geek, Freddie is also considered the stereotypical nerd who is bullied often, especially by Sam, as well as being easily pinned down by Carly. Freddie has a very over-protective mother who is obsessively making sure he is clean. His mother is afraid to give him more than $8 for his monthly allowance, fearing he may buy a bus ticket and run away, which Freddie says is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Freddie is usually found hanging out with Carly and Sam or rehearsing for iCarly. By Season 2, Freddie speaks in a deeper voice tone.
Spencer "Spence" Shay
Spencer Shay (Jerry Trainor) is Carly's 26-year-old brother and legal guardian. It is revealed in the episode iWanna Stay With Spencer that he dropped out of law school to become an artist, and is usually seen working on a new bizarre sculpture per episode. He stated that he stayed in law school for 3 days, as shown in iPromote Techfoots. He is kind, goofy and caring. Some episodes reveal that Carly, Freddie, and Sam think Spencer is really funny. He is also single, as he is seen dating or hitting on women in various episodes. The last woman he dated was Carly's history teacher, Lauren Ackerman. Spencer then broke up with her after he realizes that she is possessive and lovesick. He also spends much of his time at the local junkyard, gathering supplies for sculptures. He has assorted colorful luminescent socks from by his friend Socko; and a colorful luminescent tie from Tyler, Socko's brother. In iStage an Intervention, Spencer became the # 1 Pak-Rat player in the entire world.
Recurring Characters
Mrs. Benson
Mrs. Benson (Mary Scheer) is Freddie's extremely overprotective mother. She often embarrasses Freddie in front of his friends, is nosy, and is prone to loud outbursts. She also appears to be highly paranoid about almost everything and limits Freddie's activities accordingly. Freddie resents this overprotection to the extent that Mrs. Benson gives him only $8 a month in allowance because she's afraid that he will buy a bus ticket and leave her, which Carly comments "That's crazy", and Freddie replies "Eh, not really" (this exchange is in iRue the Day). Mrs. Benson despises Spencer and always keeps an eye on him because she is afraid that he will put her son in danger (in one she got mad at Spencer for giving Freddie some fruit, which she thinks Freddie is allergic to, even though Spencer didn't). She also gets angry with Carly because she doesn't know why she doesn't return Freddie's feelings (she also calls Carly "sassy pants" and "missy" in iFence). She is a very skilled fencer because her father made her take lessons as a child.
Grandpa Shay
Grandpa Shay (Greg Mullavy) is the paternal grandfather of Spencer and Carly, first seen in iWanna Stay With Spencer. He lives from a 90-minute ride from Yakima, and he did a quick visit to the Shay apartment when he saw the iCarly webcast where Spencer's hammer fan sculpture went awry, lodging a hammer onto a wall which nearly decapitated Carly. Seeing this as an irresponsibility on Spencer's part as Carly's guardian, Grandpa decided to bring Carly with him to Yakima. By the end of the episode, he was impressed how Spencer really cared for his little sister, and Grandpa decided to leave Carly to live with Spencer. He and Spencer have an antic of bending back while rubbing their bare tummies with their hands and imitating siren sounds. He also guested briefly in the episode iWant a World Record where he did a walking handstand.
Lewbert
Lewbert is the hot-headed doorman of Carly and Freddie's apartment, who is notorious for being "the meanest doorman on Earth". He has a large mole on his left cheek which Carly and Sam dubbed "Little Lewbert" and "Captain Wartburger" by Sam's ex-boyfriend Jonah. He always gets angry when too many people are in his lobby (especially after he's just mopped). He unwaringly falls victim in the iCarly prank segment "Messin' with Lewbert". Lewbert is a "self-proclaimed jerk", frequently misinforming the residents of the complex and starting loud, obnoxious arguments (shouting at a Pomeranian, stealing and eating a kid's cookie and then popped the same kid's balloon). As seen on the iCarly website, Lewbert was formerly male model.
Nevel Papperman
Nevel (Reed Alexander) is an 11-year-old web critic, whose website, Nevelocity.com (this URL actually redirects the browser to the iCarly website), receives five million pageviews per day. He has had a crush on Carly since he first met her, and harbors a major grudge when she refused to kiss him shoved tapenade on his face. He has since attempted to exact revenge upon the iCarly crew ranging from a dishonest review into sabotaging the webcast to ruin the Plain White T's performance. However, thanks to the assistance of the friend of Carly's father, Col. Roger Morgan (Christopher B. Duncan) bursts into Nevel's house with his military unit and confiscates Nevel's equipment for "illegal hacking, which is a threat to internet security". Col. Morgan decides not to arrest him, instead, he dangles him around his living room with a harness until Nevel apologizes to Carly and calls himself a weenie, foiling Nevel's plot. He is only seen in the episodes iNevel and iRue the Day.
Ridgeway School Characters
Principal Ted Franklin
Ted Franklin (Tim Russ, also played Tuvok in Star Trek Voyager) is the school principal, who is also fond of Carly and Freddie. He has also gotten used to seeing Sam in his office to give her detention on a regular basis (despite this, the two seem to be on good terms) but he often is nice to her. Ted has kids who are iCarly fans and he is an iCarly fan himself. Like his students, Ted seems to dislike Mrs. Briggs and Mr. Howard.
Ms. Francine Briggs
Ms. Francine Briggs (Mindy Sterling) is a mean teacher that Carly and her friends like to make fun of. She also taught at the school when Spencer was still a student. She is obssessed on Randy Jackson and has a closet dedicated to him, filled with many pictures of him, a talking cardboard standee, and assorted Randy Jackson-related merchandise like colognes and a cereal brand Randy-Yo. Ms. Briggs enjoys playing bagpipes, to the dismay of her students. It is revealed in episode iDream of Dance that she enjoys Scottish music and dancing, calling them enriching entertainment which the students consider as a despicable "torture".
Ms. Lauren Ackerman
Ms. Lauren Ackerman (Jessica Makinson) is the history class teacher and center of the titular episode iHave a Lovesick Teacher. She became extremely abusive of her class and hating boys and men when her boyfriend dumped her. She fell for Spencer when she had him called after having argued with Carly when the latter defended Freddie from Lauren's ill behavior. When Spencer and Lauren began dating, she began treating the class very nicely, like canceling class for ice skating to even serving them with caramel apples, as well as giving daily gifts to Spencer. After Spencer saw Lauren's possessiveness and paranoia, he breaks up with her and Lauren hated the class once again, even automatically failing Carly for an exam since her brother dumped her. Lauren was finally arrested by the police for illegally downloading 500 songs for the PearPod she gave to Spencer, as she said so herself in an iCarly webcast which Carly had set up to stop the teacher's detestable behavior.
Gibby
Gibby (Noah Munck) is the other stereotypical bullied kid, who is fond of doing things without a shirt on (he usually takes it off). Behind Freddie, he's Sam's second-favorite target for insulting. He likes spelling bees and Ryan Seacrest and was given a Texas wedgie twice. He first appeared in iDream of Dance and has been seen in other episodes. He also appears without his shirt on in iMight Switch Schools, when he plays mini golf in the Shay apartment. As seen in iDream of Dance, Gibby runs into Sam's nightmare in his boxers saying, "Am I too late for the test?" to which Sam replies, "Get out of here Gibby, this is MY nightmare!" In iWin a Date, it is revealed that he had a crush on a girl named Shannon, who has a crush on Freddie. Gibby took off his shirt once again in the Cheesecake Warehouse, to dance on the table to impress Shannon. In the same episode, it was revealed that his middle name is Cornelius. Sam once forced Gibby's foot into his mouth, compelling him to do the feat that can be done by Benji, who must be guesting for iCarly but backed out due to a concert he will go to.
Jeremy (Germy)
Jeremy (Nathan Pearson) is the sickly kid. He is often called "Germy" because he has been constantly sneezing and coughing since kindergarten. He is fascinated with technology, once attending a technological convention. When Freddie left iCarly Jeremy turned into iCarly's tech producer but continuously sneezed (on the lens) during production.
Wesley
Wesley (Colin Spensor) is Freddie's friend. He is very skilled in the art of beatboxing which he shows during the iCarly 50th webshow spectacular in the episode iGot Detention when Sam gets detention and they are forced to do their show in detention. He plays a part in distracting Mr. Howard, the teacher in charge of the detention in which he starts beatboxing into the P.A. When the teacher goes down to investigate, Wesley lobs him with water balloons disguised in a paper bag mask.
Special Guest Appearances
- Plain White T's in the episode iRue the Day
- Greg Pattillo in the episode iHeart Art
- Aria Wallace in the episode iAm Your Biggest Fan
- Lucas Cruikshank in the episode iMeet Fred
- David Archuleta in the episode iRocked the Vote
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | First airing | Last airing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 25 | September 8, 2007 | July 25, 2008 |
| Season 2 | 25 | September 27, 2008 | TBA |
Media
CD/DVD Releases
Columbia Records and Nickelodeon Records has released a soundtrack for the show entitled iCarly. It includes the theme song, four original songs by the iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove, several tracks by guest artists, and cast dialogue.
Paramount Home Entertainment and Nickelodeon has recently released iCarly: Season 1, Volume 1 Box Set for DVD on September 23, 2008. [1] The DVD has 13 episodes on two discs which means it is only half of season one, and bonus feature of the song, Leave it All to Me by Miranda Cosgrove.
Website
The iCarly.com website contains many promotional videos by the cast (as their respective characters), as well as content created and sent in by viewers. Other things on the site include a characters' blog, pictures from the set, songs, and comments from viewers. Many fictional websites from this show and other TEENick shows redirect to this page.
Video Segments on the website
The website based on the show has repeated video segments. Some of them start with "i" to match the show's title.
Random Debates- This segment features two of the four main characters (always sitting on or in something strange like a bathtub or swings). The two characters debate about two things that have nothing to do with each other such as spoons and roller coasters or milk and hammers.
Hey! What Am I Sitting On?- In this segment a character is blindfolded and must sit on an object in the "Chair of Wonder" (a chair shaped like a giant hand) and they have twenty seconds to guess what they are sitting on. Sam always seems to guess it right before 20 seconds is up.
iHave a Question- In this segment Sam, Freddie, and Spencer try to answer questions sent in by viewers, but never do. Sometimes the viewers shown with a strange appearance are actually actors, rather than non-actors.
iCrush It- In this segment Spencer crushes items with a sledgehammer
Wake Up Spencer!- In this segment Freddie and Sam wake up Spencer at a very early time in the morning and ask him random stuff or tell him random stuff, such as "Spencer, you left the milk in the fridge!" or "Spencer, what's 1+1?" Because Spencer is half asleep, he is very confused and also says random things.
Worldwide
iCarly has premiered worldwide as well.
- UK:Nickelodeon UK premiered Easter 2008
- Germany: Nick Germany premiered February 23, 2008
- India:Disney Channel premiered September 1, 2008
- Brazil: Nickelodeon Brazil premiered April 17, 2008
- Philippines :Nickelodeon May 31, 2008
- United Arab Emirates :E-Junior Premiered Unknown