Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - iCarly: Cast Photo

iCarly aired from September 2007 until ? on Nickelodeon.

An Article from The New York Times

I, Little Sister, Becomes ‘iCarly’
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: September 7, 2007

NOT long after they were cast in “Drake & Josh,” the Nickelodeon series that would forever fuse their names, Drake Bell and Josh Peck had their first encounter with the 8-year-old girl who would play Megan, their mischievous little sister.

“We were walking to the writers’ room, and I remember hearing the pitter-patter of these little feet behind me,” said Mr. Bell, now 21. “She was just standing there saying: ‘So where are we going? What are we doing?’ I thought, ‘Well, this is going to be fun.’ ”

Her name was Miranda Cosgrove. And Mr. Peck, now 20, recalled that on that same day she showed her new co-stars a trick she could do with her eyes. “She can make them vibrate back and forth,” he said, flanked by Ms. Cosgrove and Mr. Bell during a recent interview at Nickelodeon headquarters in Manhattan. “She was like, ‘Check it out.’ ”

It is the sort of “stupid human trick” that would fit right in on Ms. Cosgrove’s new show, “iCarly,” which makes its debut on Nickelodeon on Saturday at 8 p.m. In an attempt to freshen the concept of the show-within-a-show for the digital age, “iCarly” is a scripted, live-action series about a teenage girl with her own Webcast. The series will eventually feature user-generated videos submitted by (and starring) Nickelodeon viewers, who may well find themselves as guests on “iCarly” if their stunts, gags and, yes, facial tics are deemed cool enough.

And though Ms. Cosgrove can still do that thing with her eyes, no one should expect to see it on “iCarly” anytime soon. “It’s still creepy, six years later,” Mr. Peck said.

With “Drake & Josh” ceasing production this summer after nearly five years (it will live on in repeats on Nickelodeon, and in some original episodes yet to be shown), the show’s creator, Dan Schneider, fashioned “iCarly” as a star vehicle for Ms. Cosgrove. She will be playing a new character, Carly Shay, who owes more than a little to Ed Sullivan — if Ed Sullivan were reincarnated as a sitcom character born from (and for) Generation Z.

By the end of the first episode, Carly’s fictional Webcast is said to be drawing 37,000 viewers. In real life, visitors to icarly.com, a Web site created for the show, can upload videos that will then be screened by the show’s producers.

In the increasingly lucrative and even cutthroat world of cable television aimed at viewers of elementary- and middle-school age, there is no small amount of pressure resting on “iCarly,” and on Ms. Cosgrove’s 14-year-old shoulders. She and Mr. Schneider have been charged with building on the legacy of “Drake & Josh” — one of the most popular live-action shows in Nickelodeon’s 28-year history — and a more recent breakout hit, “The Naked Brothers Band,” a mock documentary about two young brothers who are musicians in real life.

But “iCarly” is also intended to generate the kind of buzz that surrounds “Hannah Montana” (about a teenage pop star who wants to remain an ordinary kid in school) and the blockbuster cable movie “High School Musical 2.” Both are productions of the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon’s main rival, and both spun off musical releases that climbed to the top of the pop charts. Like Miley Cyrus, the star of “Hannah Montana,” Ms. Cosgrove sings her show’s theme, which also features her former co-star Mr. Bell, a budding recording artist

“ ‘Hannah Montana,’ I don’t know that much about it,” Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon, said (not all that convincingly) in a telephone interview. “I know it’s incredibly popular. I know she’s a singer in disguise. But kids probably look at it” — meaning the show’s premise — “and say, ‘That can’t happen.’ I think ‘iCarly’ is a little more realistic to what could happen, though still with fantastical appeal.”

“iCarly” is being introduced into a marketplace with several other new series trying to captivate young viewers. They include “Tak and the Power of Juju,” an animated Nickelodeon series; “Wizards of Waverly Place,” a live-action Disney Channel series; and, later this season, “Phineas and Ferb,” a Disney animated series featuring the voice of Ashley Tisdale of “High School Musical.”

“iCarly” may benefit from the seemingly golden touch of Mr. Schneider, who has become the Norman Lear of children’s television, at least in the way he uses one series as a platform to spawn another. A former teenage actor himself (at 41, he retains the huskiness of Dennis, the character he played on “Head of the Class” in the 1980s), Mr. Schneider has shown a keen eye for spotting talent.

Mr. Bell and Mr. Peck first appeared on “The Amanda Show,” which was created by Mr. Schneider and featured the actress Amanda Bynes. Ms. Bynes got her start on a series Mr. Schneider produced, a sketch comedy show called “All That.” That show also starred Kenan Thompson, who went on to “Saturday Night Live.”

With flashy graphics and plenty of talk about uplinks, “iCarly” has a high-tech feel. But for all his affection for his iPod and iPhone, Mr. Schneider said he was careful to make sure that the show was not swallowed up by its obvious geekiness.

“We embrace technology, but the show also makes fun of getting too into it,” he said. As his inspiration, Mr. Schneider counts Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”

“His writers would say, ‘Don’t we need to explain how the phaser works?’ ” Mr. Schneider said. “And he’d say, ‘No, you shoot them and people fall down.’ ”

The structure and story lines of “iCarly” also owe much to adult sitcoms, from “I Love Lucy” to “Laverne and Shirley.” The young ensemble includes Jennette McCurdy (Carly’s Webcast sidekick), Nathan Kress (a neighbor with the technical wherewithal of Bill Gates) and Jerry Trainor, another “Drake & Josh” alumnus, here cast as Carly’s older brother.

In person, Ms. Cosgrove has an ever-present smile and an obvious shyness that might make her seem an unlikely choice to preside over a series. But Mr. Schneider and her former co-stars say her bearing masks a talent, maturity and exuberance that make her well suited to the task.

Having first appeared in a Mello Yello commercial at 3, Ms. Cosgrove went on to land a major role at 9 in “School of Rock,” starring Jack Black. She played the smart girl in the front row who served as manager to the elementary-school band at the center of the film.

Mr. Bell and Mr. Peck have been unable to resist providing a little unsolicited advice to Ms. Cosgrove, whom they really regard as the little sister they’re leaving behind as “Drake & Josh” ends and they go on to other things. (Mr. Bell recently completed an extensive tour to support his new album; Mr. Peck is co-starring in an independent film, “The Wackness,” with Ben Kingsley.)

“Be a diva,” Mr. Bell told her during the joint interview.

“Remember: Showing up three hours late,” Mr. Peck added, “means you’re three hours cooler than everybody else.”

Then both actors turned serious. “Continue being you,” Mr. Peck said, to which Mr. Bell added: “Don’t let it go to your head.”

A Review from The Boston Globe

Television Review
'iCarly' captures tweens as video stars

By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff
September 8, 2007

Ever since the emergence of YouTube, the grown-up networks have done backflips trying to capture the buzz and spirit of Web video. Bravo has aired a weekly digest of fuzzy homegrown footage. CNN solicits user videos, as does VH1's "Acceptable TV." ABC News is currently airing "i-CAUGHT," a newsmagazine about Internet video. It all feels useful but a little desperate, as if TV executives are scrambling for a magic potion that will deliver TV to the future.

The impressive thing about "iCarly," the Nickelodeon tween sitcom that premieres tonight at 8, is how relatively natural it feels. On this show, requests for user video are woven into the plot; it's a sitcom that happens to require a stream of uploads. And it proves that a kids' network might be in the best position to make use of modern technology.

Tonight's pilot lays out the "iCarly" premise, which is probably a common teenage fantasy: Someone takes video of eighth-grade buddies Carly and Sam goofing around, then uploads it by mistake onto a site that sounds a lot like MySpace. Before long, tens of thousands of people have watched, and the girls have become a hit.

This is fortuitous, since Carly has a beef about the lineup of her high school talent show. After giving an earnest speech about how awful it is that adults control entertainment, Carly suggests that she and Sam produce a weekly webcast of their own. Before long, "iCarly" becomes a show within a show, as Carly and Sam joke, jump, shriek, show off their classmates' "freaky talents." Then they turn pointedly to the camera, encouraging viewers to send in clips. The implication: This means you.

The show's website, icarly .com, has details, as well as a list of guidelines (don't wear T-shirts with logos or bad words) and suggestions ("Show us a super-cool dance!"). It also refers quite a bit to release forms, a stark reminder that this is Viacom we're dealing with, and not some cheery 13-year-old who hasn't yet had her first kiss.

Make no mistake, kids, your from-the-ground-up efforts are serving the needs of a media giant. On the other hand, entertainment juggernauts usually get that way for a reason. And if "iCarly" succeeds - which would hardly be surprising - it will have a lot to do with its sitcom DNA.

The show follows the formula of most of the successful teenage fare on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. (The creator is Dan Schneider, who also created the Nickelodeon hits "Drake & Josh" and "Zoey 101.") The laugh track is relentless, the clothes and home decor ceaselessly adorable. The actors are appealing, even as they overact just so.

Miranda Cosgrove, who plays Carly, has a sunny persona and ambiguous ethnicity. As Sam, Jennette McCurdy has moments of comic bliss. Freddie (Nathan Kress), a manic neighbor with a crush on Carly, is far less intriguing, but he's probably here to stay.

I'm hoping that when real kids start goofing for the camera, they'll also make for pleasant viewing. For "iCarly's" adult producers, the trick will be to choose videos that are earnest and true, and not the precocious work of wannabe auteurs. The actors in the pilot, who perform on Carly's show, do a decent job of channeling the right spirit. Take the guy who can snort milk up his nose and squirt it out of his eyes. Whatever medium he happens to appear in, it's the sort of thing you really have to watch.

For the Official Site of iCarly go to http://www.icarly.com/

For the Nickelodeon Home Page go to http://www.nick.com/shows/icarly/index.jhtml

For an episode guide go to http://www.tv.com/icarly/show/71399/summary.html

For a Website dedicated to iCarly go to http://www.icarly-show.com/

For a Fan Fiction Site for iCarly go to http://www.fanfiction.net/tv/iCarly/

For a Website dedicated to Miranda Cosgrove go to http://www.miranda-cosgrove.net/

For more on iCarly go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICarly

For a Review of iCarly go to http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/iCarly.html

To listen to the theme song of iCarly go to http://www.televisiontunes.com/iCarly.html