ICarly


iCarly is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007, to November 23, 2012.
The series centers on Carly Shay, a Seattle teenager who creates and hosts 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, live in. As the web show quickly becomes an internet phenomenon, the characters are tasked with balancing their normal teenage lives with the wacky situations their newfound fame lands them in. By the fourth season, their school friend, Gibby also works with them on the web show.
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 was ordered by Paramount+ with Cosgrove, Kress and Trainor returning. The revival series premiered on June 17, 2021.

Premise

When Carly Shay and her best friend Sam Puckett improvise comedy at a school talent show audition, tech-savvy Freddie Benson records it and posts it online without informing them. After seeing the girls' strong chemistry and banter, the online audience clamors for more, and thus they decide to create iCarly. The trio 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 United States Air Force officer stationed on a submarine, and is often mentioned, but only seen during the series' finale episode, "iGoodbye".

Characters

Main

  • Carly Shay is the host of her own popular web show, iCarly, which she produces with her two best friends, Sam and Freddie.
  • Sam Puckett is one of Carly's best friends and co-host of iCarly.
  • Freddie Benson is also one of Carly's good friends and neighbor. He is the technical producer of iCarly.
  • Spencer Shay is Carly's older brother and legal guardian.
  • Gibby is an odd friend of Carly, Sam, and Freddie.

    Recurring

  • Marissa Benson is Freddie's overbearing and overprotective mother.
  • Charlotte is Gibby's and Guppy's loving and sometimes overprotective mother. Charlotte dates Spencer, but after their breakup, she tries to avoid him. She is a doting mother and often embarrasses Gibby.
  • Lewbert Sline is the doorman for the building in which Carly, Spencer, and Freddie live, characterized by his annoying, protective behavior and a large wart on his face. He is often being pranked on iCarly.
  • Nevel Papperman is a critic who runs the nevelocity.com website, a site that reviews other websites, including iCarly.com. He is Carly's nemesis and has constantly tried to sabotage iCarly in exchange for a kiss from Carly.
  • T-Bo is the manager at the Groovy Smoothie. He often annoys customers into buying random foods, which are always impaled on a stick. Starting in "iQ", he began renting a room from Freddie's mother.
  • Guppy is Gibby's younger brother and often tags along with Gibby.
  • Chuck Chambers is a child in the Shays' apartment building who frequently torments Spencer and turned into one of Carly's nemesis' after lying to her when she was tutoring him. He also has a little brother called Chip Chambers that also torments Spencer and Carly.
  • Principal Ted Franklin is the principal at Ridgeway Secondary School, the school where Carly, Sam, and Freddie attend. He is very lenient and is also a big fan of iCarly.
  • Ms. Francine Briggs is a very strict English teacher at Ridgeway Secondary School who shows an obvious dislike for children.
  • Mr. Howard is a strict and unenthusiastic teacher who hates almost everything including his wife.
  • Nora Dershlit is an obsessive and insane iCarly fan with a chicken named Maurice. In the past, she had trapped the iCarly cast in her home against their will. She has made appearances on the episodes "iPsycho" and "iStillPsycho". She also appeared in an episode of Sam & Cat titled "#SuperPsycho".

    Production

Development

iCarly is the fourth series created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. After working with her on Drake & Josh, Schneider began pitching a new TV series starring Miranda Cosgrove; the original idea of the show was that she plays a normal girl who, in a twist of fate, gets cast to star in her favorite TV show, Starstruck. However, during a casual meeting in his den with his wife and his friend Steve Molaro, Schneider decided that it would be much better if Carly had her own show – a web show she could run herself and do whatever she wanted to do. In November 2006, Schneider then scrapped his Starstruck script and began developing a new pilot called iCarly during December. The pilot was filmed in January 2007. The series was filmed at the Nickelodeon on Sunset. The exterior shots of the Shays' apartment building, Bushwell Plaza, are digitally altered images of the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles.
During production of Zoey 101, Schneider came up with the idea of the show and its name with his friend and producer of The Big Bang Theory, Steven Molaro. He was trying to think of a good title for the new series about kids who start their own web show. The pilot script followed a lead girl named "Sam" but the URL for iSam was already taken. Schneider tried other girls' names and bought the URL for iJosie, but eventually changed it to iCarly and enjoyed the name for the lead character. The names of the lead girls were then changed from Sam and Kira to Carly and Sam.

Last seasons

In late January 2011, while doing press for her North American Dancing Crazy concert tour, Miranda Cosgrove began telling news sources that she was looking forward to returning to Hollywood to begin filming a fifth season of iCarly. On January 27, 2011, Cosgrove told Cleveland Live News "We're getting ready to start the next season, right after the tour. I would be willing to do the show as long as people like it and as long as it works." On January 28, 2011, Reuters news agency also reported that Cosgrove was preparing to begin filming a fifth season of iCarly, and on February 3, 2011, Cosgrove told The Middletown Press, when speaking of the show and her co-stars Jennette McCurdy and Nathan Kress, "I've known them since I was little. I can't wait to get back. I'm really comfortable doing iCarly. It's like my home away from home." Cosgrove concluded her Dancing Crazy concert tour on February 24, 2011, and Jennette McCurdy finished her Generation Love mall tour on April 14, 2011. The entire cast did not even get together until the 2011 Kids' Choice Awards. Cosgrove confirmed that filming would resume shortly. At the 2011 Kids' Choice Awards, Jerry Trainor stated that filming would resume in May.
On April 14, 2011, Nickelodeon officially announced the fifth and final production season renewal of iCarly to begin in 2012 with the episodes airing later that year. These episodes would air as the show's sixth season due to the second season production of 45 episodes being split into two broadcast seasons. The third production season originally consisted of 26 episodes as ordered in early 2010; however, half that number was shot from May to September 2010 that aired as the show's fourth season. Dan Schneider then shot the next half in May to July 2011 which became a whole new season production that aired as the show's fifth season later that year. However, due to Miranda's leave for a tour on July 15, 2011, only eleven episodes were produced and the last two were held over and produced during filming of the show's final season.
The final season began on March 24, 2012, with a total of fifteen episodes produced and the final production ending in June of that same year. Some of the shots for season six were filmed at KTLA Studios. However, there was a four-month hiatus after six episodes of the season aired from March to June. "iShock America" was promoted as the start of the "final season" of iCarly, effectively splitting the season into two parts. The series ended on November 23, 2012, with the episode "iGoodbye".

Revival

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. 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. On February 25, 2021, it was reported that Kogen left the project due to "creative differences" with Cosgrove. On March 18, 2021, the show 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.
According to DiscussingFilm, the series revival takes 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 does not return with the show reportedly set to introduce a new best friend character in her place. The best friend/roommate is "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." The series also introduces Freddie's social media-obsessed stepdaughter who sees Carly as "washed up" and as competition to her own growing influencer status.
On October 4, 2023, the series was canceled after three seasons.