ICarly

Development

iCarly is the fourth series created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. Schneider originally wanted to make a new TV series starring Miranda Cosgrove; the original idea was that she play 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, 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 threw out his Starstruck script and wrote a new pilot called iCarly during December. The pilot was shot in January 2007.

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 the lead girl's name was "Sam" but the URL for iSam was already taken. Schneider tried other girl's names and bought the URL for iJosie, but later switched to iCarly and loved the name for the lead character. The names of the two 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 5th 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, Season 7, began on March 24, 2012 with a total of fifteen episodes to air. However, after a four-month hiatus after six episodes of the season aired from March to June, "iShock America" was promoted as the start of a new season for the last batch of episodes, effectively splitting the season into two. The series ended on November 23, 2012 with the episode "iGoodbye".

Plot

When Carly and her best friend Sam act funny 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. While battling normal issues of adolescence, Carly, Sam, and Freddie discover that they have also 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 26-year-old 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 in person 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.

Main

Recurring

Television film

On November 8, 2008 was released iGo to Japan, the film based on iCarly, premiered on Nickelodeon. It has also been broadcast divided in three-parts of second season that serve as the first film of the series. The television movie stars Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor. The film was directed by Steve Hoefer. The production of the film began in the spring of 2008, and lasted around 4 to 5 weeks. In the story, after the iCarly crew is nominated for "Best Comedy Category," Carly, Sam, Freddie, Spencer, and Mrs. Benson fly away to Japan to attend the iWeb Awards show. However, their trip soon turns into an adventure with many twists after meeting with their competing webshow hosts Kyoko and Yuki.

DVD releases

Note: The season DVDs are released by the production seasons.

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 iSoundtrack II, was released January 24, 2012.

Website

In reality, 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 features on the site include characters' blogs, pictures from the set, songs, games, and comments from viewers. Many fictional websites from this show redirect to this page. For example, Zaplook, SplashFace, ToonJuice, CraigsMix, Nevelocity, 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 redirect to this page.

Video games

An animated PC hidden object game, iCarly: iDream in Toons, was released by Nickelodeon on their Nick Arcade. 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 January 11, 2010, the official iCarly Facebook page announced the release of an application called "Sam's Remote" exclusively for iPhone and iPod Touch. This app consists of Sam's remote, which she uses on live casts of iCarly in the show, where one pushes different buttons and they make silly sound effects. Available through the iTunes App Store for $1.99 download.

Spin-off series

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.

The first is Sam & Cat, which would pair Ariana Grande from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy together in a traditional "buddy sitcom" setting as their characters, Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett. The pilot suggests they will be roommates who launch a babysitting business for income. The show was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012, and premiered on June 8, 2013. The series was cancelled on July 13, 2014 with the final episode airing on July 17.

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. The series was not picked up.

Critical

iCarly received mixed reviews from critics but positive reception from fans. Carey Bryson of About.com gave the show 2 1/2 stars, concluding "The show's comedic elements don't all rest on the irreverent, though, there are some clever storylines and even a few touching moments. Overall, the show has some great comedy, interesting stories, and fun actors." The show was awarded 3 stars by Common Sense Media reviewer Emily Ashby, who praised that "[t]he show isn't designed to be educational, per se, but young viewers will learn a bit about interacting with media."

On the more positive side, Hollywood.com's Michelle Lee considered the show to be the best sitcom since Arrested Development: "Like the Lost fan rejecting every Lost-like show that came after it, I resented all of the shaky single-camera docu-style comedies that came after Arrested's demise. Because, frankly, my favorite dead show did it better. I needed something completely different to break me out of my comedy funk and get me back on that horse. And it worked."

U.S. television ratings

The pilot episode debuted on Nickelodeon September 8, 2007, to an audience of 4.1 million viewers, followed by the second episode "iWant More Viewers" on the same day with 3.9 million viewers. The most watched episode is "iSaved Your Life" which aired January 18, 2010, to 11.2 million viewers which is also the second most viewed telecast in Nickelodoen history. On June 9, 2012, iCarly had the lowest viewership of a premiere ever, with only 2.4 million viewers.

Awards and nominations

In 2010 and 2011 debuted the Kids Choice Awards Latin America, Kids Choice Awards México and Kids Choice Awards Argentina. These awards are new.

iCarly was part of these awards (Mexico Kids Choice Awards, Kids Choice Awards Argentina) because the series still did not finish until 2012.

Broadcast

Worldwide the series aired on Nickelodeon. In Canada, it premiered on October 8, 2007 on YTV and on November 3, 2009 on the original channel and ended on December 1, 2012 on the former. In Australia and New Zealand it premiered on October 29, 2007 and ended on April 13, 2013. It premiered on March 8, 2008 and ended on April 5, 2013 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Pakistan it premiered on Nickelodeon Pakistan on March 11, 2011 and in India it premiered on TeenNick on January 23, 2013.