By KAREN GRECO
iCarly is the best show you’re not watching
Three teens on Nickelodeon kicked Jack Bauer’s ass on Monday, January 18, when the premiere of iCarly: iSaved Your Life hit the ratings jackpot, scoring 11.4 million viewers, coming in first in its 8 PM time slot, and besting Fox’s 24 by 5%.
So… why is this happening?
For those without tween girls, iCarly surrounds the on-and-off camera adventures of 3 BFFs–Carly (lovable), Sam (lovable delinquent) and Freddie (lovable nerd and token boy)–who are internet celebs thanks to their mega-popular web-variety show. Along with Carly’s crackpot older brother (and guardian) Spencer, these TV teens have zany adventures during every episode.
When I was this age, I don’t remember being this madcap. More to the point, when I was growing up, tweens were not a demographic group—the best we could hope for was a decent ABC After School Special. There’fore, I wasn’t sure what to expect for my daughter when she became a tween. When she looked for herself on television, would she see boy-crazy supporting characters? Horrific acting? Nothing at all?
My daughter and I first dipped our toes into the tween waters with the Disney hit Hannah Montana, which is one season ahead of iCarly. I found it indescribably painful. I thought And I Miley Cyrus was insufferable, and so did my kid, though that didn’t dissuade her interest in Hannah Montana merch.
When iCarly launched, and my kid wanted to watch it, I was tired of the tween genre. But I was more tired of that little yellow guy who lives in a pineapple under the sea. So we gave iCarly a go.
After we watched the first episode, we were hooked. My kid, who just turned six, finds the characters funny and relatable–they are the older kids that she wishes could be her babysitters. She thinks they are loads of fun.
From my point of view, I love that Carly, Sam and Freddie have spectacular drive. The trio obsesses over web stats like other teens obsess over unrequited love. They are completely focused on creating an outstanding webshow–meaning they have content meetings, writing sessions and rehearsals (along with pit stops at the local smoothie joint, of course).
But what I really love is Carly and Sam’s girl-power aesthetic. They enthusiastically embrace their inner and outer goofballs. They hold grape-juice spitting contests for their millions of viewers, pull pranks on Carly’s ill-tempered doorman and get into some outlandish situations in and out of school, with zero concern about looking like boobs. After watching iCarly, my daughter often choreographs a completely whacked out dance sequence in the living room, and grins ear-to-ear when she notices I am watching. It’s totally cool to spaz out and have a blast!
Of course, a teenage crush factors into the show every once in a while, but those episodes are pretty rare, and always feature a novel twist. iCarly‘s ultimate takeaway is that being yourself is better than being “popular,” friendship is more important than fickle teen love, and ultimately, girls can kick some serious ass.
Karen Greco is a pop-culture lover and licensed esthetician who blogs about beauty and wellness-related topics at BeautyOlogy as well as for Technorati’s lifestyle channel.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Jo Sentell-Perez // Jan 27, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Ok, I will have to give iCarly another try. I actually sort of enjoy Hannah Montana, as the music makes it palatable. But I must have caught one of those teen crush episodes when I previewed iCarly w/my 10 year old. Their behavior wa not something I wanted my daughter to emulate either. But what you decribe sounds like just the thing, so we will revisit the show. And I hope you’re right – she needs a p;ositive show to watch!
2 Emily // Jan 28, 2010 at 12:57 am
Random Dancing is a regular shout out in my house. From my perspective as a mother (daughter, 7; son, 5), iCarly is a silk-tented oasis in a swirling sandstorm of soul-abrading pre-adolescent programming. Also? Spencer is my boyfriend.
3 ferretrick // Jan 28, 2010 at 7:49 am
Wait, I’m confused…your daughter is six? And that’s considered tween now? I thought tween was “pre-teen,” ages 11 & 12.
At six I was still into cartoons; I don’t think I was interested in many live action shows.
4 KarenG // Jan 28, 2010 at 10:13 am
I thought tween was 10, 11, 12 too, but apparently kids grow up fast these days. She has been watching iCarly since about 4, but she also watched all three Lord of the Rings movies by the age of 3, and she also started watching Harry Potter around then. So her entertainment tastes have always skewed more mature.
Jo, if it’s a teen crush episode, don’t watch (tho the iDate A Bad Boy episode was hard to take at the beginning and then got very very funny)! The older episodes don’t use the the teen crush device as much as the newer episodes. Try to catch the one where they go to Japan for a web award show–that ep is hilarious.
And, Emily, yes! Spencer is my boy friend too!
5 Kay // Jan 28, 2010 at 11:13 am
My name is Kay, and I’m an iCarly addict. I have been known to watch it when my (teenage) children are not home. Also, Avatar: the last Airbender on Nickelodeon is pretty rad as well.
6 CollinH // Jan 28, 2010 at 11:21 am
Strangely enough, this is the second time I’ve heard someone outside the target demographic sing the praises of iCarly to me. Maybe I should check it out.
@Kay: Avatar the Last Airbender is hands down the best made animated show released in the past decade.
7 Malia // Jan 28, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Long time reader/lurker, first time leaving a comment. I love icarly, watch it w/ my 3 year old and husband. We are all three adicts, and look forward to new episodes.
8 Kay // Jan 28, 2010 at 6:06 pm
@CollinH: I totally agree. It is completely awesome and I watch it all the time, by myself, no kids in sight. It is my secret pleasure.
9 KarenG // Jan 28, 2010 at 7:58 pm
YAY! It’s so fun to see how many people are coming out of the iCarly closet!
Just finished watching a repeat with my kid–when Spencer teaches Freddie to fence, and Freddie’s mom goes nuts.
For those interested, the creator is on Twitter (@DanWarp, I believe).
Kay and CollinH, I will have to revisit Avatar. We have not watched that in ages–seems like it’s not be on as much as it used to be.
10 Lisa // Dec 22, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Actually, my entire high school quotes iCarly all the times.
Teens (ages 15-19) quite frequently enjoy it more than the younger kids.
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