TV Show Info:
Creator: Dan Schneider
Cast: Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress, Jerry Trainor, Mary Scheer
Rating: G
Studio: Nickelodeon
Release Info:
Original Air Dates: September 8, 2007-Present
Season Air Dates: September 8, 2007-February 23, 2008
DVD Box Set Release Date: September 23, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $18.99
Episodes: A variety of 13 episodes (from within the first 16 episodes) from Season One of iCarly
I had to review a screener copy of iCarly when Nickelodeon sent it to us, before the premiere of the show last year. I decided to watch it with my then 12 year old son. It only took one episode for me to realize he loved it and I hated it. The show is annoying, obnoxious and somewhat pretentious. Miranda Cosgrove and her overacting gets on my nerves. Jeanette McCurdy seems to have some comedic ability that is wasted when Miranda tries to overact and Jeanette overcompensates to keep up with her. The only good actors on this show are Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor.
When Carly and Sam are hosting their show, I seriously think they’re either trying to be game show hosts with their fake smiles and over-exuberant attitudes or they’re just fakey fake actresses. It’s the worst part of iCarly, and considering that’s the main point of the show, it makes me dislike this show. It isn’t necessarily that the writing is bad. Heck, I like Dan Schneider. I have ever since he was on Head of the Class and its clear he’s also the same dude who wrote a Nick show I loved All That. iCarly has the same kind of humor, but the actors ruin the show.
Of course, kids won’t mind. They really don’t pay that much attention to acting. Most of them like over the top acting anyway. My son is now 13. He loves iCarly. It is hilarious to him and if its on television, he always makes me watch it. When it comes down to it, iCarly is one of his favorite shows. I can’t say it’s all negative either because it feeds the needs of technology junkies and makes kids aware of their ability to use technology in this high tech world.
I also mentioned before that Nathan Kress, who plays Freddie, the boy who lives across the hall from Carly and has a crush on her, is entertaining. He seems quite natural in his part. He also knows a lot about technology and often explains things to the characters about what he plans to do technology-wise. He also happens to be the only person on the show with a parental figure that is visible, even if his mom is a bit of a nut bag.
Carly’s brother, Spencer (Jerry Trainor) is also amusing though sometimes his stupidity can get to be a little over the top. With Carly’s dad out of town (I believe they said he’s in the military) it is Spencer’s job to raise Carly. Because Spencer is an artist, the two live a very Bohemian existence. Spencer isn’t the best role model, but he does love Carly and I guess that’s the most important thing.
The iCarly: Season One, Volume One Plot
The iCarly: Season One, Volume One DVD is made up of 13 episodes from Season One of iCarly. The show airs on Nickelodeon on both Friday and Saturday evenings though sometimes episodes air at other times throughout the week. Your best bet is to check your television guide to see when the show will be airing.
With the first season of iCarly over as of July, it is time for a new season to begin. This DVD came out just in time for that to happen. The first episode of the second season of iCarly is set to premiere on September 27, 2008. There will be several episodes of the season airing, leading up to the premiere of season two’s “iGo to Japan” episode at 9:00 PM EST. The reruns start at around 6:00 PM EST.
Here is a list of all of the episodes included on the iCarly: Season One, Volume One DVD with a description of each episode.
Disc One
“iPilot” - You meet Carly (Miranda Cosgrove), a girl who lives alone with her older brother, Spencer (Jerry Trainor) who is an artist. Carly is best friends with a troublemaker named Sam (Jeanette McCurdy). When Carly takes the blame for something Sam did to their teacher, Ms. Briggs (Mindy Sterling), she’s punished by having to tape the school play auditions. In between auditions, Freddie (Nathan Kress), who lives across the hall from Carly and has a major crush on her, accidentally tapes the two making fun of Ms. Briggs and when he goes to upload the video of the auditions, he accidentally uploads Sam and Carly. With soaring popularity, the two decide their made for hosting an internet show which they name iCarly.
“iWant More Viewers” -The girls decide they want more viewers because they keep having the same number of viewers each week. To try and do this, Sam and Carly hold up signs on a popular Seattle TV show, Seattle Beat. In the meantime, Freddie and Spencer try to put up highway billboards to draw more attention to the show.
“iHatch Chicks” - Carly and Sam decide to hatch baby chicks for their science experiment. Unfortunately, when the chicks get loose, its a mad dash to figure out where they are in the apartment in hopes that no harm comes to them.
“iDream of Dance” -This episode is all about dancing. The iCarly team is amused when a Scottish dancer visits Ms. Briggs’ class. This gives Carly the idea to have a dance competition. While encouraging their viewers to send dance clips in to iCarly, the three of them have fun watching them, but then when they end up falling asleep their dance filled dreams are very weird.
“iLike Jake” - Carly has a crush on a boy named Jake Krandale. Of course, Freddie isn’t thrilled about this, but then again…it’s Freddie! Carly finds out that Jake sings, so she invites him to come sing on the iCarly show. The only problem is, Jake just isn’t as good as he claims to be. While the kids are having fun on their show (or not) Spencer busies himself by making a sculpture in his own image.
“iWanna Stay with Spencer” - When Carly’s grandfather decides he wants to take Carly to live with him in Yakima, Spencer is crushed. Grandpa seems to think that Spencer isn’t responsible enough to care for a young teen. He’s practically a kid himself. When both Spencer and Carly try to prove Spencer is able to care for her, everything backfires and it looks like Carly will be leaving her friends and school for good.
“iNevel” - When an 11 year old web critic, Nevel, reviews iCarly he decides he wants to interview Carly personally. After forcing a kiss on Carly and getting food in the face from her, Nevel reacts by giving the web show a bad review. Spencer, on the other hand, keeps himself busy by trying to make a sculpture out of butter.
Disc Two
“iScream on Halloween” - It’s Halloween, so the iCarly crew decide to host the show from a haunted apartment. When creepy things start to happen they believe the place really is haunted. Back at home, when Spencer forgets to buy Halloween candy, he faces the wraith of angry children.
“iSpy a Mean Teacher” -Ms. Briggs is the target of yet another iCarly episode. Freddie and Carly decide to spy on and secretly record Ms. Briggs. However, when they hide in her closet to make sure they don’t get caught, they learn Ms. Briggs’ secret. She’s obsessed with Randy Jackson (judge of American Idol)!
“iWant to Date Freddie” - When Freddie appears on iCarly, he ends up getting a date with Valerie, a girl who seems to really like him. When Valerie decides she wants her own web show, just like Carly, Freddie quits iCarly and decides to work with her on her new show.
“iWant a World Record” - While the iCarly crew attempts to set a world record for the longest webcast ever, Spencer busies himself by creating a sculpture out of trash he finds stored away.
“iRue the Day” - Spencer saves Tom Higgenson’s life, so to repay him, the Plain White T’s agree to perform on the iCarly show. However, with Nevel at it again, Sam, Freddie and Carly have to make sure the show remains on the web.
“iPromise Not to Tell” -Carly gets a B+ on a test and is mad at herself. Sad that her friend is upset, Sam finds out the school network’s password and goes in to change her grade. However, Carly feels guilty about it and has a change of heart.
Note: The following scores are provided from a kid’s perspective not an adult.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting: 
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
One thing that I really can’t complain too much about is how nice iCarly looks. Despite being transferred in full frames at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the show looks excellent. Besides, this format is fairly standard for a television show transfer. Since iCarly is such a new show (it began airing in 2007) expect higher quality than something made further back. This looks as good, if not a little better, than the quality seen when the show airs on Nickelodeon. Colors are vibrant, bright and realistic. Skintones look natural. The contrast is sharp, with very few, if any noticeable visual errors. Overall, an excellent video presentation.
The audio quality for iCarly is Dolby Digital Stereo sound. While usually I’d bemoan about how much I prefer a 5.1 surround track, for a teen show, especially a dialogue driven one, I don’t really mind the stereo mix. The sound is primarily carried through the center and front speakers. While it could be more dynamic, the music, dialogue and occasional sound effects come through clearly. The sound is even with no need to change the volume mid-episode. While it could have been much better, this track does just fine as is.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
The iCarly: Season One, Volume One DVD has a few different bonus features. These are sure to please the rabid iCarly fans out there. Nickelodeon isn’t usually that big into bonus features, so this is a nice addition for the kids.
The first bonus feature is the music video for the iCarly theme song, “Leave It All to Me”. I often talk about how it seems like Disney and Nickelodeon have all of their stars singing their theme songs (or other songs) for their shows. Usually, this isn’t always the best recording, but I actually think that Miranda Cosgrove is a pretty good singer. It makes up for the her over dramatic acting. This song is really catchy and it’s going to be quite popular with the younger crowds, especially since it also features Drake Bell of Drake and Josh fame.
Next up is the making of the video “Leave It All to Me”. This shows how the video was achieved. Most of it was done in front of a green screen. The video features Miranda, Nathan, Jeanette, Jerry and Drake Bell. All of them weigh in on a variety of topics relating to the video. For instance, they’re asked what the meaning of the song is and what a green screen is, to give the audience a little more perspective into the making of the video.
Finally, there is a Behind-the-Scenes Extras section. This features a series of small clips, each with a theme relating to the show and its actors.
The Behind-the-Scenes Extras section includes the following:
“The Scoop” - Miranda, Jeanette, and Freddie give the scoop on what the show is about and who their characters are. I believe this aired on Nickelodeon prior to the release of the show.
“Larger Sized Cameras” - Jerry lets the audience in on an inside joke about Miranda. She’s obsessed about knowing whether they’ll be using the handheld, iCarly web show cameras or the larger TV cameras before shooting begins.
“The Green Room” - Nathan, Jerry and Miranda show off the green room (a lounge style area on set where actors can go to relax when not shooting scenes) and goof off in the process.
“Good Advice” - Josh Peck comes to the iCarly set to give Miranda some advice about having her own show.
“Hand Jive” - Jeanette and Miranda show off a hand jive they invented. Nathan has also learned it, but Jerry hasn’t. He’s content just making fun of them for inventing it!
“Nathan’s Gear” - Nathan takes the audience on a tour to see all of the technology based gear he must use as Freddie.
“Dancin” - This looks at the episode where Miranda and the rest of the cast have to dance.
“Nathan’s Wart” - For the Halloween episode, Nathan has to wear a prosthetic wart. He manages to get Jeanette to touch it, even though she’s afraid of it.
“I Scream You Scream” - This looks at the plot of the Halloween show.
“Theme Song” - This looks at the recording of the theme song with Miranda and Drake.
Overall, this is a great set of bonuses. I actually enjoyed these more than I do the show.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
While I don’t really like iCarly and doubt I ever will, if your son or daughter is anything like my child then he/she is going to love this series. Ultimately, sometimes television is all about the kids. While I wouldn’t recommend this for a young crowd (6 and under), because some of the humor borders on disrespect, I do think that teens and tweens are sure to get a good laugh out of this series.
The one thing that makes iCarly so important for teens/tweens of this generation is the technology aspect and with kids able to upload their videos to the official iCarly website with the chance to possibly air on the show, what kid wouldn’t want to watch this? Parents, buy this right away. Everyone else, avoid this. It most likely won’t appeal to your non-juvenile senses.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: iCarly, Season One, Volume One, DVD Review, TV show, Nickelodeon, Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, teen, comedy
Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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