iCarly has been that one show for me that cheered me up after I moved to another city. Every day when I'd come home from school, I'd stop doing homework for a half hour or so and watch this show. This is when I start becoming aware that I'm watching yet another show from Dan Schneider without knowing it yet. Now that I do know a bit about him and what he does with his shows, I think he really put a lot of thought into the things he made up for the show. Even the little things like spaghetti tacos, some of Spencer's sculptures that are memorable like the bottled robot, Sam's remote, even the Pear products becoming Pear shaped (shown in Victorious as well), those little things are interesting, cool, not something from our world. So it makes me wish I was living more in this universe he's created which is connected to the worlds of Victorious, Drake & Josh and Zoey 101.
Even since the 50's, there have been shows that would just provide you some entertainment or laughs, something that gets you wanting to see what some characters are up to today (in any episode) after school/work, nothing too serious and overdramatic and iCarly is that.
The humor, people will like it, others won't, I'd find something funny sometimes even before you heard any laughter. Around the time the second season was running, I also noticed there were things spoken about that adults can totally get and probably even laugh about that children would probably have to say to their parents, "What?" I like that. I love when adults can get something kids or even teens can't. And I've loved hearing during the time of the show's run about how other adults find themselves being able to sit with their kids for this show and if you read through Dan Schneider's blogs on the fun facts for some of the episodes, you understand his work more, why he did what he did with a character or some stuff like that.
And the characters, I LOVE that they don't try to come off as goody two shoes made to teach kids lessons. (One show was enough, no clones needed.) When I first started watching iCarly, the original four characters I felt were me with my personality split in 4. That's what got me into this show. I saw myself in each character. Big turn on for me. I'm glad I found each of the characters that way!
The way the characters live with life when they start doing iCarly is no different from when a real life Internet sensation becomes famous. These guys certainly still live their lives normally, compared to most of the kid/tween/teen shows where you saw someone become famous, these guys don't have to live with a double life at all or have to think before they act because it could damage their celebrity status or whatever, they still live their lives normally.
I loved seeing the main characters hang out and watch a movie together in iRescue Carly. Something that didn't happen and would never have happened when the series first premiered.
From watching the show from start to finish, seeing how much characters such as Sam have changed since the first episode from being the careless troublemaker from juvie to being the one who tries to stay out of jail and cares and fights for her friends (most of the time) and even random vulnerable kids like in iRescue Carly and iBattle Chip; Gibby who went from being the shy, shirtless weirdo to the confident, not-shirtless-often weirdo (some things never change); Freddie, who had gone from being the weak, shy, low self-esteem kid across the hall who peeped on Carly coming home and literally did everything for her in hopes that she'd like him back while also having a hard time putting up with Sam when they were together, is now pretty much grown into the teen with a tougher skin who doesn't let Sam get to him and now doesn't seem to care too much about him and Carly being together. I love how the characters have grown since the first season! When I first saw this show years back I saw a bit of myself in each of the characters, and now, while not having developed into some sort of amazing bunch of superheroes (it's a sitcom, why would they need a super incredible, out of this world sort of development), they've still developed into better people and are better off than they were before they had a webshow.
Seeing the friendships and even relationships form and relationships mend (Sam and Pam's mother-daughter relationship), is just as enjoyable for me to watch (clearly I'm not just in it for humor). Some of the bonds develop or grow due to the existence of the webshow. Without it, Freddie would always be the kid who'd let Sam get to him (seeing as they'd only see each other mainly at school and wouldn't have to spend time together working on iCarly, they probably would've never dated either and the breakup would've never happened and therefore Sam would never try to be more normal as Freddie suggested her to do as that was happening in iLove You), Gibby wouldn't have won a date due to the show in the first season and then later had the confidence to just be his weird self no matter what and furthermore Nora Dershlitt from season 3 and 4/5 would've never been in the picture at all if iCarly and the webshow's success didn't exist so Gibby would've never saved them and become a more likable character for the fans of the show and the main characters (despite how low his IQ surprisingly has gotten and proved to be so in the latest episode with Pawn Stars).
Spencer and Carly have never really changed but I love them anyway and I always love their scenes of just them together since we get to see how they are as siblings, like in iWanna Stay With Spencer and iGoodbye. And T-Bo is a good addition to the show. Definitely loved him in iGet Banned recently.
I'll never forget the iCarly studio, the apartment with all the crazy, interesting things added to it by Carly and Spencer, the Groovy Smoothie and anything that was ever put on a stick by T-Bo, the characters and this show.
I'm 20 years old and I love iCarly.