The Review

Dear Nickelodeon,

I had a great idea for a new teen show. It would feature a cast of cute, spunky little know it all kids, and bumbling, awkward, clueless adults. The setting for my new masterpiece will largely consist of the local Jr. High school, which the students actually run while graciously allowing the grownups to work there. The children’s lives and relationships should be as complicated as those of… well real grownups. Of course those on the show should float by blissfully unaware of the responsibilities carried by the students they pretend to teach. The characters should be diverse personality types. Meaning, there could be the overachieving central character, the bad girl side kick, the slightly nerdy-but-sweet friend, who loves the central character from afar; and the clueless older sibling who could serve as comic relief. Please let me know if you intend to use my idea. If you do I expect to receive royalties. I look forward to working with you.

Anxiously, TRHague.

Ok so I don’t expect the check to be in the mail. In fact I’m sure this is pretty much the same letter that went out to NBC shortly before the pilot of Blossom, or ABC prior to the release of Step by Step. I’ll stop the name dropping there, but I promise; I don’t have to. iCarly is simply the latest tween soap to follow the formula above. It chronicles the exploits of Carly and her friends as they go about their lives at school and broadcast daily webisodes of their homemade sitcom to any child predators who happen to be watching. The show within the show is supposed to be funny but it isn’t. It consists mostly of incomprehensible preteen- girl, humor.

The acting is pretty much what you’d expect, something between a big budget Jr. High play, and thirteen year-old’s slumber party. But if the child actors are annoying, the adults are absolutely infuriating. Their goofy incompetence makes Jerry Lewis look like a passionate method actor. (At this point I’d like to offer my sympathies to Tim Russ of Star Trek Voyager. Evidently, the economy has taken its toll on everyone because he has turned in his Vulcan ears and become the principle at Carly’s school. Hang in there buddy, things will pick up).

The Kids

As a Jr. High teacher myself I can attest to the fact that the kids will, and do like this show. If you are over fifteen you won’t get it, but don’t worry it’s a sign of maturity. If you’re uncomfortable with wisecracking students running around essentially unsupervised, it might be a good idea to avoid this one.

The Verdict

This show is just more of the same. The formula is a prefab children’s sitcom and the networks can crank them out at very little cost and no real risk. My biggest problem with the show is it’s tendency to overly dramatize teenage life. Young characters struggle with adult dilemmas and the resulting dialogue comes off as ridiculous. With all this in mind I’m forced to put iCarly on the high end of cringe worthy. One viewing shouldn’t drive you completely crazy, but if the kids start to take behavioral clues from it, it may disrupt the family dynamics for a while.