Shoosh Yeah, the beloved Nickelodeon series iCarly is iFinally on Netflix. Before you binge, find out what the Miranda Cosgrove-led show was initially supposed to be about.
iFinally, one of our favorite Nickelodeon series is on Netflix!
The first two seasons (well, three combined into two) of iCarly, which starred Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor, are finally available on the streaming giant. Say it with us: Shoosh yeah!
After its premiere in 2007, the sitcom, created by
Drake & Josh and
Zoey 101 executive producer Dan Schneider, went on to become one of Nickelodeon's biggest hits, welcoming a line-up of guest stars that rivaled the Oscars and launching two spinoffs.
But the initial concept for the show was very different—and so was Carly's name. iJosie just doesn't have the same ring to it, right?
In honor of the show's Netflix debut and upcoming revival, here are 15 behind-the-scenes facts you might not know about iCarly's original run...
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| WILLIAMS + HIRAKAWA/ NICKELODEON |
1. After she spent three years as mischievous younger sister Megan on Drake & Josh, Nickelodeon wanted to give Miranda Cosgrove her own show. And the initial conceit might sound surprising to loyal viewers.
"My original idea was that she play a 'normal' girl who, in a twist of fate, gets cast to star in her favorite TV show," creator Dan Schneider revealed on his blog in 2009. "I even wrote the script. I called it Starstruck. The pilot I wrote (and turned in to Nickelodeon) was about Carly, a regular girl who gets cast to star in her favorite TV show."
2. While the network loved the idea for Starstruck, Schneider's plot for the show shifted after a conversation with his wife and his good friend, The Big Bang Theory executive producer Steven Molaro.
"I decided that it would be MUCH COOLER for Carly to create HER OWN show," he explained, "a show she could run herself, her own way, and do whatever she wanted to do -- A WEB SHOW."
3. Carly was not the first name Schneider had in mind for the main character.
It was actually Sam, while the original name for Sam's character was Kira.
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| WILLIAMS + HIRAKAWA/ NICKELODEON |
4. The name changes went down after Schneider discovered the URL iSam.com was already taken. He also tried the name Josie—even buying the URL before deciding he "didn't like it" and settling on Carly. "So, back in 2007, if someone hadn't already owned the URL iSam.com, then iCarly would likely have been called iSam," he explained on his blog.
"I came up with the name
iCarly while filming on the set of
Zoey 101," Schneider
continued. "My friend Steve Molaro...was working with me, and we were trying to think of a good title for my new series about kids who start their own web show."
5. The character of Sam Puckett was written with Jennette McCurdy in mind after she guest-starred on Zoey 101.
"I loved her and thought she was a major talent," Schneider wrote in another 2009 blog post. "So when I was creating Carly's best friend Sam, I knew that Jennette would LIKELY play that role."
6. Nathan Kress revealed on Throwback With Nickelodeon of nearly almost quitting acting before landing the role of Freddie, Carly's BFF and technical producer.
"I wasn't doing enough where I felt like I wanted to stay involved in the industry," said Kress, adding "I was on my way out when that audition happened." Then he beat out upwards of 200 actors for the role."
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| Nickelodeon |
7. The series most-watched episode—2010's "iSaved Your Life"—attracted 11.2 million viewers, making it, at the time, the second most-viewed telecast in Nickelodeon's history.
8. In 2012, Cosgrove was listed as the "Highest Paid Child Actress" by the Guinness World Records, earning $180,000 per episode.
9. After Carly's zany older brother and legal guardian Spencer (Jerry Trainor) cooked "spaghetti tacos" for dinner on the show, the meal went viral, even landing the cover of the Food & Wine section of The New York Times.
"It was just a little joke I came up with for one episode," Schneider told the publication in 2010. "Then it turned into a running joke. And now it's this thing people actually do."
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| Nickelodeon Network/Schneider's Bakery/Kobal/Shutterstock |
11. While it was never stated on the show, Spencer became Carly's legal guardian when she was 12 years old.
And their father made his only appearance in the series finale, with David Chisum playing Colonel Steven Shay.
12. McCurdy revealed what was actually in Sam's infamous "butter sock" during a 2015 interview with the Huffington Post.
"Although I am tentative to crush any person's childhood dreams, it was not filled with butter. It was batteries to give it some weight, with Styrofoam around them, wrapped with duct tape," she revealed. "I feel like Nathan [Kress] was probably the receiver of a few accidental butter-sock whacks."
The sitcom would follow the oft-shirtless character after he gets a gig at a recreational center where he winds up as a mentor to four offbeat middle-school students. While the pilot was filmed, Nickelodeon didn't order Gibby to series.
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| Nickelodeon |
14. Another spinoff, however, did make it to air: Sam & Cat, which starred McCurdy and Ariana Grande as their respective iCarly and Victorious characters, premiered in 2013 and became an instant hit for Nickelodeon.
But the show
never returned for a second season after reports of "discord" on the set and rumors about salary disputes. Season one was extended to 40 episodes, with 36 of those produced.
15. Last December, it was announced that iCarly is being revived by Paramount+ (currently known as CBS All Access), with Cosgrove, Kress and Trainor all reprising their roles.
The new series is being developed by Jay Kogen (
School of Rock the series) and Ali Schouten (
Diary of a Future President,
Champions,
Merry Happy Whatever). McCurdy isn't expected to reprise her role, however.
Bonus Fact 1: Cosgrove's Drake & Josh co-star Drake Bell (The Amanda Show) can be heard on the iCarly theme song, "Leave It All To Me"! Not only that, the song was written by Michael "Backhouse Mike" Corcoran, one of Bell's band members, who married to Victorious star Liz Gillies during summer 2020!
Based on an article originally published by E! News.
