#ATOZCHALLENGE: I IS FOR ICARLY

iCarly was the show for a while. it was the breakout thing parents could watch with their kids. and parents could watch alone. the writing was crisp. see that's the thing, it can't just be zany. it can't be weird just to be weird. it has to have soul. or at least heart (for the nonbelievers). and maybe some semblance of coherence. anti-comedy is actually very difficult to write. the jokes don't have to have punchlines but they do have to make sense. Nickelodeon was no longer a sick patient thanks to Dan Schneider. this show was a real-life cartoon with two bright breakout leads and a cast of crazy characters in random-worded T-shirts. yes that Dan Schneider, the fat smart kid from Head of the Class. admit it, from all the kids in that class you never thought the fat kid who skulked in the corner with his wiry personal computer would go on to be a writer extraordinaire and production baron. you thought that redhead girl would be where Emma Stone is now.

CLICK HERE. DAN'S IN THERE I THINK. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT WE'D EVER HAVE A NEED TO GO TO RUSSIA AGAIN.

for years people wondered out loud, whatever happened to Drake & Josh's kid sister, that nice Miranda Cosgrove? she grew up pretty into a Lucille Ball. or maybe she was Ethel to Jennette McCurdy's Lucy. Jennette had the blonde hair and the body and the acting chops. these two started a webshow that had more hits than President Bieber and of course was every kid's fantasy, the whole web thing was just beginning to burgeon. on the webshow anything went. the skits were not so much funny as strange. iCarly was weird, like it was deliberately weird. there was a lot of masked adult humor, non-sequiturs, and stuff for the fuck of it. loud lewdness that straddled the line and galloped over it into uncomfortably young territory. blase meanness, kookiness, and underground bad habits that were normalized. Miranda has since disappeared into college so she will be saved. we all know about Jennette's crimes. no, not the photos. the fact that she, with a clear conscience, is the only person in history to ever unfriend Ariana Grande.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL EPISODE OF THE SHOW

sorry. the show formed a love triangle. most people think a love triangle devolves and sinks a show, but i'm a sucker for romance. who would Freddie end up with? Carly or Sam? Creddie or Seddie drama drowned the comedy show until it was never really resolved in that one episode. Freddie was the AV (Club TV Club writer) dude who ran the tech. i hate using the term beta male, let's just say he was the brains of the outfit. i always nursed a soft spot for Freddie cos he like me had an overprotective mother with wild eyes. and there was Gibby who liked to get naked and eat his boogers and other people's boogers. and the cute but cuckolded older brother Spencer who always had shampooed hair, a date, and was the adult in the room who was kiddier than the kids, he laughed at his own jokes. see parents can never be around or it's not a true kid's show, it has to play into the fantasy of the child left alone to her own devices and allowed to finally eat all the ice cream and play all the video games she wants. orphans are cool. Punky Brewster was bout that life and paved the way.

there was Lewbert, a particularly disgusting creature, former male model, now with a gross hairy pimple on his face. or maybe his face was the pimple. and Nevel Papperman the breakout side-star, the stuffy sweater vest who ran a competing channel and pronounced statements like YOU WILL RUE THE DAY!!! with a silver-spooned tongue:

CLICK HERE, MEET NEVEL

CLICK HERE, GIRL MEETS BOY

in between the yucks and chucks was a subtle message of female empowerment and representation on tv, which i've come to learn is crucial and not nothing.

CLICK HERE FOR A TIME WHEN WE STILL TOOK EVERYTHING FOR GRANTED

so remember, when you can't be yourself, be wacky.

CLICK HERE AND CARLY SHAY WILL SAVE THE DAY

oh, and spaghetti tacos? disgusting.

and for Inside the Actors Studio. and now as is my tradition and custom, i will ask you my beautiful audience to indulge me and watch this video of the ultimate question answered by the ultimate man. let the regret and questioning commence. it will leave you heartbroken, frustrated, alone, and scared.

CLICK HERE. GOOD NIGHT.

CLICK HERE FOR THE A TO Z CHALLENGE