iCarly Predicted Today's Influencer Culture Like No Other Show

By Alex Gonzalez


In 2007, once actress Miranda Cosgrove first signed onto the role of Carly Shay, the bubbly nevertheless ambitious heroine of Nickelodeon’s iCarly, several social media outlets were still in their infancy. Back then, Myspace and Facebook were the internet’s dominant networks with their customizable profiles and user-friendly eats. Twitter was only each year old; Instagram and TikTok didn’t although exist. It was in this Wild West-like digital environment that, for several millennial fans, Carly became the initial true influencer, launching a quirky, adventure-filled web show reaching thousands each week.


“Influencers just get younger and younger all of the time,” Cosgrove tells MTV News. “When they first approached me about making iCarly any time While I was 12, I didn't know what a web show was. And I remember whenever they notified me about it, I thought, ‘People aren't gonna relate to that, because I do not even really know what that is.’ And then as soon as we got to around the third season, all of a sudden, people began making YouTube streams. All these kids were beginning to prepare content online.”


The series ended in 2012, and nearly a decade later, the digital landscape has transformed tenfold. The influencer culture iCarly predicted has become bigger than Cosgrove could’ve ever considered. High-profile Instagrammers are treated like celebrities, gifted thousands of dollars in items and free trips. Children under the age of 10 can earn millions of dollars annually posting YouTube videos unboxing toys. It’s in this new world that Carly Shay makes her return to the screen on Thursday (June 17) in an iCarly reboot on Paramount+, a time once anyone with an iPhone, ring light, and also a love of the craft can construct a platform of their own — and one where Carly is sure to face some fierce competition.


The revival picks up 10 years immediately following the events of the original’s final episode, in which Carly moves to Italy to survive with her dad on a military base. In the years since, she and her crew have grown up and remained close, despite following separate paths. Each must face the challenges that come with young adulthood in their own way. Her older brother Spencer (Jerry Trainor) is currently a rich artist. Her childhood best friend Freddie (Nathan Kress) has gone through a divorce and adopted a stepdaughter named Millicent (Jaidyn Triplett). Carly herself lives with a roommate, Harper (Laci Mosley), in the same apartment detailed as Spencer and Freddie, still attempting to find herself as a mid-twentysomething.


At 28, Cosgrove has also done some growing up since the show’s sixth season concluded. She started her acting career at the age of 7 performing in commercials before landing her breakout because the type-A musical group manager in Richard Linklater’s School of Rock. From there on, she and her family member would set aside cash she earned from each role — additionally to Carly, she played Megan Parker, the mischievous younger sister to Drake Bell on Drake and Josh — and put it in a college fund. Soon after iCarly ended, Cosgrove attended the University of Southern California, where she initially offered to study film.


“It was just routinely really crucial to me to go and to get the college experience,” Cosgrove says. “When I got there, I began realizing I had to pick a major that I'm going to use possibly later in life. I began off with theater, then I realized I'm not very good on stage in front of a crowd. And then I switched to film and I really enjoyed it. However also I'm not really attempting to direct or write, so I switched to psychology. I guess that's what college is for, figuring out what you desire to do and what you're interested in.”


In several ways, these experiences are reflected in the iCarly reboot, which promises to be more mature than its predecessor by putting its beloved characters in adult scenarios. Carly goes on dates. In one scene captured in the trailer, Spencer offers Freddie “hot wings, hot Cheetos, hot pretzels and hot beers.” Some may even be scandalized hearing Spencer yell, “Damn it,” once asked to reconstruct an old bit from Carly’s web show. “My experience filming the show, especially the pilot, has been a lot like my experience in real life,” Cosgrove says. “Because Carly's beginning her web show for the initial time in nearly 10 years in the pilot, and she's nervous and she's excited. That's exactly how I felt in real life, beginning the show for the opening time in almost 10 years.”


To that end, the show understands its audience — web-literate young adults who grew up alongside Carly — with various Easter eggs concealed while in the season they'll surely recognize. For one, the theme song will remain the same, with updated initial credits. In another case, Cosgrove had recreated the “interesting” meme, which depicts her character from Drake and Josh gazing suspiciously at a computer screen, that recently went viral. This reimagining will feature in a upcoming meme-themed episode of iCarly, which was inspired by the treasure trove of fan-altered images of herself online stemming from her multiple performances. Those that have trended in the last year alone have been used to satirize everything from unhealthy relationships to sexual awakenings.


Memes come and go, however the people in them like brief tastes of internet fame. With instant live streaming and apps at the tip of your fingers, equipment that were nonexistent once iCarly first aired, it’s easier than ever to prepare and curate a web presence. Anyone can go live by way of the Instagram, TikTok has become a hub for “random dancing” bits, and viral moments on Twitter have a fairly quick shelf life. While the new iCarly addresses these changes in technology, fans will immediately recognize the show’s a few “Pear” products, which are satirical takes on popular Apple offerings. There’s Carly’s iMac-esque Pear computer and then, needless to say, the PearPhone; a pear-shaped take on the iPhone, which comes in an assortment of colors.


“We love the PearPhones and we didn't wish to not have them,” Cosgrove says. “But as the show is a little bit more mature right now, and the PearPhones look a little childish, we did a take on the PearPhone where it looks like an iPhone, nevertheless the logo on the back is a pear, as an alternative opposed to the full iPhone being shaped like a pear. We had a lot of discussions about the PearPhones and attempting to calculate the perfect way to keep them.”


Cosgrove’s characters were staples of several millennials’ childhoods, nevertheless Carly is the one to whom she feels the closest, in part because she reflects her own coming of age. Any time Carly was learning to navigate the world wide web and social media, Cosgrove was learning in tandem. As Carly would interact with fans through the fan mail, Cosgrove was learning about how converse with fans by way of the Twitter. While in pivotal moments in Carly’s life, Cosgrove experienced them also. Although even as she faces new challenges of her own, just as this revival captures, there will usually be something about the role that feels fundamental to who she is.


“I had my first kiss on iCarly playing Carly,” Cosgrove says. “I had almost all of my childhood birthdays on the set of iCarly. I grew up making the show, so it's certainly a character that I'm habitually gonna love.”