For the Web-Swinging Generation, 'iCarly' Is Just a Click Away

In the cross-promotional, self-referential, multimedia universe that has become pop culture, "iCarly" -- a new television show/Web site/webcast from Nickelodeon -- seems almost inevitable. It's so meta, it'll make your head spin.

So let's start with the basics. Superficially, "iCarly" is simply another entry into the tween sitcom market, this one featuring an eighth-grader named Carly (played by Miranda Cosgrove) and her best friend, Sam (Jennette McCurdy), and their trials and tribulations navigating pre-adulthood.

In the series premiere tonight (at 8), video footage of Carly and Sam joking with each other (and making pointed fun of a teacher) accidentally winds up posted on a YouTube-ish Web site and becomes instantly popular, drawing 27,000 hits the first night it's up. Initially mortified (and fearing teacher retribution), Carly later decides to seize on the video's popularity and starts her own weekly webcast -- called iCarly, with a corresponding Web site, iCarly.com.

The impetus behind this decision is simple: Adults won't let kids be their own goofy selves, so Carly wants to create an outlet for video clips of other kids letting loose with their own weird/funny forms of self-expression. (Example: the kid whose talent is snorting milk until it comes out his eyeballs.)

The fictional webcast represents a significant portion of the television program, creating an Internet show-within-a-show. And, to make matters even muddier, Nickelodeon has created a real iCarly.com site that not only showcases segments from the TV show but also accepts videos from Nickelodeon viewers for potential use on future episodes.

In other words, kids can watch the television show, watch a webcast embedded in the television show, visit a Web site that overlaps with the webcast on the television show, and then, if ambitious, create a video to be sent to the Web site, in hopes of being featured on a future webcast embedded in the television show.

Want to lie down until you feel better?

As a television show alone, "iCarly" is another solid entry from tween guru Dan Schneider. The creator of "The Amanda Show," starring Amanda Bynes (who has moved into films), Schneider has a knack for spinning off his own characters into new vehicles. Drake Bell and Josh Peck (who play stepbrothers on the very popular Nick sitcom "Drake & Josh") started on the Bynes show; Cosgrove played Drake and Josh's little sister until that show recently wrapped up its run.

Cosgrove -- at least in the initial episode -- doesn't have the charisma of a Bynes or a Miley Cyrus ("Hannah Montana"), but she does have the best foil in the tween universe. As sassy, uninhibited Sam, McCurdy is already adept at slapstick and physical comedy. In behind-the-scenes footage provided with a preview copy of the show, McCurdy compares the Carly-Sam dynamic to that of Lucy and Ethel. A big stretch, of course, but the mere fact that a 15-year-old cites Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance as inspiration is, well, inspiring.

Nathan Kress plays Freddie Benson, the significantly shorter and seriously smitten boy across the hall, who has the tech knowledge (and equipment) to make the webcast happen. Jerry Trainor is Spencer, Carly's eccentric 26-year-old big brother, the show's goodhearted but basically idiotic grown-up (a staple in tween fare). The two live in an unrealistically upscale loft -- with an elevator! -- while their parents are on military assignment overseas.

Nobody breaks into spontaneous song or starts a band or is a secret pop star -- at least not yet -- but, otherwise, iCarly touches all the tween bases. And adds a few new ones: After all, this is a show whose preview copy came with its own kid-friendly webcam.

iCarly (30 minutes) premieres tonight at 8 on Nickelodeon with back-to-back episodes.