Miranda Cosgrove appeared to be a typical 15-year-old shopper -- applying the latest flavor of lip gloss at the cosmetics counter, fawning over designer sneakers, trying on headbands -- except most of the other Nordstrom customers on this crowded Sunday afternoon weren't accompanied by security guards and didn't have the ability to make youngsters audibly gasp, as if they'd just spotted a Juicy Couture purse for 69 cents.
Cosgrove stars in Nickelodeon's "iCarly," a series about a tech-savvy teen who creates her own goofy Internet show, which could best be described as a "Wayne's World" for hip girls. Unlike the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana," about a pop star who moves achy-breaky hearts, and "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," in which two kids live in a luxury hotel, thereby eliminating the need to take out the garbage, "iCarly" centers on the very real possibility of putting on your own show without the need of great dance moves, a barn or Mickey Rooney.
Viewers are encouraged to visit icarly.com and submit their own work, and the results are as entertaining and creative as a season of "America's Funniest Home Videos."
Creator Dan Schneider believes no other TV program has so successfully integrated the Internet into its content. It's a marriage that almost didn't happen.
Schneider, who had previously cast Cosgrove as a scheming sister in his hit series "Drake & Josh," planned to build a new show around her titled "Star Struck," which would follow the adventures of a young girl who, quite by accident, becomes the star of a hit show. But as the first day of shooting approached, Schneider started to have second thoughts.
"All my shows are about kid empowerment," said Schneider, who's also responsible for "Zoey 101" and "The Amanda Show." "With young people embracing technology, it was possible to have a character create her own thing. She actually says in the 'iCarly' pilot, 'We've got no adults to tell us what we can and can't do.'"
Schneider's last-minute switcheroo paid off.
The most recent episode, in which the gang rebuffs the advances of a know-nothing network exec, was the week's top nonsports program on cable TV and the second most-downloaded show on iTunes. The soundtrack for the series debuted earlier this month at No. 28 on the Billboard charts.