International favourite iCarly to hit Kiwi kids’ TV & computer screens this May

Nickelodeon’s newest live-action series, iCarly comes to Nick NZ (SKY channel 41) in May 2008. The first scripted series to incorporate kid-created original content, iCarly has proven to be a hit on multiple platforms in the USA. iCarly achieved a massive 13 million strong US television audience in it's opening weekend with 300,000 US online visitors and is fast becoming one of Nick’s strongest rating shows worldwide.

From creator Dan Schneider, iCarly is a show within a show that brings the medium of web-casting to good old fashioned television broadcasting, resulting in a highly tech savvy and interactive tv show for kids. Kids in the USA watching the show are directed to a website to upload their original content, which may be either scripted into a future iCarly episode or become part of Carly's web cast online.

iCarly stars Miranda Cosgrove, (Drake & Josh, School of Rock), as Carly Shay, who lives with her twenty-something brother Spencer (Jerry Trainor) and produces her web casts from a makeshift third-floor loft studio with her sassy best bud Sam (Jennette McCurdy) and tech-savvy smitten friend Freddy (Nathan Kress).

Grappling with adolescence, she never aimed to gain fame as a rising star/underground celebrity to kids. As events unfold in the pilot, it all happens by accident when a teacher (guest star Mindy Sterling, Austin Powers' Frau Farbissina) puts her in charge of the school talent show. She and Sam turn the audition process into a show, which Freddy records and posts on the web unbeknownst to them. The online audience clamors for more, and a pop phenomenon blooms, with Carly and sidekick Sam's regular web casts ultimately featuring everything from comedy sketches and talent contests to interviews, recipes and problem-solving.

Here in NZ via iCarly.com all Kiwi kids will have the chance to show their stuff on a localised veriosn of the site. Just like the interactive element of the show in the USA, this site will allow Kiwi kids to upload their home videos online. The most entertaining submissions will be screened nationwide on the Nick NZ iGallery and will be playing directly after iCarly. iCarly.com only expands upon the huge success of nicknz.co.nz which attracts over 19,000 Kiwi kids who spend an average of 11 minutes 55 seconds on the site and regularly submit their feedback on ‘Nick natter’.

Nick will be running a Miranda Madness Day on the last day of the school holidays, Sunday 4 May, full of the shows that Miranda Cosgrove has starred in including Drake and Josh, Zoey 101 and Unfabulous. The day will culminate with the first ever episode of iCarly premiering in New Zealand at 5pm. iCarly will screen every Sunday at 5pm from then on.

So tune in to the exclusive premiere pilot of iCarly on Nick NZ (SKY channel 41) at 5pm on Miranda Madness Day, Sunday 4 May to see why this show has taken international Nick audiences by storm...

ENDS