Special Caps Off a Four-Hour iCarly Marathon, Arriving on Heels of iCarly
Album Release (June 10)
Leon Thomas (August Rush, Broadway's The Lion King) and Rachel Fox
(Desperate Housewives) Guest-Star
LOS ANGELES, June 2 -- When Carly, Sam and Freddie are
approached by a big-time broadcaster to adapt their popular web show for
TV, their ecstasy quickly turns to agony as the tween trio clashes with
clueless network executives and they find themselves struggling to save the
iCarly they know and love, in an all-new primetime special "iCarly Saves
TV" premiering Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). Leon Thomas (August Rush,
Broadway's The Lion King) guest stars as cool Harper who leads iCarly's new
TV show band and Rachel Fox (Desperate Housewives' evil Kayla) ruffles
feathers as Amber Tate, the tween diva poised to supplant Sam as Carly's
sidekick. The special will cap off a four-hour marathon of the convergent,
mega-hit live-action series (4-8 p.m.), hosted by the show's stars:
headliner Miranda Cosgrove (Carly), Jennette McCurdy (Sam), Nathan Kress
(Freddie) and Jerry Trainor (Spencer).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080602/NYM064 )
The programming event arrives on the heels of the eagerly awaited
iCarly album, which will be released June 10 from Columbia Records -- part
of the global partnership between Nickelodeon and the Sony Music Label
Group -- and debuts four original songs performed by Cosgrove, including
the show's theme "Leave It All to Me." It also features songs inspired by
the popular series from multi-platinum popular artists including Natasha
Bedingfield and Avril Lavigne and by guest star Thomas who performs
musically in the special.
iCarly is one of the top shows on all of TV with its demo -- and the
highest rated of all in its time period with kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14. In
first quarter (1Q) 2008, iCarly was the 2nd highest-rated live-action
series on all of cable among both kids 6-11 and 9-14 just behind Zoey 101
and is among the top three series on all of TV with the same demos.
(Source: NMR - 1Q08).
In addition, there have been over 150,000 iTunes downloads of the
iCarly theme song, "Leave It All to Me" sung by Cosgrove, which recently
charted on the Billboard Hot 100. More than 234,000 a la carte episodes
have been purchased on DTO platforms, and approximately 5,000 season
passes. iCarly is the top requested show on VOD among all of Nickelodeon's
live-action series (Source: Rentrack). The series received more than 3
million views for 1Q08.
Nickelodeon's multi-platform efforts for "iCarly Saves TV" include a
special mini-site http://www.nick.com/icarlysavestv , featuring a sneak
peek of the special, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, and music videos
from the iCarly album, an "iCarly Saves TV" game, message boards and an MP3
Player for streaming tracks from the iCarly album. A unique Karaoke element
kicks off with "Leave It All to Me" allowing kids to sing along, record
their own version and rate other kids' efforts. Beginning June 2,
TurboNick, Nickelodeon's wireless partners and VOD also will offer sneak
peeks, additional footage ("Extra Scoops" and "Awesome Extras"). Following
the TV premiere, an instant replay of the special will be available on
TurboNick and VOD.
It's a case of easy come, easy go in "iCarly Saves TV" when the iCarly
team is summoned by big-time broadcaster "TVS Network" to adapt their
popular web show for TV to help attract more kid viewers. At first the trio
is thrilled by the perks of television, but disastrous changes are in the
air -- and on the air. Clueless network executives proceed to re-tool the
show and, adding insult to injury, iCarly's great new band is axed and
leader Harper is forced to play silly Zeebo the Dinosaur. Carly's sassy
sidekick and best pal Sam is fired and replaced by demanding young diva
Amber, and tech producer Freddie is reduced to fetching bagels and cleaning
toilets. Pushed to the breaking point, Carly tries to quit, but the TV
honcho proclaims he now owns her show!
For four hours leading up to the special, each iCarly cast member will
take turns hosting Nick each hour, introducing their favorite iCarly
episodes and telling behind-the-scenes stories. Plus, as a result of
Nickelodeon's unprecedented on-air and online "Call to Action" enlisting
kids to make their own music video by taping themselves singing the iCarly
theme song, the cast will select and feature the winners during the
marathon. The select videos uploaded and submitted (5/24-6/13) also will
appear online on iCarly.com.
A show-within-a show, iCarly follows its characters on and off webcam
as they create their webcast -- and grapple with everyday tween problems
and adventures -- and the sitcom drives viewer participation on iCarly.com.
Tops with target demos, iCarly comes courtesy of executive producer/creator
Dan Schneider's (Zoey 101, Drake & Josh) Schneider's Bakery. Kid viewers
who've connected with the TV characters interact with them at real-life
companion website http://www.icarly.com -- and upload original videos there
perchance to wind up on TV. They also check out highlights of the latest
webcasts from the series -- plus additional footage not seen on-air -- read
weekly character blogs, send e-mails, ask questions, post comments,
participate in polls and more. The popular site averages 2.8 million
monthly visitors (source: Omniture SiteCatalyst 1Q08). Kids also may log
onto http://www.nick.com/icarly for show background info, bios, games,
behind-the-scenes clips and more.
Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment
brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids
first in everything it does. The company includes television programming
and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer
products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films.
Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million
households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more
than 13 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters
and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).
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