"You can't fire Sam!"
— Carly to Brad regarding Sam.
iCarly Saves TV (also known as iCarly Saves Television) is the twenty-third episode of the first season of iCarly. This episode marks the second extended episode behind iPilot, being 27 minutes long instead of the usual 24 minutes.
A big time TV producer from TVS Records notices that his daughter dislikes his new show, but would rather watch iCarly on the internet, so he decides to make iCarly into a hit TV show. Initially blinded by the extravagance of riding in a limo and of being part of a big TV production, Carly, Sam, and Freddie (with Spencer's permission) agree to the scheme. Freddie is made the "supervising producer" of the show.
Things go well at first with Sam and Carly performing a good show, helped by the addition of a studio band featuring Harper, a very talented teen musician. Things soon begin to turn negative as the producer proceeds to make more and more ill-conceived changes. He adds an obnoxious dinosaur character named Zeebo to the cast, and eliminates Harper's band, then forces Harper to take over the role of Zeebo after Sam beats up the original actor. Ultimately he fires Sam and replaces her with a child superstar named Amber Tate, who turns out to be even more annoying than Zeebo. Freddie, however, has that found his "supervising producer" title qualifies him to act as a "gofer" for the producer and he finally quits after they cross the line when he's ordered to plunge a toilet.
Freddie icing a man's stomach as part of his job as a supervising producer.
Carly also threatens to quit and go back to the webcast, only to learn that the studio now owns the iCarly name and the concept. Fortunately, after another rehearsal where it's clear that Carly and Amber are not getting along, the producer has another brainstorm.
Back at the apartment, Carly, Sam, Spencer, and Freddie watch the first episode of their new teen sitcom. It turns out the producer's idea is to drop the iCarly name and concept completely and go back to his original lame teen sitcom idea from the start of the episode, only now it includes Zeebo and Amber Tate, making the show much worse.
With iCarly back on the web and back the way it's supposed to be, Carly and Sam welcome Harper as a musical guest, who sings a song he wrote for iCarly.
Meanwhile, at home, Mrs. Benson and Spencer try to fill the void by acting like family to each other. Mrs. Benson begins treating Spencer in the same manner as she treats Freddie. Spencer objects at first, until he learns about the sugar-free lollipops she keeps in her industrial-strength first aid kit.
Trivia
The "sweaty guy scene" was cut briefly from the UK iCarly episode.
The bit where Spencer turns to the class and says "guava" is cut from the UK iCarly episode.
This is the first time Carly's name was used in the title.
This episode's original idea was sent in by an iCarly.com user named fox1014.
Harper is the third person on the show to sing on iCarly, after Jake in iLike Jake and the Plain White Tees in the episode, iRue The Day.
In the beginning of the episode, Carly says "Pump Up The Fruit", which appears on Spencer's Penny Tee in iWin a Date.
TVS is a possible spoof of CBS, or maybe TBS in name.
The term "Gofer" was first mentioned as a job on The Muppet Show, where the character Scooter was a gofer: the main idea was that The Muppet Show focused on animals and a gopher was an animal.
Zeebo is a parody of Barney the Dinosaur, but he resembles Godzooky, Godzilla's nephew in the Godzilla TV series made by Hanna-Barbera productions.
The extended version of this episode can be seen on Netflix.
The real life show, Full House, is mentioned by a fictional actor who claimed he appeared four times on it and is referenced again in iSam's Mom (by Gunsmoke).
In the opening sequence when the girls are supposed to be pumping the watermelon with compressed air, Carly actually turns the switch on the compressor to the OFF position.
Quotes
Brad: Morgan ... Morgan: Oh, hey, Daddy. Brad: ...What are you doing? Morgan: Watching iCarly online. Brad: Sweetie, I told you, if Daddy doesn't come up with some TV shows people your age like, Daddy's going to get fired, and have no more money. And then you'll starve.
Morgan [to Brad about his TV show]: It's lame, Daddy.
Brad's Boss [mocking Morgan, sarcastic to Brad]: "It's lame, Daddy."
Spencer: This is a guava. [turns to classroom] Guava. [nods his head] Entire class: Guava. [The class starts nodding their heads.]
Freddie: Supervising producer. Mrs. Benson: [to Brad] Is that dangerous? Does it involve anything sharp or pointy? [Brad shakes head]
Sam: And would there be ribs? Brad: Do you like ribs? Sam:[quickly] Very much, yes.
Brad: Don't worry about that. We're getting rid of the band completely. Carly: Why? Brad: So we'll have time for more Zeebo! Sam: Why are you so stupid?
Brad: [to Sam] You're fired. Carly and Freddie: What?! Carly: You can't fire Sam! Sam: Whoa, wait, whoa. If I'm fired, do I still get paid for the whole week? Brad: Yes. Sam: Later. [walks out eating ribs]
