Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove), a thirteen-year-old student at Ridgeway Middle School, gets in trouble by taking the blame for her best friend, Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy), for 'Photodocking' their English teacher's, Ms. Briggs (Mindy Sterling), head to a photo of a rhinoceros. Carly is punished and is forced to spend her Saturday judging the school's talent show auditions instead of going to a concert of her favorite band, Cuddlefish. Carly decides to make Sam go with her because it was Sam's wrongdoing, not Carly's. Their friendship is shown strongly here.
When Carly goes to borrow her 26 year-old brother, Spencer's (Jerry Trainor), camera, she finds out that he made it into a sculpture of a squirrel. Because of this, she asks Freddie Benson (Nathan Kress), her tech-wiz neighbor who has a major crush on her, to tape the auditions.
When Saturday comes, Freddie and the girls find most of the acts boring. After watching the audition of a boy who looks like Miss Briggs, Carly and Sam make jokes about her "crazy, pointy boobs," which according to the two friends could point anyone's eyes out. Freddie films this. Later that night, Carly and Sam check SplashFace (parody of YouTube), the video-sharing website where Freddie posted the talent show auditions, and find out that Freddie accidentally uploaded the video of them joking about Miss Briggs which he claimed he deleted before uploading but accidentally uploaded it and not the one that he was supposed to. After the girls confront him, Freddie tries deleting the video, but the video couldn't be deleted until the next morning.
The following Monday, Carly and Sam give a DVD of the auditions (with the comments omitted) to Miss Briggs, but she had already seen the video. Miss Briggs bans all the acts Carly and Sam nominated to be in the talent show. As Carly thought that it was unfair adults "control the world" and because they got a lot of comments praising them on SplashFace, she decided to create a web show, with her and Sam as hosts, and Freddie as their Tech Producer. Freddie comes up with the name "iCarly" and both girls agree with the name.
For their first show, they invite all the acts they originally wanted to be in the talent show and have them demonstrate their bizarre talents. The show is an immediate success so Carly, Sam and Freddie have a "Crazy Hat" party to celebrate and the episode ends with Sam and Carly dancing in the middle of a huge crowd.
Trivia
This is the very first episode ever aired.
Following this episode, every title for the episodes started with a lower case "i" mea
The iCarly Gang
ning "internet." However, in most episodes, it is used like it's referring to someone (such as iNevel and iMeet Fred), although in some foreign countries (mainly in non-English speaking ones) the names are changed.
On iCarly.com, this episode is called "iPremiere."
In a book adaption, the author cuts out the pointy boobs part, and replaces it with pointy ears. Also, when a SplashFace user called Carly hot, it was replaced with "pretty."
In this episode it is shown for the first time that Freddie has quite a big crush on Carly since the fourth grade.
Sam says that each show has a topic, but this tradition ended at some point during the series.
Photodock is a parody of Photoshop, while SplashFace is a parody of YouTube and probably Facebook, too.
Sam makes a reference to the book, Green Eggs and Ham, when she says, "Sam I am," which refers to one of the characters in the book called "Sam."
Freddie's personality seems to be a bit different in this episode. At the start, he is greatly in love with Carly, while he still has a crush on her in other episodes, he does not act out as strongly as he did with her in this episode. He also seems to hate Sam a lot more in this episode than in other episodes, where in this episode, they couldn't be considered friends, which they became soon afterwards.
This is the only episode in where Sam, Carly, or anybody, for that matter, uses the word "chillax."
During the filming of this episode, Dan Schneider would laugh at every joke every time to remind the actors to leave a space for the laugh track.
After this episode was completed, it was shown to four groups of 8 eleven year olds in Teaneck, New Jersey. 27 out of the 32 kids gave "iCarly" a grade of 'A' or 'A+'. Production of the show took a six-week hiatus awaiting the results from this focus group.
Mindy Sterling was the only one with a speaking part that changed the way she read her lines with each take. Dan Schneider would have to ask the others to read their lines differently, but they didn't.
Nickelodeon picked up the show for thirteen episodes before this episode was written or outlined.
This episode aired three hours earlier on The N (now TeenNick, a channel owned by Nickelodeon that is geared more towards teen shows) than it did on Nickelodeon.
Ridgeway's team mascot is "The Bulldogs."
The first kid from the talent auditions, performs a scene from a French play called, "Là où est ma femme?" ("Where is my wife?")
The equipment that Freddie used for the talent show auditions was "a 3-chip high-def camcorder with a hyper-cardioid condenser microphone mounted on a carbon fiber tripod with a low-drag fluid head."
Carly, Sam, and Freddie attend the eighth grade at Ridgeway.
In this episode, we see the Japanese lamp, even though Spencer didn't put it together until iPromise Not to Tell.
The URL www.splashface.com is one of the only websites that do not redirect you to iCarly.com, it will redirect you to www.theslap.com, which is the website for another Nickelodeon show by Dan Schneider, Victorious.
Mrs. Benson and Spencer could've been woken up by the yellings of Carly and Freddie, although Spencer could've been at his friend's house (possibly Socko).
It is mentioned that Carly's father is in the military overseas. He has often been mentioned throughout the series.
An extended version of this episode can be seen on Netflix as well as on the DVD version (although there is no mention of this on the DVD notes).
The cellist at the auditions is playing the song, "Long Long Ago."
In this episode, and later in iGo to Japan, Freddie is shown looking out the peephole of his apartment door, waiting for Carly to come home. It was never explained why Freddie would assume that Carly would necessarily take the main elevator to her floor, rather than take the freight elevator directly into her apartment.
The shot of Carly throwing her hat into the air remains the only shot to stay in the opening credits from Season 1 and onwards (except for "iParty with Victorious").
Nathan Kress did not wear the platform shoes from the rest of season 1 in this episode.
Spencer also made another sculpture in this episode called "Bottle Bot".
In iGoodbye, the flashbacks to this episode are shown.
Brennan Mejia, who played Brennan Yuberly in this episode, would later play Tyler Navarro in Power Rangers Dino Charge. He is one of the two Power Rangers actors to appear in a Dan Schneider created sitcom. Felix Ryan, who played Spike in Power Rangers Samurai, appeared in one episode of Victorious.
Goofs
After the first webcast, right after Sam says "Hey, we should have a party!", Carly puts her hair back behind her left ear, but immediately after that, there is a cut to a different camera angle, and Carly's hair covers her left ear again.
When Carly and Sam asked Freddie why he filmed them at the auditions, Carly said, "Why did you film us at the auditions today?", but a few minutes earlier, Carly said it was after midnight, so it would have been the following day.
Quotes
Carly: [angrily] Hi! Sam: Did you get in trouble? Carly: Of course I got in trouble! Teachers tend to get upset when you put their heads on the bodies of big, fat animals! Carly: You know, anybody but me would punch you right in the head. Sam: Which is why you are my best friend! Carly: Good to know. Now, why are you mine? Sam: Because I'm a lovable person! [pushes kid into his locker]
Freddie: [hands water bottle back to Carly] You dropped this! Carly: [takes the bottle back] Thanks but you.... Freddie: [big grin] I was gonna walk you home from school but I couldn't find ya. Hey! Carly: Freddie, were you just looking out your peephole waiting for me to come home? Freddie: No! Carly: Freddie! Freddie: [lower voice] Yes... Carly: I thought we talked about this. We can be buds but you've gotta get over this crush thing. Freddie: I am over it, seriously. I'm in love with you, you just wanna be friends and I'm totally cool living with that constant pain! Carly: Oh god... Freddie: Hey, I heard you needed a camera to tape some auditions? Carly: Yeah, but I'm just gonna use my brother's camera. Freddie: Well if you need my help, you know my digits. [pulls out cell phone] Carly: Hey, you got a new phone! Freddie: YOU CAN HAVE IT! Carly: [walks into apartment and begins talking to Spencer] I'm home! Spencer: Hey kiddo! [Carly closes the door] Up here. Just taking some pics of my robot sculpture. [to robot] Smile! [takes a picture] Carly: You know, for most 8th grade girls, if they found their 26 year old brother, dangling upside down from the ceiling, over a giant robot made of soda bottles, it'd be weird. Spencer:[dangling] You're saying I'm abnormal. Carly: Do I need to say it? Come down from there before you hurt yourself! Spencer: No worries I've got my legs wrapped around this pipe...[falls from the ceiling] AAAAHHHHH! Carly: I can't believe you're in charge of me. Spencer: Please help me stand up! Carly: [helps Spencer up] Are you okay? Spencer: Y...no! I dislocated my shoulder again. One sec [throws himself on the floor] Yep, that fixed her.
Freddie: [to Carly] I also brought you juice and a bagel!
Sam: Hey, you invited the doof. Carly: Sam... Freddie: Aw, man! I didn't know that was gonna be here! Sam: She. I am a she, Freddie, as in girl. Freddie: Barely... Sam: [sarcastically] Oooh! Freddie: You just keep your hands off my A-V equipment! Sam: You mean I can't play with the white balance on your super-dee duper-dee camcorder? Freddie:[sarcastically] Ah, sure! Everyone jokes about the white balance 'til the skin tones go magenta! Sam: Ahem... Carly will never love you. Freddie: THAT'S IT! I'm takin' my stuff and goin' home! [starts to pack stuff] Carly: [smiles at Freddie] Please stay... Freddie: Okay...
Sam: What'd you think? Carly: [French accent] I DON'T KNOW!!! Sam: [French accent] YOU DON'T KNOW!!! Carly: [French accent] I TELL YOU I DO NOT KNOW!!! Sam: [French accent] BUT YOU MUST KNOW!!! Carly: [French accent] HOW CAN I KNOW WHEN I DO NOT KNOW!!! Sam: [French accent] I DON'T KNOW!!
Carly: It's on SplashFace! Sam: Okay, okay! Chillax. Look. See the view count? Only 27 people have clicked on it. Carly: Oh. Okay, good. [silence, Carly observes the video] Carly: [calmly] Sam? Sam: Yeah? Carly: THAT'S 27,000! [Sam falls off her chair]
Freddie: [Sam pulls Freddie by the feet] AAAHHHHH!!! QUIT IT SAM! LET GO OF MY FOOT! LET GO! WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?!!!! Carly: Why'd you film us at the auditions today? Freddie: Oh, 'cause you guys were being funny. Sam:[yelling] Well. you shouldn't have put us online without our permission! Freddie:[walking over to the computer] I didn't. I edited you guys out before I uploaded the auditions. Carly: No you did the oppisite of that. Freddie:[searching Splashface] Oh come on, there's no way I... [realizing they were right] uh-oh! Sam: Yeah! Carly:[frustrated] just take us off the site. Freddie: Okay, okay, just give me a sec. Carly:[to Sam] Oh this is so not good! Anyone, anyone in the world can just click and hear everything we did and said today Sam: Totally and if Miss Briggs... Carly:[cuts her off] You don't need to talk about it cause if she... Freddie:[cuts her off] Hah got it! it's says at your request this video will be removed. Carly and Sam:[sighing] Finally! Freddie: Tomorrow morning! Carly and Sam: Ahhh, Freddie!
Carly: Where's Ms. Briggs? What if she saw it? Sam: The video was off by yesterday morning." Carly: What if she saw it before it was off? Sam: It was Sunday! She was probably in church! Carly: What church would let Ms. Briggs in the door?!
[on the iCarly webcast] Sam: She's Carly! Carly: She's Sam! Sam: Sam I am! Carly: [pointing at herself, then Sam] Carly, Sam... Sam: I think they're clear.
Carly: Okay, this first kid we're gonna show you can take a glass of milk— Sam: This is so deliciously gross! Carly: —snort the milk up into his nose— Sam: It's the best thing ever! Carly: —and then make the milk squirt out of his eyes!" Sam: I wanna marry this boy!
Freddie: You wanna go out in the hallway and kiss? Carly: No... Freddie: Yeah! Me neither!
