Those iCarly Shipping Wars

Back in April,  I noted that one of TV’s most successful producer of children’s programming is Dan Schneider. His shows have range from All That in the 90’s to the very successful iCarly (currently in season 4). However, I doubt that Mr. Schneider could have hoped in his wildest dreams for the reaction his trio of characters (Miranda Cosgroove as Carly Shea, Nathan Kress as Freddie Benson and Jennette McCurdy as Samantha (Sam) Puckett) have had on their audience.

iCarly is about three high school kids who have a popular weekly webcast. The show is hosted by Carly Shea and her friend and sidekick, Sam Puckett. The web show is produced by their friend, Freddie Benson. Each character brings something a little different to their webcast. While the web show is named after Carly, she knows she can’t carry the production by herself and over the last 4 seasons, both Sam and Freddie have left (they were both back by the end of the episodes) to prove the point that the webcast, iCarly, belongs to all three of them.

Freddie has had a crush on Carly since the day he first met her, but Carly has indicated she isn’t interested in extending their relationship beyond friendship. But now that Sam and Freddy have kissed, Carly, on more than one occasion, has demonstrated that she has been bitten by the jealousy bug.   That leaves Sam, who by far is one of the most interesting characters on children’s TV today. Sam is a tomboy with a twin sister who isn’t. She is from a broken home, a bully, a juvenile delinquent, fluent in Italian and has competed (and won)  several talent/ beauty pageants when she was younger. There is no way a character this complex works if it were portrayed by anyone else other than the talented Jennette McCurdy. She makes Sam likeable enough for you to care about her. And apparently, a lot of people do.

Lines have been drawn in the shipper battles for iCarly. Those who see Carly and Freddie together are called “Creddie;” those who prefer Sam and Freddie are called “Seddie.” There are also those who prefer Sam and Carly’s older brother, Spencer (portrayed by Jerry Trainor) despite the fact that relationship may be illegal in 48 of 50 states because of Sam’s age.  To his credit, Dan Schneider is aware of the shippers and on his blog has acknowledged them, noting that both sets of shippers will have plenty to be happy about in the future of iCarly.

One thing is for certain, between now and the January 2012 episode, iMeet the First Lady (with Mrs. Michelle Obama), half the shippers (regardless of where their loyalties lie) will be happy at any one given point in time. But I guarantee you that the real winner in the shipper wars is Freddie because which ever way it goes, he wins. Oh, what a lucky boy he is.