iCarly for grown-ups? Can Paramount+ catch up to Netflix and Disney+ with its reboot of the hit 2000s kids show that once featured Emma Stone as a crazed fan?

Jun 19 , 2021

Remember iCarly? Well it’s back – and not for kids. Photo: @PopCrave/Twitter

iCarly makes a comeback as streaming service Paramount+ angles for more subscribers – but will it flop like Hilary Duff’s Lizzie McGuire reboot?

The young adult sitcom will feature ‘sexual situations’ and Miranda Cosgrove, who plays Carly, likened returning to the set as entering The Twilight Zone

For years, the entertainment industry has excelled at getting fans to follow new manifestations of their favourite childhood characters into all sorts of moneymaking venues, including cinemas, cruise ships and theme parks.

Now the allure of nostalgia is often aimed at a new destination. Enter streaming services.

A scene from the teen sitcom iCarly. Photo: @cjrebirth/Twitter

This summer, ViacomCBS Inc’s Paramount+ is rolling out a reboot of iCarly, a once-popular cable TV sitcom for teens, in the hope of getting fans of the original show to subscribe to the newly overhauled and rebranded streaming service.

iCarly originally ran from 2007 to 2012 on the kids’ cable TV network Nickelodeon, which is owned by ViacomCBS. The series tells the story of teenager Carly Shay and her friends, who create a home-grown web show called iCarly. It unexpectedly turns into a hit, leaving the surprised youngsters to grapple with their new-found internet fame. Much hilarity ensues.

The new version on Paramount+ revolves around the same set of characters, played by many of the same actors, now grown up and confronting the complexities of young adulthood in a new and much different era of the web.

“It’s definitely crazy, and a really interesting, fun experience,” Miranda Cosgrove, who plays Carly in the original and the reboot, said in an interview. “Even seeing the sets for the first time was really insane because a lot of them are the same but updated, so it kind of was a little like The Twilight Zone.”

Influencer culture

Now that the cast – and the show’s original viewers – are all grown up, the show is no longer for kids, according to one of its stars, Jerry Trainor. Photo: @bIackscarlet/Twitter

The reboot is geared toward adult viewers, particularly those who loved iCarly in their youth. The goal is for fans of the old show to follow Carly to Paramount+, where they can watch her re-emerge as a modern-day influencer during a moment in time when anyone can reach fame, or infamy, on social media.