In Which We Disagree About iCarly

Laney discovered iCarly a few months ago and has been a passionate devotee ever since. Meg is less enthralled. Let's start with Laney. She says...

iCarly is one of my favorite TV shows. It is funny. iCarly is about three kids who do a web show that has comedian stuff on it... like REALLY funny. And if you don't know what "comedian" means, it means "a person who tells jokes in front of an audience." They have a web show part and each episode has two other stories happening. I think the web show stuff is funnier. I think my favorite two clips from the web show are when they pumped air into Freddie's pants or when they were swinging on swings debating on which one was more important, pudding or legs.

I don't care about Sam and Freddie being girlfriend and boyfriend. iCarly isn't about romantic relationships, it is about laughing and doing funny stuff and also sharing a neighbor's apple with them (I just said that to make some people laugh).

Sam is (most of the time) kind of mean to Freddie. Yet, Carly is (most of the time) with Sam and Sam isn't mean to Carly. Sam and Carly are good friends. And Carly and Freddie are good friends. Yet, if you consider, on Sam's birthday, Freddie said "I still think of you and me, Sam, as really good friends." I don't get that at all.

I that legs are more important than pudding. Vote here, people!

Now let's hear from Meg:

First a note about my personal TV/parenting philosophy: I'm disinclined to forbid Laney from watching things that I disapprove of. I find that banning things just make them more exotic, hence more appealing. I learned this from the great Bratz Doll embargo of 2006. Instead, if she wants to watch it, I'll watch it with her and then bore her to death with endless questions about why she likes it and endless speeches about why she shouldn't like it. This is one of Laney's favorite things about watching TV with me.

Now, iCarly. There are some things that I like. I like that it's about purportedly funny girls. I like how consistently it passes the Bechdel test. I like that these girls have a solid friendship based on their goofy senses of humor. These are things I like. These are the only things that I like.

In a nutshell, the prevailing iCarly ethos seems to be that some people are special and gifted enough that they are entitled to be jerks. I've never seen an ancillary character show up without being exposed as somehow beneath the attention of the iCarly crew or deserving of their derision. Everyone outside of the principals is dull and dim-witted. And because everyone else in the world is dull and dimwitted, it's OK for the iCarly crew to behave like utter jerkwads.

Take, for example, Spencer's response when a woman denies him a professional courtesy. He attempts to bribe her with "How about dinner with me? That's GOT to sound good to you." In another episode, Spencer says he has to leave to meet a date. "Who?" asks Carly. "The social worker," he replies. "Oh, she's gross. She'll wait," respond Carly and Sam in unison.

This is the thing that worries me about Laney watching the show - that she'll somehow internalize this notion that it's OK to be mean if you're smart enough, or funny enough, or good looking enough.

Fortunately, whenever Laney says something sarcastic or mean, I can respond, "I think you get that from iCarly. Keep it up and you're not going to get to watch it anymore." And since Laney mostly loves the show for moments like the great legs v. pudding debate, she's cool with that.

And, it's legs. Legs are clearly more important than pudding. Laney's father disagrees.