When I tell people I loved iCarly, I tend to attach an explainer.
“I only watched it because I have two younger siblings who were watching it.” “It was just on for some reason!” “I watched all TV, including TV for children.” “I know it’s silly, but I thought Spencer was cute!”
I was 16 when iCarly premiered, which is, when I think about it now, the age of a child and a totally reasonable age to be watching iCarly. But as most 16-year-olds do, I thought I was too cool for anything that might be perceived to be for children. I was overly conscious of doing anything that might take away from what I thought was my hard-earned maturity. I could drive a car, so I could not be watching brightly colored Nickelodeon comedies, no matter how much I loved them.
Now, it’s 14 years later, and those feelings remain, even as I eagerly await the revival. So, partly in an effort to push past my own weird lingering insecurities about my age and partly just to find out how badly the show itself aged, I decided to rewatch the series ahead of its return. I expected more of that same embarrassment, a lot of cringing and a whole lot of “yikes” at how very late 2000s/early 2010s the show was. But instead, I found joy.