ICarly/Tropes F-J

"Carly: We have to keep the game clean and fair.
 * Face Doodling: Sam's prank to sleeping students whenever Ridgeway High has an all-nighter, snapshot them and upload it in the internet. Carly remarks that Sam's doodles are "accurate".
 * Face Palm: Spencer balls his fist onto his face when the European swimsuit models dance goofily.
 * Carly slaps her forehead with her palm upon learning Sam's mom has no idea what iCarly is.
 * Failed a Spot Check: Gibby in iWin a Date, doubling as Comically Missing the Point.

Gibby: How would I know which one is Shannon?

Sam: Listen. There will be 3 girls: Girl Number 1, GIRL NUMBER 2, and Girl Number 3.

Gibby: So, which one is Shannon?

Carly: If you want TWO go on a date with Shannon, you got TWO choose carefully.

Carly & Sam: That is all you have TWO do.

Gibby: O-kaaaaay!"

"Carly: What's the temperature outside?
 * Freddie in iBeat the Heat:

Freddie: A hundred and four degrees.

Carly: Uuuuugh. (runs toward thermostat)

Freddie: Try to make it cooler in here.

(Carly glares back at Freddie)

Freddie: Which is probably what you're doing.

Carly: (deadpan) Uh-huh!"

"Sam: I set up one of Freddie's little webcams and aimed it at the table.
 * Spencer's overexcitement on the girl he just met at the ending of iThink They Kissed made him not notice that her little sister and her best friends are duct-taped against each other.
 * Fandom Nod: The first promo for the episode iStart A Fan War directly uses the Portmanteau Couple Name for both major pairings both in the voice over and graphics. In-universe direct references can be easily justified by the idea that as a popular online webshow, the shipping fan groups would probably actually exist in-universe as well.
 * iLost My Mind has Freddie directly respond to Seddie shippers who ignore Freddie's feelings.
 * Fan Dumb: In-universe, the Creddie and Seddie shippers that go to Webicon.
 * Fan Nickname: Guppy: Mini-Gibby.
 * Fan Service: iCarly Awards. Since half of the episode are FROM fans, the other half is made FOR fans. Let's see: Carly and Sam in eye-catching outfits, dancing shirtless male European models only in trunks, videos of freaky and unusual abilities, and eyes squirting out milk or extending a snake-long tongue.
 * iBeat the Heat has both Carly AND Sam in very skimpy summer outfits. Very HOT indeed.
 * Fan Service Pack: Freddie went from being a young Stalker With a Crush to being a rather attractive young man.
 * Sam and her transformation that started around Season 3.
 * Fascinating Eyebrow: Freddie can do this. Using it more often on Carly probably would've helped him seduce her by now.
 * Feigning Intelligence: Carly tries this in an attempt to impress a very intelligent (and good looking) boy in iQ.
 * Feud Episode: Each episode where Carly and Sam quarrel.
 * iDon't Want To Fight, where Carly gives Sam a handmade iCarly t-shirt (possibly the first ever made, but it's important to Carly), and Sam trades it for concert tickets.
 * iSaw Him First, where they fight over a hot guy, complete with sabotage and tricks. The actual conflict is resolved by the guy, who gets sick of their competitiveness, and then falls down an elevator shaft, and after they resolve not to fight over a guy anymore.
 * iQuit iCarly is probably the worst fight between them, when both girls side with different friends. Carly calls Sam lazy and Sam brings up the fact that the show is names after just Carly alone. The two refuse to apologize to one another. It ends with the girls nearly falling off the side of a building after Sam rashly jumps out onto a window cleaners platform to get a good camera shot.
 * iKiss is the first example for Freddie splitting with the girls, as he quit the show because Sam revealed he hadn't kissed a girl. I'm sure you wouldn't be shocked to find out they ended up sharing a First Kiss with each other at the end to fix it.
 * In iHire An Idiot, Freddie threatens to quit iCarly after the girls hire Cort as an intern solely because of his hotness.
 * Fiction Isn't Fair: 2 main areas:
 * Firstly, how the teachers at the school behave towards the students, but don't get into trouble. One example would be in iHave My Principals where one of the teachers gives Gibby a detention for being too Gibby, and they introduce uniforms in about a day.
 * Secondly, Sam should have been expelled and in juvie by now, even with Carly as a Morality Pet.
 * First Kiss: The subject of an episode regarding Freddie's admittance of not having one and Sam mocking him for it on the air. In the aftermath of the fight about Sam broadcasting it to the world, Sam reveals that she hasn't had her first kiss either, and the two end up sharing their first kiss together later in the episode.
 * First Name Ultimatum: "Gibby!"
 * Five Five Five: 1-555-SEND-ME-A-SACK
 * Five Man Band: See also the Power Trio entry below.
 * The Hero - Carly, also The Heart and The Chick of the main trio
 * The Lancer - Sam, also The Big Guy or Action Girl of the main trio
 * The Smart Guy - Freddie
 * The Big Guy - Gibby, also fills up the Sixth Ranger role
 * The Chick - Spencer
 * Flanderization - Everyone but Spencer, who could be argued started off Flanderized as the insane artist who constantly burns things, has suffered this:
 * Sam's tomboyish vibes from Season 1 evolved into various examples of extreme bullying, anti-social and sociopathic behaviour, like her running a child labour sweatshop.
 * In Season 1 Freddie's mom fit the pattern of OCD but Season 2 turned into a My Beloved Smother.
 * Season 5 is horrible for this:
 * Carly has started randomly insulting people, telling off Spencer and being mean spirited.
 * Freddie has started dismissing Carly, ignoring her, blowing her off and generally treating her like shit.
 * Sam's antagonism and fighting with Freddie was blown up in both iDate Sam & Freddie and iCan't Take It. While she has screwed with Freddie in the past, in iCan't Take It, she sabotages Freddie's science camp simply because he didn't know what time it was when she asked him.
 * Also Carly has become dumber. While she was never Lisa Simpson, she was a good student at the very least, She complained about not getting a well-deserved A in a class. As well as being generally pretty smart, she also worked hard on her schooling to get her first ever straight a's. She was also much more book smart than Sam to the point where she was accepted into a private school that even Freddie wasn't. But now she seems but now she seems just barely smart enough to live. This didn't happen all at once, but gradually over time, coming to a head in season 5. Like in the space episode, she can't pronounce claustrophobic, even though she is claustrophobic. In iQ she has to fake/cheat being intelligent to try and impress a guy when the old Carly would've have been able to at least hold the conversation easily.
 * Florence Nightingale Effect: Carly towards Freddie in iSaved Your Life.
 * Flynning: Anyone who has ever seen or participated in ANY form of fencing knows it bears little resemblance to the random swinging that Freddie and Spencer were doing. While this is excusable as they were probably playing around, the actual match against Toder still had them using incorrect equipment and disregarding basic rules of the sport.
 * Fluffy the Terrible: Fred/Lucas's pooch, Tibbles, is described by a terrified Spencer as being either a huge dog or a small bear.
 * Foreshadowing: In iBeat the Heat, Freddie states that Sabrina is just a tall girl, not a kind of hideous monster; after which he triggered an accident that made his statement figuratively true.
 * Foot Focus: Hey, it's Nickelodeon. Lots of it, mostly from Sam. And the scene where Carly and Sam draw faces on their toes and show them on the web.
 * Forceful Kiss:
 * For Science!: Carly uses this excuse in iOMG to get Gibby to help her electrocute her brother for their semester project.
 * The Four Loves:
 * Storge (Family): Carly and Spencer. You could argue to place Carly and Sam here instead of Phileo.
 * Phileo (Friendship): Carly and Sam. Carly towards Freddie. Sam and Freddie both tell each other they love the other after breaking up in iLove You.
 * Agape (Unconditional/Self Sacrifice): Freddie towards Carly, who seems to love Carly unconditionally no matter where their relationship lies with regards to Phileo and Eros. He has proven his ability to self-sacrifice for her, being almost killed in order to save Carly from being killed herself by pushing her out of the way of a truck in one episode.
 * Eros (Romantic): Based on the Love Dodecahedron, the Carly/Freddie/Sam trio have probably seen each other as Eros at least a few times, like during iSaved Your Life, and the Seddie arc.
 * Four Temperament Ensemble: Carly is sanguine, Sam is choleric, Freddie is melancholic, whilst Spencer fits into phlegmatic by way of being an artist who rarely interacts with anyone apart from the rest of the trio (his sister's friends), and his one single friend, Socko. He has girlfriends, but all are fleeting.
 * Freak Out: Carly is quite susceptible, most notably her hissy fits in iThink They Kissed and iSpace Out. Minor variations are the instances where she delivers long rants like in iSaw Him First and iDate a Bad Boy.
 * Also, Mrs. Benson will freak out of anything, usually hauling Freddie off for a tick bath, like in iFence.
 * Also, the way she went off on Carly in iWill Date Freddie, iMove Out and iSaved Your Life. Small wonder, then, why Carly's never really given Freddie an honest shot at romance.
 * Carly is an extreme claustrophobe. When locked in a small room or even a fake Space Shuttle, she can freak out quite spectacularly.
 * Freudian Excuse: Sam as part of her Anti Hero or Draco in Leather Pants semi-villainous character build. See iSell Penny Tees, for how her mother's behaviour influences her behaviour towards the children.
 * Friday Night Death Slot: Despite most of the second half of Season 3 airing on Fridays (mostly while they still had more episodes to air and when Big Time Rush needed more publicity), it managed to avert this and still did pretty well in its slot most of the time, getting solid audiences there often. The iSpace Out special had over 5 million viewers even in the presence of a new episode of The Suite Life On Deck airing at the same time. And when iGot a Hot Room aired in the summer, it aired against another new episode of the same show and absolutely obliterated its ratings. However, iStart a Fan War didn't exactly stand out as well as one would have expected, scoring only 5.02 million viewers. Guess what screwed it over?
 * Justified - All first-run television series targeted at preteens and young teenagers (whether they have a Periphery Demographic like iCarly or not), will generally receive better ratings on Friday or Saturday nights due to the lowered ratings standards for cable television and the fact that such shows target a younger audience than broadcast network shows, that would most likely be too young to date/go spend time with friends outside the home by themselves. Therefore the type of ratings that a tween series like iCarly gets in a first-run airing would often get a series cancelled/put it in danger of cancellation on network television than it would on cable.
 * Friendless Background: Sam fits this best with iChristmas, and iTwins in mind.
 * Freddie also has a lot of friends besides the girls, since he is a member of lots of extra-curricular clubs in school, implied in his blog and iMeet Fred.
 * Carly at least was shown working with Wendy for a project in iDate a Bad Boy, as noted by Word of God for that episode. Missy also shows up talking about their friendship when Carly lived in California. There is also the possibility that she became friendless after moving from California, until Sam showed up, and then she subsequently gained a wider circle of friends as she grew up.
 * Friendly Enemy: Sam and Freddie in Season 2 onwards, wherein season 1 they were forced to work together out of their mutal interest in Carly.
 * Friends Rent Control: As stated in iPilot, their loft has 3 floors with its own ELEVATOR. There are various fan theories for how they afford this (their father pays for it, Spencer's art makes a lot of money, etc.).
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: In "iPsycho", a clown had an aneurysm and died for an in-episode example. This was played for Black Humour, so is a literal Funny Aneurysm Moment.
 * Fun Personified: Spencer
 * Fun T Shirt: The various Penny Tee's that the iCarly crew wear. Examples include Peanut Butter Love, Parole Baby, and Danwarp Tweets.
 * Add Bacon Farm to that list. It goes to the top of the list - or should we say, to the front?
 * Gamer Chick: Sasha Striker in the episode iStage an Intervention who set the record for highest Pak Rat score.
 * Sam is also shown numerous times playing rhythm games, and Carly is shown a few times as well.
 * Geeky Turn On: Carly seemed to get pretty turned on by Freddie's tech talk in iSaved Your Life, calling it cute and geeky, and coining the word 'cukey'.
 * Gender Equal Ensemble - Interpretation of exactly what 'counts' for the trope can lead to this trope being played straight or averted depending on the cast combination used.
 * If you count just the main trio of characters due to their age then the show fails the trope until Gibby becomes a full time cast member in the later seasons.
 * If you count Spencer because he's Carly's brother and that the eponymous web show is filmed in their apartment, Spencer would round out the Two Girls and A Guy cast to achieve the trope before Gibby, but then turns it into an aversion when Gibby eventually shows up to make it 2 girls and 3 guys.
 * If you also count Mrs. Benson because she was the only other major character on the show from the start, then it means women outnumber the men until Gibby comes along to make the main cast 3 guys and 3 women.
 * Genre Savvy: Sam displays this in a number of episodes.
 * The Ghost: Spencer's friend Socko.
 * Gift of the Magi Plot: Kind of the basis of iDon't Want to Fight, on one side. It's Carly and Sam's 5th friendship anniversary, and Carly gives Sam a Special T-Shirt, while Sam promises to give Cuddlefish concert tickets, so she trades off the T-Shirt for the tickets to "Ripoff Rodney".
 * Girl (or Guy) Of The Week): Each character has had at least a couple of these:
 * Freddie: Valerie, Melanie. And strangely enough, Carly.
 * Carly: Griffin, Jake, Shane, and Freddie.
 * Sam: Jonah, Shane, Pete (with a Snap Back).
 * Spencer: Too many to list. Most of those relationships can only imply that Spencer has sex with the girl and she slinks off the next day never to be seen again.
 * Gilligan Cut: iWill Date Freddie evokes this twice.
 * During Freddie's date with Valerie.

Carly: But that's spying. We can't spy on Freddie on his first date!

(cue the girls slumping on beanbags watching the livestream on the monitor)

Carly: We're bad people."

"Valerie: Don't say anything. We don't want Carly to know about this.
 * When Valerie "seduces" Sam to sever her ties from iCarly and join Valerie instead.

Sam: Believe me, I won't.

(cue back at the Shay's loft)

Carly: She WHAT?!

Sam: That skunkbag tried to steal me too!"

"Spencer: NO! WE'LL NEVER SURRENDER THIS BOAT!
 * iSpeed Date: Sam refuses to go to the Groovy Smoothie with Freddie, thinking he, Carly and Spencer can handle all the guys themselves. Cut to the Groovy Smoothie with 752 guys...and the whole group.
 * Also, from iQuit iCarly, when the Pirates try to take over Spencer's boat:

(cut to Spencer and Gibby being thrown into a dumpster)

Spencer: (sticks his head out of the dumpster) ...They took over our boat."

"Freddie: Oh, my go-
 * iGet Pranky: Carly tells Spencer not to go getting all prank-happy on people. Spencer says that he won't. Take a wild guess as to what happens next.
 * Girliness Upgrade: The focus of the episode "iMake Sam Girlier".
 * Girl Next Door: Carly is Freddie's female front-door neighbor he fell in love with "at first sight".
 * Girl Scouts Are Evil: In iOwe You, the mean teenage Sunshine Girls who are rivaling Spencer for their selling spot at the supermarket. Subverted with the incredibly-shy Moe Emily who is the daughter of the hot mother Spencer is helping.
 * Go Look At the Distraction: In iOwe You, Sam tells Freddie his relative got hurt, sending him running back to his apartment, so she could cry to Carly without him seeing.
 * In iQuit iCarly, Sam distracts Carly's group by calling out Ryan Seacrest. They fall for it, prompting Sam to occupy the scaffolding venue first.
 * Give Geeks a Chance: iSaved Your Life epitomizes this trope. Freddie saves his dream girl's life, and boom, Carly falls head-over-heels toward him.
 * Glass Shattering Sound
 * Godiva Hair. Non-Nude version for Sam in iQuit iCarly.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation: The plot of iLost My Mind, regarding Sam's Love Epiphany.
 * Good Is Not Dumb: Carly sees the best in people, but if betrayed or oppressed, will come up with a scheme like having a massive in-school riot to get the good principal back.
 * She does enter the Stupid Good territory sometimes, like in iSell Penny Tees where she paid all the kids in advance as part of opposing Sam's methods, causing the kids to disregard the work altogether.
 * Goofy Print Underwear: Spencer with his duck pajamas. Then his duck boxer shorts. Sam and her "I love Las Vegas" underwear. Freddie's anti-bacterial underwear would be related to this trope somehow.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: Many characters have a habit of using certain words as substitutes for words they cannot get past the radar (like the Shay siblings' "Shoosh yeah!"). Can be considered an Unusual Euphemism but most of the time, it's a bit surprising what got past the radar.
 * "Cheese and rice!" Spoken by the principal himself with the matching accent for the expression it sounds like.
 * Freddie's "This is serious chiz!" was controversial enough for some people in YouTube to claim that iCarly had used a swear word. Hilarity Ensues if any non-viewer of the show saw the video and thought the swear word is Sam's last name.
 * Sam uses "Holy cheese on a chisel!" and "Holy crab!"
 * Diphead, Dipthong, Dipwad, Skunk Bag and so on.
 * Mrs. Benson's "What the YUCK?" when she caught Carly kissing Freddie passionately in iSaved Your Life.
 * A highlight in iMove Out:

Mrs. Benson: You better end that with gosh.

Freddie: Dear gosh, please make her leave."

"Spencer: Did I hear you say you got detention?
 * "Shoosh yeah" is a common euphemism.
 * Green Eyed Monster: Freddie suffers this in iLike Jake and iDate A Bad Boy. Carly also gets this like whoa during the recut version of iSaved Your Life. When a slutty girl comes up to Freddie and offers him weekend sex with her whilst her parents and brothers are away (or whilst her brother holds a wild no-adults party, it's not 100% clear), Carly grabs Freddie by the shoulder, embraces him and starts French kissing him so the girl will take the hint that Freddie is taken, much to his surprise.
 * Green Aesop: iGo Nuclear. Played with at the very least due to it being forced upon the writers, to the point where it can be interpreted as a Spoof Aesop or a Family Unfriendly Aesop.
 * Grievous Harm With a Body: In iHalloween, while the gang were broadcasting their web show in a supposed haunted house, things began to get freaky and they start to leave. Unfortunately, the door got locked. While trying to figure out a way to open the door, Carly suggests hitting it with something. Sam promptly proceeds to use Freddie.
 * Groin Attack: Spencer gets whacked with a ladle by Stu Stimbler's son in iStake Out, then another one in iKiss when Sam threw the football to Spencer hard but not high enough.
 * He gets another one in iBeat the Heat, where Chuck Chambers hits him with a rolled up magazine.
 * One of the holes in Spencer's mini-golf course in iMight Switch Schools involves this on a cut-out. Freddie groans in sympathy.
 * Spencer takes a Groin Shot in iStart a Fan War when someone throws his 'longstaff' from a crowd, and in ''iCan't Take It', he gets one from Sam while trying to stop her from beating up Gibby.
 * Grandparental Obliviousness: Carly can't stop Nevel from messing with her website because while his mom goes on a cruise, the only person in charge of him is his grandmother, "and she's hopelessly confused."
 * Averted Trope and subverted with Carly and Spencer's grandfather, who seems to be the sanest member of their family.
 * Also averted with Wade Collins' mother, who practically is aware of her Jerkass son's actions and instead of punishing him, supports him whole-heartedly on it.
 * G Rated Drug: Fat Cakes are treated as such in iToe Fat Cakes when the group tries to cross the border.
 * Gratuitous Spanish: Freddie, most notable in mid-season 2 episodes and beyond.
 * Hacker Cave: "Well, we found Nevel's nerd cave."
 * Hair of Gold: Melanie
 * Ham to Ham Combat: iStart A Fan War has Spencer vs Jack Black.
 * Hands Off Parenting: At the very least, Spencer and Carly's father. Possibly their mother, if she's alive. Most of the time Carly is the one taking care of Spencer, so he doesn't really count either. Sam's mom would be a "lives with the child" version of this. Mrs. Benson is the exact opposite.
 * iSpace Out implied that their dad is stationed overseas for so long, he's not even aware that Spencer had dropped out of law school.
 * Spencer has his moments of parenting (iWanna Stay With Spencer being a prime example), and he has his moments of Hands Off Parenting, like in iGot Detention:

Carly: Yeah.

Spencer: Should I be concerned?

Carly: Not really.

Spencer: Later!"

"Freddie: You play the ukelele?
 * Hand Wave: iDate Sam & Freddie ends with a serious talk where Carly tells Sam and Freddie they need to sort out their dysfunctional relationship and actually solve problems together. They spent the entire episode fighting constantly. The next episode ignores that plot completely and has Sam and Freddie working together just fine, ignoring and hand waving away that Sam and Freddie have 'worked' on their problem.
 * Happy Birthday to You: An initial reference was made to this trope when Carly and the gang had to come up with an excuse explaining their invasion of Ms. Briggs' home in one episode: "Let's sing our public domain birthday song!"
 * Possibly justified as Busmans Vocabulary for people who produce user-generated Internet content.
 * iMake Sam Girlier, played with this at the beginning when the gang begins to sing said song for Sam's birthday before switching to an altered version of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow".
 * Happy Dance: Sam and Freddie when they win the iWeb Award in iGo To Japan. Carly sort of sways along.
 * Also, Carly and Freddie (...and Judge Marla?) in iCook.
 * Carly, Freddie and Spencer halfway through iFight Shelby Marx after Carly and Shelby made up.
 * Carly, Sam and Freddie when they watched Nevel's Jerkass video that caused him to be a social outcast.
 * Harmless Villain: Nevel's evil plan is to destroy iCarly.
 * Harsher in Hindsight: If you only watched iWill Date Freddie (from season 1) when it originally premiered, the joke about Valerie wanting to date Freddie that Sam makes isn't harsh at all, just typical Sam versus Freddie banter. But if you've seen iLost My Mind, then watch iWDF it becomes harsher and ironic. Sam tells Valerie ..."to email the address of the mental hospital she is staying in and he'll meet ya there." Implying that someone would have to be crazy to like Freddie. Fast forward nearly 4 years into the future and in iLost My Mind, when Freddie tells( and shows) Sam that he likes her too, guess where he does it. A mental hospital. Why is she there? She thinks she is crazy for liking Freddie. Both occurrences took place live on their webshow. So its possible that fans of the webshow in-universe also might be aware of this.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hell Hotel: Come On Inn. It's not scary, but the fact that the room Sam reserved is dilapidated by a shootout and a crime scene, coupled by poor maintenance and a hobo waiting outside the window with easy access will sure get the creeps out of anyone.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Carly and Sam, fueling no little source of Les Yay.
 * High School Dance: Although the actual dance is never shown, iSpeed Date revolves around the trio finding a date to the Sadie Hawkins/Girls Choice dance. Carly and Freddie end up slow dancing together after their crappy dates leave.
 * Hidden Depths: iEnrage Gibby focused on Gibby's Unstoppable Rage side, as well as this dialogue.

Carly: Yeah, a little.

Freddie: Wow, that's never been established."

"Spencer: You know, when I was at Ridgeway, I had a teacher who was such a loser! He's a freaky weirdo and smells like rotten wood...
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Sam is a hilariously abusive childhood in progress. It isn't hard to imagine how bad it could be, with a father who has apparently abandoned them, a mother who is most likely an alcoholic at the least, is constantly in jail, just like most of the rest of her family. All played for laughs on the show though.
 * One has to remember, though, that Melanie apparently spends most, if not all, of the year in a boarding school. Therefore she'd turn out okay, she doesn't have to deal with Mrs. Puckett.
 * Freddie's childhood is Hilariously Abusive in the opposite way.
 * Hilarious Outtakes: iBloop, entirely dedicated to the bloopers and outtakes of the cast throughout the series.
 * A sequel (iBloop 2: Electric Bloopaloo) is premiering soon.
 * Hippie Teacher: Mr. Henning. He loves nature, disproves of modern methods (or rather just major energy wasting ones), and takes students on a Root and Berry Retreat.

Mr. Henning: Spencer? That's me.

Spencer: What? (pauses) Oh."

"Gibby: How my hair look, Sam?
 * History Repeats: In iAm Your Biggest Fan, Carly recalls Spencer's present for her then 14th birthday is a lava lamp that burst into flames (and then exploded). And when Spencer makes her a gummy bear lamp for her 16th birthday...
 * Hollywood Nerd: Freddie.
 * The Pear store employee Carly develops a crush on in iPear Store. Subverted when she brings him to her apartment and it turns out his nerdy persona was all an act and he's really a Casanova Wannabe.
 * Homage: iBelieve in Big Foot is a direct homage to Scooby Doo (further lampshaded by Freddie) sans the dog. There's 2 males and 2 females; they are investigating a certain creature; they have a vehicle; and also turns up that the said creature is actually a guy they know, in a costume.
 * Dan Schneider stated that Sabrina's thrashing of Carly's project in iBeat the Heat is a reference to Godzilla.
 * iChristmas tops this with a Its a Wonderful Life premise (a granted wish that gives unexpected circumstances; the protagonist is someone's Morality Chain) with hints of A Charlie Brown Christmas (Spencer's electromagnetic tree and Carly's small Christmas tree).
 * The Paintball Episode iSaved Your Life with its amusing homage to HBO's The Wire, episode Late Editions.

Sam: You look good, Gib. (Shoots him in the forehead with a paintball)"

"Gibby: What do you serve in a Karma Party?
 * The Random Debates at icarly.com have taken place in a wall very much like the iconic Laugh In joke wall.
 * Hormone Addled Teenager: Carly Shay full-stop, in terms of her love interests.
 * Sam follows the "tomboy" aspect of the trope to the letter, but averts the trope as a whole.
 * Hot Amazon: Sam in "iMake Sam Girlier". Although the episode focuses around Sam getting a Girliness Upgrade because she think No Guy Wants an Amazon, however it turns out that Pete, her crush for the episode, actually feels this way about her.
 * Hot Mom: Gibby's mom Charlotte; also, the single mom of the Sunshine Girl from iOwe You.
 * Surprisingly, Nora's mom is this.
 * Hot Teacher: Ms. Ackerman and Ms. Fielder.
 * How Much More Can He Take: iPsycho Part 2. Definitely Gibby's CMoA, mentioned throughout this page. Gibby figures out a hidden code from the iCarly crew, and comes to the rescue. He finds the kidnapper girl's house, proceeds to break down the front door with a single blow and engage in a supremely vicious (especially for a Nickelodeon show!) fight to the death with the girl. Furniture is smashed repeatedly, a fireplace poker is used with intent to kill, they fall down a flight of stairs at top speed, proceed to perform a number of technical fighting maneuvers, and then Gibby starts to bleed. Both of them should be severely injured, but Gibby barely needs a Band-Aid.
 * Ho Yay: Has its own page, although the Freddie/Spencer section isn't anywhere near as large as the Carly/Sam section.
 * Humiliation Conga: Sam in iSpeed Date. Insults Freddie about no-one wanting him only to find he had 3 girls ask him. She refuses to ask any boy to the Girl's Choice dance, until Carly convinces her to ask Gibby out because Sam embarrassed her on the webshow. Sam is then rejected by Gibby and Freddie laughs at her. She tries again to have Gibby take her to the dance, only be rejected a second time and he's got a stunning girl at his house already. Sam stumbles back to the Groovy Smoothie, only to find Carly and Freddie slow dancing together, leaving Sam completely and utterly alone.
 * Nevel in iPity the Nevel.
 * Hurricane of Puns: Taken to the extreme in iPity the Nevel by the main trio, most especially their Karma Party for Nevel's "fall from grace" where they serve chicken karm-esan, karma-corn, karma-apples, and later "Karm-again!"

Freddie: Just desserts. (Impressed by his own pun) Oh! Oh!

(Carly and Sam cheer him on)"

"Carly: Poor kid. It must feel bad to love someone who doesn't love you back.
 * Hypothetical Casting: Miranda Cosgrove wants Tina Fey to be her Missing Mom.
 * Along those lines, if you consider the stated background of Colonel Shay, Richard Dean Anderson could be a good choice to play him (it really explains why he's never home) - but David James Elliot wouldn't be a bad choice, either. If you consider why Richard left Stargate SG-1, there's a very good chance that this could actually happen.
 * Hypocritical Humor: Many of the episodes use this a lot. Each character even has at least one of these.
 * While Gibby walks out of the studio:

Freddie: (turns to stare at Carly)

Carly: Sorry."

"Sam: Some people just have no manners. (throws an empty soda can on the floor for Freddie to pick up)"
 * When the gang is cleaning up the mess of the police stakeout:

"Spencer: Do you know what it's like to be harassed every day by some kid?
 * Same episode and scene:

Freddie: (turns to stare at Sam)

Sam: (grins widely)"

"Spencer: Hey guys, don't make me look guilty, like it was all my fault.
 * After Spencer's high-powered sculpture destroyed their longest webcast World Record attempt:

Carly, Sam, Freddie: (ALL stare at Spencer)

Spencer: Oh yeah."

"Spencer: Aw, I hate that channel! They always make adults look like buffoons!
 * When discussing about the Dingo Channel:

Carly: You forgot to wear pants again.

Spencer: Oh my god."

"Sam: Come on, why won't you wear a bikini?
 * Same episode, when Sam forcefully invites Gibby for the Bikini Dog Food Fight:

Gibby: Because I have some dignity!

Sam: Since when?

Gibby: (leaves, but returns shortly) OK. No fighting, no dog food, but I'll wear the bikini top."

"Spencer: That's not water!
 * I Ate What: Done many times. After coming back from a jog with his Girloftheweek, Spencer reaches for a glass of what appears to be water, then spits it out.

Veronica: What is it?!

Spencer: I don't know!"

"Freddie: Uh, sorry! Can't hear you! You're breaking up. (Opens the door).
 * I Can't Hear You: Freddie to Carly in iFence, so she won't stop them from going to the fencing studio.

Carly: (Gasp) But we're not talking on cell phones!

Freddie: Byeeee! (He and Spencer run out)."

"Sam: I really doubt balloons would rain down."
 * iDiosyncratic Episode Naming
 * Idiot Ball: All of them. Spencer is especially prone, as he can switch between intelligent protective older brother into someone who will build a machine seemingly intended to fling hammers at high velocity at head height, or a "sculpture" which seems tailor-made to catch fire at random.
 * Carly in iSell Penny Tees. Why on earth would she pay the kids up front? They were apparently being paid $10 a day, there were at least a half-dozen of them, so she'd have paid out anywhere from $400 to $1000.
 * If It Was Funny the First Time: Spencer's works bursting into flames is a recurring gag that was somehow toned down in Season 3, but becomes another plot device in the Season 4 premiere iGot a Hot Room.
 * I Just Want to Have Friends Carly is a type A while Freddie has shown signs of being a type B.
 * Imagine Spot: In iFind Lewbert's Lost Love Carly and Freddie have a synchronous daydream on how life in the Bushwell will be much better if the irate doorman Lewbert is "a happy man". Carly, Freddie and Lewbert dance around as balloons fall. Sam breaks them out of their over-the-top fantasy.

"Sam: I haven't done one bad thing this week!
 * Implausible Deniability: In iHave My Principals

Mr. Howard: Oh, please! I know you put that big snapping turtle in the teachers' toilet.

Sam: You got it on video?

Mr. Howard: ...no.

Sam: Then I didn't do it."

"Sam: (sees Carly's painting) Who's that? Freddie?
 * Improbable Food Budget: Zig Zagged: It seems like the food they waste for comedic purposes on the websow is better than the food Carly and Spencer actually eat.
 * They used quite a load of expensive cheese making the gibby with cheese and sauce.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Hotel Carlyfornia
 * Informed Attractiveness: Kyle and Cort are the most glaring examples. While majority of the earlier love interests (usually Carly's) definitely have the looks, Cort's appearance does not really live up to how Carly and Sam praise and drool over him compared to Brad. Likewise with Kyle who only had the fake-Brit accent and the insufferably sophisticated genius attitude up his sleeve.
 * Inherently Funny Words: Being a comedy.. uses these quite often. Specific examples include hobo to the point it's become unfunny, Gibby being called a shirtless potato. They once used doodle as part of fladoodles an invented snack item and Yak as part of Yakima.
 * Also repeated mentions of the word ointment, which the creator himself has admitted is "just a funny word."
 * In Joke: In iToe Fat Cakes, Carly says that it's lame that her date's sister is 18 and doesn't have her driver's license. Miranda Cosgrove is 18 and only recently got her license.
 * Inner Monologue Conversation: In iParty with Victorious, Carly, Sam and Freddie use this to figure out how to get revenge on a cheating boyfriend. Tori lampshades this by asking to be included.
 * In Series Nickname: The iCarly trio all prefer to be known by nicknames rather than their names: Carly is Carlotta, Sam is Samantha, and Freddie is Fredward. There's also their classmate Jeremy aka "Germy," the kid with the perpetual allergies.
 * Sam is fond of coming up with Embarrassing Nicknames for Freddie, such as "Fredwad," "Fredwiener" "Freduccini" or "Fredlumps." He does retaliate a few times with lame counter-remarks though (like "Sam-jerk") which only gives Sam a reason to ridicule him more.
 * Instant Web Hit
 * Insult Backfire: Freddie in the end of iHeart Art. He takes the insults so well because he gets $5 richer for each insult Sam made as part of their bet, to the point he doubled the $40 Spencer gave him.
 * Insult to Rocks: In iWin A Date:

(Freddie rolls his eyes)

Carly: No! It's a clown!

Sam: Oops. Sorry, Clown."

"Carly: Come on! You don't really want Spencer!
 * Intoxication Ensues: In iThink They Kissed Sam gets high from the dentist's nitrous oxide, and loses the ability to censor herself.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Freddie for Carly in iSaved Your Life. Quite an unusual example, because
 * Ironic Echo: The source of Nevel's outburst is about the last jar of pickles that got shattered. While walking around Seattle suffering the consequences of his action, he sits on a bench displaying an ad of numerous jars of Schneider's Pickles while being ridiculed and shouted at by the passers-by.
 * Sam sees Carly and Freddie dancing alone in iSpeed Date is echoed with the end of iOMG by Carly watching Sam kiss Freddie.
 * The Dirshlitts trapped the iCarly gang and let them suffer a birthday party that would go on "forever... and ever... and ever..." . After Mrs. Benson and T-Bo rescue them, Carly says that they'll be going to prison, "forever... and ever... and ever..."
 * Irony As She Is Cast: Miranda Cosgrove has a talent in drawing. But as Carly, she can't even make a good drawing of a bunny.
 * I Take Offense to That Last One: In iDo, Spencer is more than willing to swallow the kids' insults to him to "turn off" the bride Jodi, except...

Spencer: I'm a mess.

Carly: Such a mess!

Sam: He has no job.

Spencer: Who would hire me?

Freddie: He doesn't hang out with anyone his own age.

Spencer: I've never been popular!

Carly: He drinks milk in the shower.

Spencer: All naked and wet!

Carly: Oh, and he has not a steady girlfriend since high school.

Spencer: Oh, maybe not a steady girlfriend per se...

Sam: And look at his flat butt.

Spencer: TOO FAR!"

"Carly: Lewbert's gonna be okay. Well, not okay but at least back to the way he was before.
 * Why was Sam looking at his butt anyway?
 * Because "It's like two fresh apples back there!" It may just be something she noticed spending time around Spencer, given that she practically lives at the Shay's.
 * Its All About Me: Lampshaded by Freddie in regards to Sam in iHurt Lewbert.

Sam: Oh, good. We could've been in so much trouble.

Freddie: Can't you ever think of anyone besides yourself?

Sam: I could, but I choose not to."

"Freddie: i, Internet... Carly, you..."
 * It's a Small Net After All: When looking for information on baby chicks for a science projects, Freddie types "chicks" into the search engine and gets "Chickapedia."
 * You also have to wonder how two girls doing random stuff (and not that kind of stuff) gets tons of viewers.
 * Youtube has all kinds of videos of girls just doing random stuff and getting millions of hits. iCarly just attracts a peripheral demographic as well as their schoolmates, which often features Carly and Sam with bare feet, coconut bikinis, swimsuits, and all sorts of Fetish Fuel.
 * Its Personal: Trying to take down iCarly.com is one thing.. hurting Carly herself will get your ass kicked by Sam.
 * It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY: "Not Suzie. It's Su-ZAY."
 * I Product: iCarly.

"Gibby: Whoa! I'm in love with this sauce! What is it?
 * It Makes Sense in Context: A group of "bullies" invade Spencer's prize boat; said group are members of the Pirates baseball team.
 * Sam blows her nose on a handful of noodles, which Gibby and Guppy unknowingly eat later.

Sam: Uh, it could be a lot of cheese sauce...

Carly: But it its not."

""Niceness disgusts me. It took me years to get used to you [Carly].""
 * Carly's expression to Spencer's words clearly invokes this trope in iFence: "He sliced my banana!"
 * The "Random Debates" usually start well, then the debaters will suddenly change topic (as early as Round 2), and Hilarity Ensues once their arguments are not anymore related to the topics they defend.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Freddie pulls out of the relationship with Carly in iSaved Your Life because he doesn't want to take advantage if Carly wasn't thinking straight about being smitten over being indebted to him.
 * Aside from iDate a Bad Boy, another example is iStart a Fan War. Freddie is evidently jealous about Carly's flings with other boys, but the latter has him rather being supportive that Carly likes Adam and reprimands Sam to pacify the riot she made. Though Freddie's schadenfreude toward the Romantic False Lead is still there.
 * Japanese Ranguage: The voice-operated Japanese lamp turns on and off by saying "RANPU!" like an angry Japanese man.
 * Jerkass: Sam in her less sympathetic moments, Lewbert the doorman, Nevel, Wade Collins.
 * This quote by Sam says it best:

"Spencer: "Don't worry, Mr. Toasty, soon you'll be back and butter than ever."
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Sam, usually under Carly's influence.
 * Just for Pun: Both Shay siblings. They are even aware of the cheesiness of their joke.
 * In iNevel, Spencer is repairing his commissioned statue made of butter.

(Spencer looks around the room)

Spencer: "Thank god no one heard that.""

"Spencer: "What kind of burglar will break into people's apartments just to steal TV remotes?"
 * In iFind Lewbert's Lost Love, Spencer is annoyed because of the recent remote control thefts.

Carly: (stifles laughter) "A remote control freak?"

(Spencer sprays whipped cream on Carly's nose bridge)"

"Spencer: "I am Spencer's twin brother, S-pun-cer!"
 * In iEnrage Gibby, Spencer tries to convince Veronica that he is not really "dead", much to the fright of the girl.

Carly: "If you had a twin brother, why would his name need to sound similar to yours?""

"Carly: "One might call him... hobnoxious." (laughs)
 * In iFix A Popstar, Wade Collins is brought up on the webshow.

Sam: "Ohohoho, Carly..." (looks away in horror)"

"Sam: "Their videos are hi-larious."
 * In iQuit iCarly, as they introduce Fleck and Dave.

Carly: "Which is the opposite of low-larious." (chuckles)

Sam: "I begged her not to say that."

Carly: "I should have listened.""


 * In iRue The Day, Spencer asks Carly which of two pairs of luminescent socks he should wear when the Plain White T's come to iCarly. She distractedly tells him to wear one of each. He loves the idea and congratulates his little sister for "thinking out of the socks." Then he laughs at his own pun, while the trio simply stares.
 * iPity The Nevel has quite a few. Notably, Gibby asks Freddie what kind of food you have at a Karma party (a party where you celebrate the misery of your enemies) and Freddie answers "Just desserts." Even Sam slaps him five for that one.
 * Just Friends: Carly and Freddie. Since their first appearance together, in the first episode, Freddie has wanted to be more than friends, whilst Carly just wants to be friends.
 * The roles are reversed in iSaved Your Life. Carly is now very willing to be Freddie's girlfriend, but Freddie became aware that she might only have loved him "for saving her", not "as himself". Freddie tells Carly that they remain the way they used to be and they both agree that they could resume their relationship once Freddie recovers and if Carly still has her feelings for him.