Friendship Fizzles When Best Buds Carly and Sam Vie for the Same Guy on the Season Premiere of Nickelodeon Mega-hit iCarly airing Saturday, September 27 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT)

Friendship Fizzles When Best Buds Carly and Sam Vie for the Same Guy on the Season Premiere of Nickelodeon Mega-hit iCarly airing Saturday, September 27 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT)

Olympic Gold Medalist Natalie Coughlin Joins iCarly Cast to Celebrate Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play in Sports-Themed Primetime Wraparounds

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A first kiss for Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) looms large in the second-season premiere of Nickelodeon's innovative two-hits-in-one, iCarly (sitcom/website), Saturday September 27 (9 p.m. ET/PT). The blockbuster convergent series returns with an episode titled "iSaw Him First" that puts web show sidekicks Carly and Sam's (Jennette McCurdy) friendship to the test as they vie for the same guy and for a first kiss from the teen hunk.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080916/NYTU089)

The pivotal season premiere tops off Nickelodeon's fifth annual Worldwide Day of Play -- during which the network goes dark from noon to 3 p.m. to encourage healthy activity and play -- and the iCarly cast with Olympic gold medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin will "turn the lights back on" and celebrate the special day with sports sketches, health and wellness spots and sneak peeks at the new season of iCarly. All of this intertwines primetime programming, including an iCarly marathon (6-8 p.m.) leading up to the 9 p.m. iCarly season premiere. A musical treat will tag the premiere: Cosgrove's "Stay My Baby," a song from iCarly: Music from and Inspired by the Hit Series, the new CD that debuted in the top spot on Billboard's Kids Chart (and #2 on the Soundtracks Chart nipping at the heels of Sex & the City).

In the fall kickoff, when Freddie invites his techie pal Shane (guest star James Maslow) to help with a science experiment for the web-cast, both Carly and Sam feel an immediate attraction to the dreamy teen. The girls rewind their video to determine who saw him first -- and it's a tie. So both set their sights on unsuspecting Shane and agree that whomever he kisses first gets to date him. Romantic rivalry ensues: Sam erects a kissing booth at school, and Carly lures Shane to her loft to rehearse the play she penned, "A Chance for Romance." A kiss appears close at hand, but as competition and anticipation build, another crucial question arises: Will Carly and Sam's friendship falter?

Following the big premiere, kids can enjoy episode premieres every week in the series' regular time period -- Saturdays at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) -- leading to the first-ever iCarly TV movie in November, "iGo to Japan," a 90-minute comedy adventure brimming with suspense, mess and music. Plus, "Webbiest Wednesdays" launch on Nick October 1, with a super-sized version of "iSaw Him First." Subsequent Wednesdays (time TBA) will feature an encore of the week's new iCarly episode along with wraparound content from icarly.com, including viewer submitted UGC.

Nick's iCarly and Zoey 101 are the top two live-action series for tweens on basic cable, and iCarly ranks right after American Idol and Zoey among tweens on all of TV (Source: NMR - 2Q08). iCarly reaches an average of 3 million total viewers (2+) , including 1.1 million tweens (9-14) (source: NMR 2Q08). Since debuting internationally in March 2007, iCarly has also become a global hit taking the number-one kids' television spot in the UK, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, Chile and Argentina and number-two in Brazil and Denmark (IBOPE; Gallup; OzTAM; TNS Infosys; BARB July 08).

Equally popular online, year-to-date www.iCarly.com averages 2.8 million unique visitors each month (source: Comscore MMX Jan-Aug 2008) who upload and watch videos, blog and rock to the cast's favorite tunes. The site had its best month ever in July, with 3.6 million visitors. Internationally iCarly.com is registering rapid viewer uptake, hitting the 1 million international unique visitors in the month of June alone (Comscore Media Metrix June 08).

The iCarly album, released in June from Columbia Records -- part of the global partnership between Nickelodeon and the Sony Music Label Group -- debuted at the top of the charts. It was #1 on the Billboard Kids Chart; #2 on Billboard's Soundtracks Chart (right behind Sex & the City) and #28 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart. The album features four original songs performed by Cosgrove, including the show's theme "Leave It All to Me." It also features songs inspired by the popular series from multi-platinum popular artists including Natasha Bedingfield and Avril Lavigne.

Nickelodeon's multi-platform efforts for "iSaw Him First" include a sneak peek of the premiere and additional footage ("Extra Scoops") on TurboNick and Nick's wireless partners, beginning September 15. In addition, TurboNick will offer a post-premiere instant replay, and Nick.com will feature a special game titled iKissedHimFirst, plus Miranda Cosgrove's solo music video "Stay My Baby from the iCarly album. iCarly will continue its presence in the Nick VOD offering during September with full episodes from the new season, and Nick will continue a post-premiere rolling release of episodes to iTunes in second season.

iCarly is created and executive produced by Dan Schneider's (Zoey 101, Drake & Josh) Schneider's Bakery.

Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for more than 14 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080916/NYTU089
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN12
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Margo Zinberg, +1-310-752-8207, margo.zinberg@nick.com, or
Mirian Arias, +1-212-846-7653, mirian.arias@nick.com; for Worldwide Day of
Play info: Thamar Romero, +1-212-846-7481, thamar.romero@nick.com; Photos:
Michelle Hernandez, +1-212-258-7722, michelle.hernandez@nick.com

Web Site: http://www.icarly.com/
http://www.nick.com/

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