• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 5, age appropriate for kids over 8; suggested age 8.

• Is it any good?

  3.0

• Common Sense says

  Interactive show meshes characters' online, real lives.

Why We Rated This for Ages 8 and Up

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  The show isn't designed to be educational, per se, but young viewers will learn a bit about interacting with media.
• Messages:

  While friendship is very important on the show and the characters typically learn a lesson from any iffy behavior, not every take-away is positive. Sometimes the characters make questionable choices.
• Role models:

  Carly is a strong, independent female character. But there's also some good-nature bullying, and Carly and Sam get into some sticky situations -- for instance, when they get caught gossiping about their peers in a video that's posted online (a situation that veers on cyberbulling). They also give out personal information on the Web at least once (a big no-no). The only authority figure is a young adult male who acts more like a kid than his tween sister does.

What to watch out for

• Violence & scariness:

  Some pushing and shoving among students, and a man falls from a ladder in one scene, but there's no injury.
• Sexy stuff:

  Mild flirting among tweens, and one boy relentlessly pursues his female crush. Girls refer to boys as "hot." One scene includes a mention of the shape of a woman's boobs.
• Language:

  Not an issue.
• Consumerism:

  The series and its sister Web site promote each other. Characters often encourage viewers to log on to the site to send in emails and videos for consideration for the show.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Not an issue.

What Parents Need to Know

About iCarly

Families Can Talk About