TVSquad

I took my eight-year-old niece, an iCarly fan, to an autograph signing by Miranda Cosgrove (who plays the lead character) at the Bridgewater Commons Mall in New Jersey. The experience was about as bad as any fan of the show could experience.

The signing was from 12:00 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. I got there with her at 10:30 A.M., and they had already cut the line off and didn't allow anybody else to get on. People had apparently slept in their cars in the parking lot the night before to get in line early.

They had estimated Cosgrove could give 700 signatures. At a glance, I would say 5 to 10 times that number had attended the event. I even know a person who made it on the line and due to its lack of forward movement abandoned all hope around 1:30 P.M. Needless to say, my niece was among the many to walk away empty-handed.

Disney is doing everything they can to make sure that their target demo of 9-14 year olds can't breathe without choking on the Russos of Wizards of Waverly Place. Other than that, And with Miley Cyrus talking publicly about life after Hannah Montana, whenever that might be, it's time to look to Wizards of Waverly Place's Selena Gomez. As such, Disney has renewed Wizards for a third season and even greenlit a telefilm for the property.

What they really need to do is stream it on Hulu to ensure it is. The kids are online, you know.

Those kid cable network stars just can't stay away from their kid cable networks. Except for the ones who go off and do not-so-kid friendly fare, have you seen the leaked peek at Hilary Duff's new film role. Or the ones who do kid-friendly stuff, like making new ones *cough*Jamie Lynn Spears*cough*. Well, maybe we can still get Zoey 1+1=3. There's certainly plenty of young mothers out there looking for a positive role model, and the elder Spears isn't the best candidate so maybe Jamie Lynn will do better.

But I digress. These are nice boys. More than a year after their popular series ended, Drake Bell and Josh Peck will reunite for a Drake & Josh Christmas movie. The plot revolves around the duo working as mall Santa and helper and promising a foster care girl the "best Christmas ever." The film begins airing this July which means it's going to be really freaking hot in the beard and Santa gear. I wonder if Miranda Cosgrove will sneak away from iCarly and appear in it. I'm still waiting for that reunion special of You Can't Do That on Television! I hear Alanis Morissette isn't doing much these days, and everyone knows slime never goes bad, or stops being funny.

Somebody give Nickelodeon a cookie, because the network "gets it."

The new comedy series iCarly, starring Miranda Cosgrove (Drake and Josh) as the host of a Web show, will allow kids at home to contribute content to the series through a special Web site where they can upload videos. Chosen videos may be integrated into future episodes, or become part of the online Webcast. The series will premiere with thirteen episodes this September.

I think this could be a really cool thing, and I hope more shows of this kind follow. Nickelodeon's audience now consists mostly of digital natives, kids more or less born and raised on the Web, and a new approach like this makes a lot of sense.