If your 'tweens have been talking about a new TV show that sounds as if Steve Jobs and Apple produced it, it's probably iCarly. The new Nickelodeon show is similar 'tween TV fare—an ever-present laugh track and never-present parents—with a Web 2.0 twist.

The show, starring Drake & Josh's kid sister, Miranda Cosgrove, is about kids who start their own webcast and accompanying web site. The script of the series premiere was filled with not-so-subtle cues to direct viewers to the Nick web site for the show, iCarly.com.

In fact, that's what the whole show was about as it set up the series' focus: a tween who lives with her 20-something brother while her parents serve overseas in the military. Video of Carly and her best friend dishing about a teacher ends up on a video web site, and the friends, at first surprised by the reaction, decide to take the attention and start a webcast and web site to air kids' views and videos.

There are lots of shots of kids shooting video of the other kids, and when the show switches to a another scene, the screen looks like a PC screen with a mouse arrow. There's a ton of cross-referencing to the iCarly web site, making it sort of the Webkinz of TV shows. The web site has a how-to section on making your own web show and asks kids to send in their videos, which may be chosen to run on the TV show.

My 'tween made sure to record the first episode but hasn't found her way to the web site yet.  

For more info on a show that encourages kids onto the web after viewing, check out Common Sense's take and the link to a Washington Post story below.

LINKS: iCarly - TV-Y7 [Common Sense]
For the Web-Swing Generation, iCarly is Just a Click Away [Washington Post]