User blog comment:Chaos Red/I Don't Hate Carly But I Don't Love Her Either/@comment-3252819-20110519000929/@comment-3122172-20110519013217

I know what you mean. I typically don't like the female main character of Dan's shows (ONLY Dan's shows and only the female leads. Drake and Josh and Kenan and Kel were awesome). I think Dan has this way of thinking that normal means 'boring', as he's said in many of his shows. Example: iCarly, iChristmas. Carly tells Spencer that 'normal is boring'. Dan doesn't intend for his lead female characters to be uninteresting, but he means for them to be 'normal'. Thus...less out there than everyone else on the show.

When Zoey 101 came out, I was like nine years old and I absolutely adored Zoey. Last year I re-watched the series and I couldn't stand Zoey. I understand why she saves the day and comes up with all the good ideas. She's the main character. The reason I didn't like her was because she was boring. She seemed to have, like, no emotions. Everyone around her is way more interesting than her and that made her the least likeable.

The same happened to me with iCarly. At first I didn't like Carly. Not because the others 'didn't get a chance to shine', but because she seemed dull compared to the wackier, funner, characters around her like Sam and Spencer. Now, I love Carly. I think it's because as her actress matured, she got better and the 'Carly' character has developed more of a distinct personality.

With Victorious, surprisingly, I didn't feel this way. I loved the character Tori and I still do to this day. She seems like a great lead because she had something that neither Carly Shay, or Zoey Brookes had. She was spunky, firey. In the Victorious Pilot episode, she didn't let the mean girl (AKA Jade) step all over her.

She had attitude. She would fight for what she wanted. I absolutely love that about Tori. Dan's only female protagonist that I've loved from the start. Victoria Justice really takes the show and makes it hers, playing the lead really well.

I know a lot of people don't like Tori. I agree that Jade and Cat are better singers, but I don't think they overshadow her acting, because they all play entire different characters. Tori (along with Trina) is my favorite character on the show. She's funny, she's wacky, she's full of personality.

Anyway, this isn't about my love for Tori. This blog is about Carly, who I really have come to like a lot more now. People show give her a chance, because she's a really good character.