User blog comment:GiantKid/In preparation for iGoodBye an appreciation post for Carly and why I will sink/sail with Creddie till the end/@comment-4196911-20121116115858/@comment-4196911-20121116160012

'To get to the point, I would have to disagree with you with that being "just okay" with Carly. Dan has written Carly in a way that her having a bf every week is unfortunately her only flaw. Carly really is a good person considering what she has to deal with on a daily basis. Because this is a TV show and not real life, to have her not develop or at least recognize this flaw is just poor writing, especially because she is the main character.'

You need to understand how most of these shows work. Ensemble shows with a titular main character (unlike "Friends" which was a true ensemble without a "main") are almost always set up in such a way that the main character is the least flawed character, and has the fewest foibles and eccentricities. Jerry Seinfeld, Mary Tyler Moore, Hal Linden (to name a few) and even Victoria Justice are the least interesting characters on their own shows. The reason is that the main character is the moral center of the show, and has to relate the most to average people in the audience. They are the straight anchor that the other weird sidekick and minor characters revolve around. I applaud Dan and Miranda for making Carly fun to watch despite these limitations, but it doesn't change my point.

I also think it's wrong to assume that the "goal" of the show is to somehow fix a perceived minor flaw with the main character. The head writer may simply think this supposed "flaw" makes the character interesting, and has no intention of addressing it whenever the show ends. Carly's wacky boyfriend plots are almost always played for laughs, and she doesn't always get dumped - she sometimes initiates the break-up. By contrast, Sam's "boy issues" and how she relates those insecurities to Freddie has been played in a more serious vein more often.

'I have no doubt that if Carly was a real person that I would just be like "ehh, she'll learn in time, meet someone else in college or after." But Carly isn't real... her story ends with iCarly.'

But leaving open possibilities is something Dan LIKES to do. He's said so directly. And I don't think the fact that we might not see the Carly character again has any bearing whatsoever on whether Dan has any intention of addressing the fact that she's had trouble having a long-term relationship. Again, I think it's logistical. It's been part of the structure of the show. I think he's always wanted her Dad to come back, but that a separate issue.

'As I mentioned, with Sam & Cat in the picture, this is a whole different ball game. It would be one thing if Sam's story also ended on iCarly, but it doesn't. Sam can continue to grow as a character, and she also has the chance to find someone new on her new show, where as, Carly and Freddie don't.'

I don't think the existence of Sam & Cat is relevant. Why? Because I'm convinced Dan had Sam/Freddie in mind ever since the time when he was writing iKiss, if not before. That's way before any spinoff was even a notion in anyone's mind. I also have a hunch that Dan never had any real intention of pairing Carly and Freddie, and the fact that Carly has never developed anything in Freddie's direction (as Creddiers love to consistently complain about) is evidence of that. "How come Carly never notices Freddie in the good way?!" Well, maybe because Dan just doesn't want her to. Carly's leaving for Italy with Dad, anyway. Also, Dan wants Nathan to appear on Sam & Cat. Are we supposed to believe he's going to show up on that show as the absent Carly's boyfriend? Unlikely, in my view. Though other possibilities exist, Freddie's much more likely to be there to see Sam in a plot with romantic undertones.

'BOTH Carly and Sam should have had character development, my agruement is "why didn't the main character?". Not even with Creddie, but just in general. My statement about her "realizing that she is in love with Freddie" is because it would be the only chance of character development that she would be able to have (based on her past with dating a bunch of boys) before her show ends and we learn nothing new about her again.'

Again, this is part of the problem with all "main" characters. They start out the most "normal" to begin with, so there's just less there to develop, in general. It's structural. You like Carly and want her to develop more, but I just don't think she's going to. I think something will happen between Carly and Freddie in the last episode, but I have a feeling the way it's going to be handled isn't going to make the Creddiers that happy.

Also, if Dan really was trying to go with the "well, I don't want to introduce anyone else to the cast so Carly can have a new guy every week theory" then he wouldn't have made Gibby a regular.

The two situations aren't equivalent. Gibby was a minor character to begin with who gradually received more screen-time because he was popular with the audience (and Dan). He's also a secondary character like Spencer who doesn't automatically mess with the trio dynamic. That's totally different than sitting down with your team of writers, and telling them you want to now give Carly a permanent boyfriend who needs decent screen-time from the get-go, and who is going to be paired with Carly a LOT. Gibby's "just" a friend. Gibby can have subplots with Spencer. Carly's boyfriend really can't - he needs to be with Carly. It's different.