Summary
iCarlyfeatures plenty of kooky and goofy side characters, but Nora Dershlit (Danielle Morrow) takes the cake as one of the strangest, both as a character, and how the showrunners decided to depict her. While it’s been years since I’ve actually watchediCarlyregularly, I can still remember plenty of the amusing minor and guest characters who would come through the series, often causing a significant amount oftrouble for the cast ofiCarlyor just creating mayhem in general.
While ashow likeiCarlycaptured my appreciation for web shows, podcasts, and other self-made media, theiCarlyreboot retains that same niche admirationwhile also offering a nostalgic look back at the Nickelodeon shows I loved. But looking back on these iconic Nickelodeon series now comes with a degree of discomfort, either because you learned something that taints the memory, like with theshockingQuiet on Setreveals, or because you notice something that would never fly on today’s TV.
iCarly Reboot: 5 Ways The Show’s Fine Without Sam (& 5 Ways It Isn’t)
Sam was one of the three main characters in Nickelodeon’s iCarly, and there’s no denying that things are different now that she’s absent.
Danielle Morrow Is Great As Nora Dershlit, But The ICarly Character Is Beyond Problematic
The Titles Of Nora’s Episodes Have Not Aged Well
AsiCarlywent on, Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) and Sam (Jennette McCurdy) became more and more famous for their web show. This fame gained them accolades, success, money, and, in one case, an overzealous fan. Nora Dershlit appeared in season 3, episode 17, and episode 5, season 7, as a superfan of the iCarly team. She’sa very peculiar girl who doesn’t appear to have many friends, her parents don’t seem to care too much about her, and she’s quite a bit socially awkward.
In Nora’s first episode, she kidnaps theiCarlygang, trapping Carly, Sam, and Freddie (Nathan Kress) in her basement. After getting sent to juvenile detention after the gang escapes,she returns in season 5 where she and her family again lock up theiCarlytrio. I know that, so far, nothing really sounds problematic with Nora. She’s a weird character and a complete menace, but it’s not a wholly unique character either. Annie Wilkes fromMiseryhad a similar vibe, Eminem even wrote a song, “Stan”, about these superfans.
These titles are certainly partial allusions to Alfred Hitchcock’sPsycho, but in the context of the episode and how characters describe Nora, it comes off as a really unfortunate way to denigrate and dismiss Nora’s real mental health problems.
What struck me as problematic about Nora is the casual use of “Psycho” to describe her behavior. In fact, the Nora episodes are actually titled, “iPsycho” and “iStill Psycho”. Yikes. These titles are certainly partial allusions to Alfred Hitchcock’sPsycho, but in the context of the episode and how characters describe Nora, it comes off as a really unfortunate way to denigrate and dismiss Nora’s real mental health problems. Carly herself comes to this conclusion at the end of the first episode when she realizes she sympathizes with Nora.
Danielle Morrow’s performance as Nora is excellent and extremely funny, so it bummed me out seeing that the creators felt the need to label her with such an outdated term. Simply calling the episode “iSuperFan” would have worked.
Danielle Morrow Reprised Her Role As Nora In The ICarly Revival
Morrow Married Jeremy Rowley, Another ICarly Actor
Danielle Morrow returns as Nora in theiCarlyrevival show, season 1, episode 2, “iHate iCarly”. This time around,she’s much more mellowed out and apologizes for her behavior in the past, though she can’t help herself from following the gang around just a bit longer. Again, Morrow is excellent in the role, so it was great to see her in the revival without any upsetting elements weighing her performance down. Morrow acted steadily in the 2010s with appearances in the filmHickeyand showsHenry DangerandIdiotsitter, but theiCarlyrevival is the only role she’s had recently.
Morrow is now married to Jeremy Rowley, who played the doorman Lewbert oniCarly, and the pair have a son (viaTeen Vogue). She revealed the birth with a post on Instagram.
Her family commitments may have slowed down her acting career, but she still supports her husband’s, posting about his upcoming work on the TV show,Max & the Midknights. It’s great seeing theiCarlyactress happy on social media, but for my money, the talented actor is more than welcome to return to the screen any time she wants.
iCarly
Cast
The Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly follows teenage internet streamer, Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove), her older brother Spencer Shay (Jerry Trainor), and her two best friends Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) and Freddie Benson (Nathan Kress), who help her host her successful web show. After its 2007-2012 run, Paramount+ revived the series with most of its original cast all grown up and dealing with the challenges of adulthood.
