Carly and martial-arts champ Shelby Marx (Zoey 101's and Spectacular!'s Victoria Justice) agree to have an exhibition fight for charity after Carly jokingly challenges her to a match. Unfortunately, Carly accidentally falls on Shelby's grandmother during a press conference. Thinking Shelby wants revenge, Carly backs out of the fight, only to be ridiculed as a coward. Carly visits Shelby and apologizes, and the fight is back on. However, Nevel Papperman alters a clip of the press conference to make it look like Carly intentionally tackled Shelby's grandma to dupe Shelby into fighting Carly. Shelby, furious, attacks Carly for real during the match, nearly hugging Carly and Carly barely won the match with her life. Nevel's plot is revealed, and the show concludes with Shelby appearing on ICarly. Meanwhile, Spencer suffers from ridiculous side effects while taking an experimental allergy medication.
Carly hosts her own home-grown web show, iCarly. She lives with her twenty-something brother/guardian Spencer and produces her Web casts from a makeshift third-floor loft studio. Grappling with adolescence, she never aimed to gain fame as a rising star/underground celebrity to kids. As events unfold in the pilot, it all happens by accident when a teacher puts her in charge of the school talent show. She and her sassy best bud Sam turn the audition process into a show, which Carly's tech savvy smitten friend Freddy tapes - including their hilarious banter and great chemistry - and posts on the Web without telling the girls. The on-line audience clamors for more, and a pop phenomenon blooms, with Carly and sidekick Sam's regular Web casts ultimately featuring everything from comedy sketches and talent contests to interviews, recipes, and problem-solving.