Liz Atwood talks TV this Tween Tuesday:

OMG! Did you see iCarly last week? Nickelodeon scored a tween blockbuster with the episode "iSaved Your Life." More than 11 million viewers watched Carly kiss the sweet and long-suffering Freddie. It was the popular series' most-watched telecast ever with kids 2-11, kids 6-11, and tweens 9-14. We've already seen the episode twice in my house.

Fans will know this isn't the first time characters have locked lips on the show. Last year Carly kissed her bad-boy boyfriend and Freddie and Sam shared a secret kiss in an earlier episode. But this time, it was different. The romantic tension between these two characters has been building since the show began -- and Carly and Freddie didn't kiss just once but several times. Now I'm no prude, and these kisses were about as chaste as they come. Let it be noted that Freddie was injured and one arm was in a cast so there was absolutely no contact beyond the lips.

Still, I wonder is this marks a turning point for the No. 1 tween show. The actors in the series are growing up. How will the show's creators keep the characters real without offending their core tween audience (or, more likely, the audience's parents)? I hope Miranda Cosgrove will manage to avoid the pitfalls of her tween idol predecessors Britney and Miley. But now that the kissing has begun, it's going to be interesting to see where all this leads.

Stay tuned.

(PRNewsFoto/Nickelodeon)