Archuleta acts (sort of)

During David Archuleta's run on "American Idol" last season, the Utah teen came in for quite a bit of unwarranted criticism.

Refusing to believe that he could possibly be as humble and emotional as he appeared, the cynics claimed he was acting.

And now we have absolute, irrefutable proof that Archuleta wasn't acting on "American Idol."

He has an acting role on tonight's episode of Nickelodeon's "iCarly." And he can't act.

Oh, he doesn't really have to. He pretty much just has to stand there and look cute during his brief appearance on the episode, which debuts at 9 p.m. on Nickelodeon. And Archuleta remains as cute as a button.

He manages to speak his lines, smile that big smile of his and, yes, look cute. Which is all that's required of him.

For those of you unfamiliar with "iCarly," it's a teenage sitcom about Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) who stars in a popular webcast produced in the loft studio she shares with her dopey-but-sweet older brother/guardian, Spencer (Jerry Trainor).

The cast includes her smart-alecky best friend, Sam (Jennette McCurdy), and the techno geek Freddy (Nathan Kress), who produces the webisodes.

In tonight's episode, Carly and Sam are obsessed with the popular TV show "America Sings," which is so "American Idol"-like it even borrows the blue-and-white logo. They're huge Archuleta fans, but everyone is predicting he's about to lose in the finals to favored Wade King (Alex Schemmer).

But when Carly and Sam exhort their viewers to "Whip out your phones and vote … because we really want David to win," that turns the tide.

The producer of "America Sings" "confirmed there was a huge spike in votes for Archuleta just after the 'iCarly' Web show."

"I guess nobody got hurt," Carly says.

"Except that poor guy you made lose," Spencer said.

So Carly, sweet thing that she is, decides she's got to do something to make it up to Wade. And let's just say that he's not the nice guy he pretends to be.

Before you start thinking that this is some slam at David Cook, who beat Archuleta in the "Idol" finals, it's clearly not. The character of Wade is nothing like Cook — he doesn't look like him, sound like him, sing like him or anything else. He's British, for that matter, while Cook is from Kansas City.