Victorious (2010-13)

Tori gave everyone the bird .....that is the bird scene.  She got attacked by a lobster.  She almost jumped off of a second floor platform.  She sang in the rain and her band played in the rain but didn't get electrocuted.

Tori's sister Trina got punched in the throat by a piece of stage equipment.  That turned her from the possible star of the show to Tori's sister.

Cat has bright red hair so wear sunglasses while watching the show.

Some of the cast spent a lot of time slapping themselves.....even face to face....I mean sitting face to face.

This show might help a few young boys get into puberty.  I hope that kids under 16 are not watching the show.  Well it's not really bad but some kids might not know how to react to seeing Tori lying on the kitchen counter while other cast member study her stomach.

Sikowitz will drink spoiled coconut milk and then enjoy the psychedelic effects......he did let Trina pass the auditions to get into the school even though she could wake the dead with her voice....after the throat punch.

Enjoy the show.  I liked most of it. 
*****

Genre: Teen sitcom

Created by: Dan Schneider

Starring:

Victoria Justice
Leon Thomas III
Matt Bennett
Elizabeth Gillies
Ariana Grande
Avan Jogia
Daniella Monet

Theme music composer:
Lukasz Gottwald
Michael Corcoran
Dan Schneider

Opening theme: "Make It Shine", performed by Victoria Justice

Country of origin: United States

Original language(s): English

No. of seasons: 4

No. of episodes: 58 (list of episodes)


Production

Executive producer(s):

Dan Schneider
Warren Bell (season 3)
Robin Weiner (season 3)

Producer(s):

Bruce Rand Berman
Joe Catania (supervising producer: season 3)
Robin Weiner (supervising producer: season 1–2)
Warren Bell (season 2)
Jake Farrow (early season 3)
Christopher J. Nowak (mid-season 3)
Matt Fleckenstein (season 3)

Location(s):

Nickelodeon on Sunset
Hollywood, California

Camera setup: Videotape (filmized); Multi-camera

Running time: 24 minutes, 46 minutes for specials

Production company(s):

Schneider's Bakery
Sony Music Entertainment
Nickelodeon Productions

Distributor: MTV Networks International

Release

Original network: Nickelodeon

Picture format:

480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)

Audio format: Stereo

Original release: March 27, 2010 – February 2, 2013


Chronology

Followed by:
Sam & Cat

Victorious (stylized as VICTORiOUS) is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon from March 27, 2010 through February 2, 2013. The series revolves around aspiring singer Tori Vega (portrayed by Victoria Justice), a teenager who attends a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts High School, after taking her older sister Trina's (Daniella Monet) place in a showcase while getting into
screwball situations on a daily basis. On her first day at Hollywood Arts, she meets Andre Harris (Leon Thomas III), Robbie Shapiro (Matt Bennett), Rex Powers (Robbie's puppet), Jade West (Elizabeth Gillies), Cat Valentine
(Ariana Grande), and Beck Oliver (Avan Jogia). The series premiered on March 27, 2010 after the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards. The first soundtrack for the series, Victorious, was released on August 2, 2011. The series won
for Favorite TV Show award at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards and 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, even beating out iCarly. Victorious has had four Emmy nominations. Its second soundtrack, Victorious 2.0, was released on June 5, 2012.

On August 10, 2012, Victoria Justice stated that the series would not be renewed. Also, after the announcement of the series' spin-off Sam & Cat was made, fans of Victorious expressed dismay that its spin-off
series was the reason for its ending, but Dan Schneider himself stated otherwise. Although the Victorious cast only filmed three seasons, when the decision to end the series was made, Nickelodeon split the third
season in half, making a fourth season.

Plot

The series follows Tori Vega, a teenager who is accepted into Hollywood Arts High School (a school for talented teens in various performing-arts fields) after taking her older much less talented sister Trina's place in a
showcase after Trina had an allergic reaction to a Chinese herb product designed to help make people sing better. The plot follows Tori as she finds her place within Hollywood Arts, while getting into crazy situations
and adventures, and meeting friends to help her along the way. Other students at Hollywood Arts, and the students who make up Tori's group of friends, include Andre Harris, a musical prodigy who becomes Tori's best
friend at Hollywood Arts after encouraging her to stay at the school and helping her realize her talent; Robbie Shapiro, a socially-awkward ventriloquist who carries around his puppet Rex Powers who is seen by Robbie (and generally everyone else) as a living person; Jade West, a sarcastic and Gothic "mean girl" who has a complicated frenemy relationship with Tori and often threatens her; Cat Valentine, a sweet and innocent but naive and somewhat dim-witted girl; and Beck Oliver, a down-to-earth and handsome guy who is Jade's boyfriend.

They had been a couple since before the start of the series until the Season 3 episode "The Worst Couple", but got back together in the Season 4 episode, "Tori Fixes Beck and Jade". Beck and Tori have also had moments
where they were attracted to each other (they almost kissed twice), but Tori did not want to risk her small friendship with Jade over this. Other characters include Erwin Sikowitz, the performing-arts teacher for
Hollywood Arts; Lane Alexander, the school's guidance counselor; and Sinjin Van Cleef, an odd classmate who is mostly in charge of A/V.

Cast

Main cast:

Victoria Justice as Tori Vega
Leon Thomas III as Andre Harris
Matt Bennett as Robbie Shapiro
Elizabeth Gillies as Jade West
Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine
Avan Jogia as Beck Oliver
Daniella Monet as Trina Vega

Recurring cast:

Eric Lange as Erwin Sikowitz
Lane Napper as Lane Alexander
Michael Eric Reid as Sinjin Van Cleef
Jim Pirri as David Vega
Jennifer Carta as Holly Vega
Marilyn Harris as Andre's grandmother
Marco Aiello as Festus
Susan Chuang as Mrs. Lee
Darsan Solomon as Burf

Production

Victorious is the fifth series created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon, after The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly. Schneider first met Victoria Justice in 2005, when she was twelve and arrived to audition for the part of Lola Martinez on Zoey 101. Impressed by her energy and look, Schneider hired her and, after working with her on three episodes, called Nickelodeon to say, "I've got your next star." Justice continued her role on Zoey 101 until the series ended in 2008. In the meantime, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon's main competitor, had experienced immense success with franchises like Hannah Montana and High School Musical, which featured original songs and generated revenue through music as well as television. Seeking to "follow where the kids are", Nickelodeon executives asked Schneider to create a music-based show for the channel. Near the end of Zoey 101 '​s run, Justice was summoned to meet with Schneider about a potential series starring her. Victorious is the first series on Nickelodeon to premiere in the decade of 2010. Big Time Rush '​s first episode premiered two months earlier, but its original pilot premiered in 2009.

While discussing possible concepts for the series during the meeting, Justice mentioned that she had attended a performing arts middle school. The idea intrigued Schneider, who recognized the appeal of a series concerning
fame. "If there is anything I've learned about kids today—and I'm not saying this is good or bad—it's that they all want to be stars," said Schneider. Marjorie Cohn, who was then Nickelodeon's executive vice president of original programming and development, agreed. "Every kid thinks they're five minutes away and one lucky circumstance from being famous", Cohn stated. She noted that Schneider's iCarly, a sitcom about a girl who hosts a popular web show, was spurred by the rise of YouTube celebrities and has become a successful series for Nickelodeon.

On August 13, 2008, Nickelodeon announced that Justice had signed "an overall talent and music deal" with the company, agreeing to star in a then-untitled musical-comedy series about a girl who attends a performing arts
high school. While discussing the show's premise, Schneider stated that while it would be nice if more children "wanted to be teachers and social workers" instead of celebrities, "At least in Victorious, you see a world
where they're all working on the talent part."[12] Nickelodeon Productions and the Columbia/Epic Label Group of Sony Music Entertainment agreed to co-produce the series as part of a partnership to develop talent and release
their music.

Jerry Trainor, Perez Hilton, Josh Peck, Ke$ha, Nathan Kress, Drake Bell, Miranda Sings, and Jennette McCurdy have appeared on the series as cameos or guest stars.

Season 1 of Victorious began filming on October 5, 2009, and ended on April 14, 2010, with 20 episodes produced. Season 2 began filming October 4, 2010 and finished filming on February 23, 2011. In August 2011,
Victoria Justice confirmed that she was returning to the Victorious set, as Season 3 began filming on October 3, 2011. During the TV special 7 Secrets with Victoria Justice, Justice explained the weekly schedule the cast
and crew operate on: scripts are issued to them on Sunday nights, the cast has table reads on Mondays and Tuesdays, then the episode is shot on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and on Saturday, they watch a premiering
of their show that is newly released to the public then.

Victoria Justice told M Magazine in August 2012 that "We will not be expecting a fourth season, this is the first time I've talked about it. I just found out a couple of days ago that we're not coming back. It's sad
because I've been with Nickelodeon since I was 12 years old and I became a family with my Victorious cast. We spent a lot of time together and bonded for sure – I'll look back on the experience very fondly. It's a little shocking and a little bittersweet, but at the end of the day it might not be such a bad thing – we all want to do our own thing and continue to grow." The third season was split into two, thus making four seasons in total.

The series ended without a proper finale, a fact referenced in an episode of the series' spin-off, Sam & Cat, when the titular characters' favorite show is cancelled and Cat asks "What kind of network cancels a show
without giving it a proper finale?"

Casting

Several of the actors on Victorious had either appeared in Nickelodeon programs or Broadway musicals prior to Victorious '​ premiere. In addition to Zoey 101, Victoria Justice appeared on iCarly in "iFight Shelby Marx" as
Shelby Marx, as well as True Jackson, VP, The Naked Brothers Band, and The Troop. She also co-starred with Avan Jogia, who portrays Beck, in the Nickelodeon television film Spectacular!. Daniella Monet has guest starred as Rebecca Martin in three episodes of Zoey 101, Tootie in the Nickelodeon television film A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, the Supah Ninjas Season 1 episode "Morningstar Academy" as one of the main antagonists named Clarissa, and in Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred (in lieu of Jennette McCurdy) as Bertha. Leon Thomas III had not only guest starred in an episode of iCarly as Harper and also in The Naked Brothers Band but he had also previously appeared in musicals such as The Lion King, The Color Purple, and Caroline, or Change, and in the film August Rush. Elizabeth Gillies and Ariana Grande had co-starred in the musical 13.

Sets

Victorious is filmed at Nickelodeon on Sunset on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. According to Paula Kaplan, Nickelodeon's executive Vice President for talent, "In our adult world, nobody accommodates us for down time.

But in a child's life on a set, we do take that seriously. At our studios on Sunset Boulevard, where we shoot iCarly and Victorious, the greenrooms are filled with games and Rock Band. We create an environment where they
can have fun with their colleagues and take it easy."

Victorious is set primarily at Hollywood Arts, however the front of Hollywood Arts High School are digitally altered photos of Burbank High School. The lunch area of Hollywood Arts depicts the back area of Nickelodeon on Sunset, with a parking lot next to the back area. According to David Hinkley of the New York Daily News, "Outside of school, Victorious has the same look as iCarly, with most of the action taking place on one main set with a few basic home/crib-furniture items." The series also has a BLIX machine from Zoey 101.

Reception

Critical reception

Like iCarly, Victorious has received generally mixed reviews. Variety magazine reviewer Brian Lowry wrote, "Victorious has been cobbled together with the wooden-headed market in mind." David Hinkley of the New York Daily News says the series' format is nearly identical to iCarly '​s and hopes that the series will develop a "more distinctive personality" over the course of the season. Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant describes
Victorious as "harmless but hardly entertaining". Mark A. Perigard of the Boston Herald titled his review "Victorious is a big loser" and writes, "The bulk of the cast mugs for the cameras, probably to compensate for a script that could have been commissioned from fifth-graders." Linda Stasi of the New York Post was mixed; she agreed that the series contained over-acting performers, "corny" dialogue and a "terribly, terribly loud laugh
track", but believed it was "a surefire tween hit".

However, reviewers were positive about Justice's performance and suggested that the show's potential hinged on her. Hinkley comments, "At this point, Justice is better at singing than acting, and the show doesn't flow as smoothly as iCarly, but Justice has the personality and talent needed for a shot at being 'the Next Big Teen Thing'". Perigard describes her as "undeniably appealing" and Lowry states, "Justice is winsome and talented
enough to provide the latest show a leg up in connecting with tween girls." Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series four out of five stars, writing, "Upbeat iCarly-like tween comedy promotes confidence".