In the far off land of Disney there stood an enchanted castle. For many
generations it was the training ground for the main export of this magical
kingdom; talented boys and girls. Through a rigorous training program, and some
suspect a eugenics program to enhance the genes for song, dance and general
cuteness, the new star were created to go forth and conquer the entertainment
industry. In a nearby rival land of Nickelodeon, the rulers decided to initiate
their own apprenticeship to generate youngsters capable of defeating the Disney
princesses and princes on their own field of battle. The result was a round of
programming on the Nick cable network that could compete with the long
established Disney army. Leaving the metaphor behind the undeniable fact is
Nickelodeon has been on the heels of the ‘House of Mouse’ for quite a number of
years now. This competitor has been constructing its own juggernaut of family
entertainment. This currently encompasses films, music, and television and
sponsoring their own youth oriented ‘Kid’s Choice’ award ceremony complete with
their own trademark green slime dumped in liberal quantities on their guests.
One hotly contested arena can be found in the increasingly lucrative tween/teen
market. One of the major manifestations of this confrontation is the youthfully
based sit com television series. These shows are ideal proving grounds for young
talent as they strive to establish themselves in their professions. Much like
their Disney counterparts this presentation typically encompasses training and
exposure in all forms of entertainment particularly music and comedy. Currently
they have a pair of teen series recently merged into the same ‘universe; to
better accommodate cross over characters, ‘iCarly’ and the show under review
here, ‘Victorious’. Both are set in a high school environment with the former
concentrating on a web based show within a show while the latter placed in a
specialized high school for the performing arts. It is sort of ‘Fame’ Lite now
with 80% less melodrama. ‘Victorious’ is a light hearted romp through the teen
years brightly punctuated with plenty of musical numbers performed by a
genuinely talented ensemble cast.
The eponymous young lady of the series is Tori Vega (Victoria Justice), a
bright, pretty and talented girl. Although not exactly extroverted she isn’t shy
either, just your basic well rounded teenage girl. For her entire life she lived
in the overwhelming shadow of her sister, Trina's (Daniella Monet), who’s one
year older. Trina attends the prestigious Hollywood Arts High School for the
performing arts. It quickly becomes an unanswered question as to how she was
accepted. Trina can’t act, dance or carry a tune. The only thing she excels in
is being an overbearing diva but I don’t think that is part of the school’s
curriculum or acceptance criteria. In the initial episode Trina was supposed to
be featured in a spotlight number at the school. In a fashion that typically
occurs in a ‘wacky’ comedy Trina is unable to perform and the only one that
knows the song and accompanying choreography is kid sister Tori. She not only
nails the number her innate ability as a performer blows everyone sway and she
is immediately offered a spot in the class. This set up an enhanced sibling
rivalry and the ever popular ‘new girl’ in school scenario as Tori navigates the
social structure of a new school. The aspect of this that works exceptionally
well is the performing arts setting. It provides a looser, more liberal
environment for students and teachers creating an atmosphere conducive to ad hoc
performances and eccentric behavior with both students and faculty. Torus
quickly finds herself in a tightly knit group of kids. Andre Harris (Leon Thomas
III) is an extraordinary musician who had helped Tori prepare for the showcase.
The class hunk is Beck Oliver (Avan Jogia), a bit of a loner. His girl friend is
the standoffish Jade West (Elizabeth Gillies) who initially dislikes Tori. There
is some chemistry between Tori and Beck but it remains rather innocent. There is
no lack of weird students. Robbie Shapiro (Matt Bennett) is never without his
ventriloquist puppet, Rex. He is a real person as far as Robbie is concern and
his friends have little problem in going along with the façade. Finally there is
Cat Valentine (Ariana Grande), her hair id dyed red, as their strange acting
teacher, Erwin Sikowitz (Eric Lange) put it, the color of a red velvet cupcake.
Cat is sweet, innocent to the point of gullibility and prone to unexpected mood
swings giggling one moment and running off crying the next.
The fundamental format of this series is the wacky situation based comedy.
There is more farce here than anything else but to say the show runner, Dan
Schneider, is the driving force behind Nickelodeon’s trifecta of teen comedy
that include the aforementioned ‘iCarly’ and the twin brother based, ‘Drake &
Josh’. One common thread that runs through all these series is the use of
computers as an integral part of the characters’ lives. In all cases the most
common computer, tablet and phone is the ‘pear’, a wink to the ‘Apple’. Used as
a transition between scenes are Tori posting to the class’ social network site,
‘TheSlap.com’. Kids are encouraged to actually visit it for episodes, sketches,
and music and character profiles. This is another common devices used by Nick’s
teen shows.
Typically the stories driving each episode are light and family friend. They
do demonstrate a modicum of didactic content by infusing the plots with a
usually subtle message. One episode with Robbie’s grandmother demonstrates
patience and understanding with the elderly while the one side rivalry between
Jade and Tori is carefully developed into a sort of frienmy situation. The
construction of Cat goes beyond the standard kooky, childlike trope required by
most sit-coms, she is innocence and wonder living in a bubble untouched by the
cynicism inherent in our society. There is a mean bone in her body playing
entirely against the ‘Mean girl’ archetype. All the kids shown here
multitalented but Victoria Justice is at the top of her game. She is equally at
home with self deprecating humor of glamorizing her image and belting out a song
with remarkable power and control. Okay, there is a strange kid running around
with his hand up a dummy’s back but relegating that to whimsy the series is
close to the traditional variety show amply suitable for parents and kids alike.