Victorious

Victorious is an American teen-music sitcom airing on the cable channel Nickelodeon. Its Pilot premiered on March 27, 2010 after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2010 with 5.7 million viewers, the second highest premiere rating for a Nickelodeon series. It won the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for Favourite TV Show in 2012.
==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
*Jake Farrow as (the voice of) Rex Powers
*Eric Lange as Erwin Sikowitz
==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 sister Trina's place in a showcase. 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 "mean girl" who has a love-hate relationship with Tori; Cat Valentine, a sweet and innocent but naive and somewhat dim-witted girl who is supposedly due to her constant mood swings; and Beck Oliver, a laid-back and handsome guy who was Jade's boyfriend. They had been a couple since before the start of the series. Briefly they broke up as notified by the Season 3 episode "The Worst Couple"; they came back together in the season 4 episode "Tori Fixes Jade & Beck."
==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." 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, and Nathan Kress have appeared on the series as cameos or guest stars.
The 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.[14] In August 2011, Victoria Justice confirmed on her Twitter profile that she was returning to the Victorious set, as Season 3 began filming on October 3, 2011.
==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, 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 Jogia, who plays Beck, in the Nickelodeon television film Spectacular!. Monet guest starred in three episodes of Zoey 101, the Nickelodeon television film A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, the Supah Ninjas 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 the deuteragonist Bertha. Thomas not only guest starred in an episode of iCarly and The Naked Brothers Band but he had previously appeared in musicals such as The Lion King, The Color Purple, and Caroline, or Change, and in the film August Rush. [16] Gillies and Grande had co-starred in the musical 13.
==Sets==
The series is filmed at Nickelodeon On Sunset on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. 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."
The series is set primarily at Hollywood Arts. Outdoor shots of Hollywood Arts depict Hollywood Arts High School, which is located in the parking lot of Nickelodeon Studios.According to David Hinkley of the New York Daily News, "Outside of school, Victorious 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 the television series Zoey 101.
==Music==
"Make It Shine" is the series' theme song. The song also serves as the lead single from the soundtrack to the series. It peaked at number 16 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in the US.
Victorious features approximately one song every three episodes. Victoria Justice told "7 Secrets with Victoria Justice" that she is currently working on music for her solo album. Parts of songs have also been sung in a few episodes of Victorious.
The Victorious soundtrack, featuring 12 songs from the series (including "Leave It All to Shine") was released on August 2, 2011.
The first 1,000 pre-orders received a CD booklet autographed by Justice, the special pre-order package (ordered before July 19, 2011) also included an exclusive customized Victorious poster.
Category:Daniella Monet
Category:Victorious
Category:TV Shows