Victorious (TV series)

Victorious (stylized as VICTORiOUS) is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon from March 27, 2010 to 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 after the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards. The series won for Favorite TV Show award at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards and 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, beating out iCarly. Victorious earned four Emmy nominations.

On August 10, 2012, Victoria Justice stated that the series would not be renewed.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

Plot
The series follows the adventures of 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 has an allergic reaction to a Chinese herb gargle 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 frenemyrelationship 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 have 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 moments where they are attracted to each other (they almost kiss twice), but Tori does 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.

Tori Vega
Tori Vega (portrayed by Victoria Justice) is the younger sister of Trina Vega and attends Hollywood Arts, a performing arts high school, along with her sister.

When Trina experiences an allergic reaction to a Chinese herb before a big showcase at school, Tori is volunteered by Andre to take her place since she knew the piece meant to be played. Tori performs "Make it Shine" (the Victorioustheme song) and everyone is impressed with her performance, including the principal, who offers her enrollment to the school. She accepts and is admitted to Hollywood Arts. Initially feeling out of place at Hollywood Arts, Tori makes new, supportive friends and becomes more comfortable. From there onward, the show details Tori's journey through school as she gets into wacky situations, has differences and adventures with her friends. She is one of the favorite students of her teacher, Sikowitz.

She is depicted as creative, nice, caring, forgiving, responsible, positive, easy-going, and friendly, though she can be sneaky and vindictive, going as low as to manipulate her friends and family (especially Trina), but will always do the right thing in the end. Tori is shown to care for her friends and family a lot and is willing to help them no matter what, even when hesitant to.

Tori is friends with Beck, Cat, Robbie and is the closest to Andre. She often considers Jade as her friend, even though Jade herself does not. In some episodes, the two seem to be friends although most of the time, Jade seems to be "frenemies" with Tori.

In later episodes, Tori is shown to wear glasses when at home and while at school she wears contacts.

Andre Harris
Andre Harris (portrayed by Leon Thomas III) is Tori's best friend. Andre is an aspiring musician who loves to perform and write his own songs. He can play many instruments, including the guitar, keyboard, piano, and the French horn, but prefers the keyboard and piano. Andre takes his music seriously and is usually seen playing at all of Tori's performances. He is a talented singer and songwriter, having co-written nearly every song Tori has sung. He also often gets Tori to sing back-up for him at his own performances.

Andre is shown to be witty and kind and Tori often relies on him for support in her time of need, and he is always there for her, although he is easily distracted at times. He is the guy Tori and the others come to for help or advice on anything. He also likes to make jokes, but none of the other characters find him humorous.

Andre has a grandmother who is mentally unstable. He also has a cousin who works as an actor, and an uncle who is a real estate agent and once sold a house to Kenan Thompson.

In "Jade Gets Crushed", Andre develops feelings for Jade after they work together on a song for a project and Andre hears her sing. At the end of episode, he tells Tori that it seems that he is over Jade, but his former crush on Jade is mentioned again in "Tori Fixes Beck and Jade".

Robbie Shapiro
Robert "Robbie" Shapiro[1] (portrayed by Matt Bennett) is one of Tori's friends at Hollywood Arts. He speaks along with a puppet, Rex Powers, whom he and all others speak to as if it were an actual person. Robbie is a skilled ventriloquist, but he was un-credited for his talent until the episode "Freak the Freak Out". In the episode, Robbie does not understand why he was referred to as a "ventriloquist", which either jokingly indicates that Rex has a mind of his own and is not controlled by Robbie at all or in a more serious matter that Robbie suffers a schizophrenic disorder, therefore considering Rex a real person.[2] He is said to have had Rex since he was little and the two are almost always seen together. Robbie personifies Rex, which leads to many an argument about Rex's true sentience. He constantly argues that Rex is not a puppet or dummy when told otherwise. Robbie is closest to Rex and affectionate towards him, though Rex ridicules him often.

Robbie is considered extremely nerdy, shy, and socially awkward, but a good, loyal, and honest friend to others. Robbie has a great deal of trouble with relationships and attracting girls. It is often hinted that Robbie may be in love with Cat, and is proven true in the episode "The Blonde Squad" in which Robbie writes and sings the song "I Think You're Swell" for her. The song is about what a great person she is, and how they get along so well, and that she is all he thinks about. She however, does not appear to get the true feelings behind it, though she does appear to greatly enjoy the song. He is also shown to be the only one who knows Cat's full name, Caterina. He does not seem to have a sense of privacy. His only relative who has ever been seen is his grandmother. It is revealed that Robbie is intolerant to gluten, otherwise known as Celiac Disease. It is revealed in "Wok Star" Robbie is Jewish because he spent his Bar Mitzvah money on leather pants and male make-up. He is also mistaken for a girl in a couple episodes such as "Locked Up", in which he is put on the wrong side of the fence in a jail, splitting the girls' side from the boys' side. In "The Blond Squad", Cat tells Robbie that he does not "know how guys think".

Robbie appeared in the Sam & Cat episode "TheKillerTunaJump" (without Rex) where he is called in by Jade to flirt with Sam Puckett after Cat had called Freddie Benson to Burbank to flirt with her. When Sam kisses him, Cat is greatly angered and upset by it.

Rex Powers
Rex Powers (physically portrayed by a ventriloquist dummy named Christopher Cane, performed by Matt Bennett, voiced by an uncredited Jake Farrow[3]) is Robbie's alter ego, who is a dummy that Robbie carries around everywhere. Robbie has had Rex since he was young. Since Robbie is too shy to speak for himself most of the time, he talks as Rex, using him to voice his actual feelings and thoughts. The others treat Rex as a real person, and both Robbie and Rex dislike it when Rex is called a "dummy" or "puppet". Rex is obsessed with "Northridge Girls", dumb, talentless and 'easy' girls from a Los Angeles neighborhood.

In "Rex Dies" he gets sucked into a wind machine and is taken to a hospital, even though he is a dummy. Rex is shown to have a huge crush on Tori and constantly flirts with her, though she is annoyed by his affection. Robbie often turns to Rex for advice and insight, though Rex's advice is almost always off-beat. Rex is sarcastic and mean, especially to Robbie, though it is shown that neither can stay without the other.

In the first 3 seasons, Rex is always in Robbie's company. In season 4 for unexplained reasons, Robbie is frequently seen without Rex. Part 2 of "Freak the Freak Out" was the first episode not to feature Rex.

In 2011, Rex hosted a bloopers episode of Victorious titled "Blooptorious" in which he interviewed cast members and showed outtakes from the series. In the episode, Rex is named Christopher Cane and is not accompanied by Robbie. As Christopher Cane, he also hosted a 2011 blooper episode of iCarly titled "iBloop 2: Electric Bloopaloo".

Rex later appeared in the 2015 Game Shakers episode "Tiny Pickles" (Season 1, Episode 5) where he is a truck driver.

Jade West
Jade West (portrayed by Elizabeth Gillies) is a frenemy of Tori from Hollywood Arts. She has a gothic sense of style—always wearing dark clothes with eyebrow piercings and different colors of streaks in her hair—and is the long-time girlfriend of Beck Oliver. She is very possessive of her boyfriend and is known to lash out at anyone who she views as a threat to their relationship. She shows very little affection for anyone.

In the pilot episode, Jade mistakenly believes that Tori is flirting with Beck, so she later pours coffee onto Tori’s head during an acting class. Tori later gets even with her by defeating her in an alphabetical improv and got a kiss from Beck upon the two of them being the only ones left in the alphabetical improv.

Jade has been known to take obsession in triumphing over any enemies or rivals she may find, and occasionally has been known to take an interest in bizarre, dark, or unusual things that usually would repulse or frighten other people. She has a fascination with scissors, as she is sometimes seen holding scissors and her locker is decorated with them.

In "Ice Cream for Ke$ha", it is revealed that her childhood was a dark and unhappy one, her favorite play toy being a hammer, and that she had been raised by an unsupportive and similarly emotionless father and a mother she could not emotionally connect with. She is also seen to be an amazing singer and actress, which are her main talents that got her into Hollywood Arts. In the season 1 episode "Jade Dumps Beck", it is revealed that they had been dating for nearly two years. However, they break up in the episode "The Worst Couple" after non-stop fighting, although it becomes clear that Jade still has feelings for him. After taking some time apart, the two make amends in the episode "Tori Fixes Beck and Jade" when Jade sings a song that is implied to be dedicated to Beck, leading them to admit that they have missed each other and get back together.

Jade later appeared in the Sam & Cat episode "#TheKillerTunaJump" where she ends up meeting Sam Puckett and befriending her, whereas Cat had thought that the two girls would kill each other upon first sight due to their similar personalities. It is Sam and Jade's friendship that makes Cat jealous enough to call Freddie Benson to Burbank so that she can flirt with him.

Cat Valentine
Caterina "Cat" Valentine (portrayed by Ariana Grande) is one of Tori's strangest friends from Hollywood Arts. She is fun, energetic, and at times oblivious. As seen in some episodes, she is revealed to be somewhat smart, just a little air headed. In a video on TheSlap she reveals that her full first name is Caterina but only her grandmother calls her by her full name. It was also revealed by Robbie in "The Blonde Squad" when he yelled "Caterina Valentine, I will not sit here anymore and listen to you talk bad about yourself! You're adorable!"[4] She is relatively friendly and liked by all of the students. She is sweet, naive, bubbly and happy, often unsuspecting of what is really going on around her. She has a playful nature, and has a very short attention span, so she can easily be distracted with colorful items by the others when they want her out of the way. She can be somewhat of a drama queen, and does not take criticism very well. She often screams "What's that supposed to mean!?" when offended, which is very often and has become her catchphrase.[5] Cat often says random and strange things which leaves the others, especially Jade, confused or annoyed.

Cat is also an extremely talented singer and actress, as seen in "Freak The Freak Out" where she sings a duet with Jade, and in the crossover episode "iParty with Victorious" where she shows a high vocal range. A running gag of the series is Cat often telling her friends or strangers about her brother, who seems to have many unnatural problems, all of which Cat does not seem to find strange or abnormal. She has bright red hair that she dyed to resemble her favorite snack, a red velvet cupcake. Andre's nickname for her is "Little Red", which she took offense to at first, but then called it "creative".[6] She is occasionally seen carrying stuffed animals. Through the series, she has become more ditzy and over the top, with a higher-pitched voice and her abnormal conversations.

In January 2013 in the episode "Star-Spangled Tori", Cat's parents move away to Idaho to be with her mentally ill brother for between 6 months and 2 years where the doctors can make sure he gets lots of mental relaxation and cannot escape and keep him institutionalized. Their parents wanted her to live with her and her brother's Uncle Walter and Aunt Pearl, while they are in Idaho but according to Cat, they are very strict and mean. They do not like her red hair, they only eat vegetables, they said she cannot have unlimited texting, and they will not let her flush the toilet unless it is "absolutely necessary". This caused Cat to run away and take refuge in the attic of Hollywood Arts' blackbox theater, where her living habits were discovered by Robbie and Jade. After Jade called up Cat's parents, Cat goes to live with her grandmother – who turned out to be living in Venice, California and not Venice, Italy as Cat had initially thought – until her parents and brother return. She refers to her grandmother as "Nona".

When Victorious airs its final season, Cat becomes a co-lead character on the crossover spin-off Sam & Cat, a sitcom that began airing in 2013 and concluded in 2014. Sam and Cat become roommates when Cat's Nona (portrayed by Maree Cheatham) goes to live in Elderly Acres. Sam and Cat previously met each other in the 2011 iCarly crossover episode "iParty with Victorious", but neither of them made much contact. In the spin-off, Sam officially meets Cat after saving her from the garbage truck. The next day, Sam and Cat set up a babysitting service to raise some extra cash after watching some kids. Sam and Cat's home is stated to be "the poshest apartment in the building".

Beck Oliver
Beck Oliver (portrayed by Avan Jogia) is Jade's boyfriend. He has been together with Jade for over two years and, unlike everyone else, is completely unafraid of her (even laughing when Andre admitted to being scared of her) and often likes to tease and make her jealous because of her reactions, which he finds amusing. Beck seems to be the only one who can calm Jade down when she becomes angry and has some control over her as seen throughout the series.

Beck is seen as soft-spoken, friendly, laid back, modest, and open. Although he is shown to get annoyed and even lose his temper, usually by Robbie or Trina, he is normally calm and collected. Because of his good looks and personality, he is possibly the most popular guy at Hollywood Arts and attracts almost all females and girls like Trina, sometimes even older women. He seems to be aware of the effect he has on girls, sometimes using his looks to his advantage. He and Andre are close friends. His school locker is transparent, which is his way of saying that he has no secrets, which is revealed to Tori when she was attempting to find a decorative idea for her own locker. He lives in a trailer that is parked in his parents' driveway, being told if he lived with them then he would have to go by their rules, and he stated "my roof, my rules". In the season 2 premiere, Jade mentions that Beck is Canadian.

It is shown in "Beck Falls For Tori" and "iParty with Victorious" that Beck has never felt true terror nor has he ever been scared by anything, a fact backed up by Jade who calls him "unscareable". He usually tries to keep peace in the group and hold everyone together. Beck breaks up with Jade in the season 3 episode "The Worst Couple" after getting tired of constantly fighting with her. In the episode "Tori Goes Platinum" Beck tries to kiss Tori, revealing that he has romantic feelings for her, but she rejects him because she viewed it as a betrayal to Jade to kiss her ex-boyfriend. In the episode, Tori Fixes Beck and Jade, Beck tries dating a girl named Meredith, who wants to do anything he wants, causing him to realize how he prefers dating a girl who "fights back" and "has a big mouth" because it is not easy and that an easy relationship to him is "boring". This causes him to see how much he misses being with Jade and that he loves her, bringing the two back together again. Following this, their relationship is stronger and more stable.

It is later mentioned in Sam & Cat that the two are still in a relationship.

Trina Vega
Trina Vega (portrayed by Daniella Monet) is Tori's older sister, who also attends Hollywood Arts. Trina's allergic reaction to a Chinese herb gargle in the pilotepisode forces Tori to fill in for her in the school's big showcase, which leads to Tori being offered admission to Hollywood Arts.

Trina believes that acting and singing is her destiny, and is oblivious to her actual lack of any talent. The only reason Trina is in Hollywood Arts in is because Sikowitz had a coconut-induced hallucination during Trina's audition, which turned her performance into a psychedelic extravaganza for him, and every other judge was out at the time. Trina is quite selfish and shallow most of the time, and is portrayed as being extremely difficult to deal with, sometimes even being called a "monster" in "Freak the Freak Out." However, before she was admitted to Hollywood Arts, she was depicted at her audition as a shy, sweet, nerdy girl.

Despite Trina's shallow personality, she can be concerned about her sister when she wants to be and it is shown that she does look out for Tori a lot. Later in the series, she showed some minor character growth, such as in "Locked Up!" when she tries to get Tori out of a Yerbanian prison when she was accused of "attacking" the unnamed Yerbanian Chancellor and showed genuine concern for her well being. Other examples of this are evidenced in the episodes "Tori the Zombie", "Beggin' On Your Knees", and "Tori Gets Stuck".

Trina also seems to have bad luck, as she often gets hurt. Some examples include: Falling from the ceiling, a wall falling on her, getting hit in the face with flour, and getting hit with a box of shoes.

By the final episode "Victori-yes", Trina has landed a role on a Spanish-language television show titled Divertisimo, which she boasts is "a high-quality television show with top-notch acting". She is eventually shown portraying a giant piece of cheese being tormented by children in mouse costumes.

Sinjin
Sinjin Van Cleef[7] (portrayed by Michael Eric Reid) is a strange, interesting and questionable student at Hollywood Arts. He is nerdy, disturbing, and very weird, often considered stranger than even Robbie or Cat; his locker has his chewed up food on it and he also likes to collect the teeth of past presidents' relatives. He is usually used as a fake date or bribed to fake date someone, including Cat. He usually interrupts conversations with weird comments that do not make sense. He is a fan of disco music and has a huge crush on Tori and Jade, despite the fact that both show more irritation than interest in his presence. Sinjin is skilled in the background work on the school's productions and performances. He is shown to be proficient with audio, lighting, and making props, and is the apparent leader of the technical team. He appears in almost every episode of the series, except for "Stage Fighting"," "Cat's New Boyfriend," "Sleepover at Sikowitz's," "Locked Up!", "Tori Tortures Teacher, "Jade Gets Crushed", "Terror on Cupcake Street", "The Breakfast Bunch", "Andre's Horrible Girl", "Car, Rain and Fire" and "Driving Tori Crazy". It is revealed in "A Christmas Tori" that he has a sister named Courtney (played by Dominique Grund) who also attends Hollywood Arts.

Sikowitz
Erwin Sikowitz[8] (pronounced "psycho-wits") (portrayed by Eric Lange) is the hippie-like acting teacher at Hollywood Arts. His habits might be interpreted as weird and his methods are shown to be often very strange (such as throwing a ball at Cat while she was performing), but at times very effective. He often walks around barefoot, which is the supposed trait of the hippies. He likes to enter the class through a window and is almost always seen drinking from a coconut because, as Jade says, "the milk gives him visions". Tori gave him two dollars on her first day at Hollywood Arts, thinking he was homeless. He also gave Cat, Jade, Beck, Andre, and Robbie permission to start a fake ping-pong team to make money and have a fancy dinner. He claims to be 34 years old in "The Diddly-Bops".

He appears in "Pilot", "The Bird Scene", "Beck's Big Break", "The Great Ping Pong Scam", "Cat's New Boyfriend", "Freak The Freak Out", "Rex Dies", "The Diddly-Bops", "Sleepover at Sikowitz's", "Beck Falls for Tori", "Tori Gets Stuck", "Prom Wrecker", "Locked Up!", "iParty with Victorious", "Helen Back Again", "Tori Tortures Teacher", "Terror on Cupcake Street", "A Christmas Tori", The Gorilla Club, Tori & Jade's Playdate, April Fools Blank, How Trina Got In, Tori Goes Platinum (parts 1-2), Crazy Ponnie, Cell Block, Robbie Sells Rex, Star Spangled Tori and Victori-yes.

"Pilot" is the only episode where he is referred to as Mr. Sikowitz. In all other episodes, he is just called Sikowitz. In "Sleepover at Sikowitz's", it is revealed that he has a nephew named Jason, who went out on a date with Cat, although the results are not mentioned. His catchphrase is "Good Gandhi!" As strange as Sikowitz is, he is the favorite teacher of Tori, Cat, Jade, Beck, Andre, and Robbie, and is very open and comfortable with them, to the point he says that he is their friend in a few episodes.

Sikowitz is regularly seen drinking from a coconut (he once drank fermented coconut milk and had visions during Trina's audition). In one episode when Tori goes to him asking for help, he is hanging upside down from the ceiling, and in another he stored his grandmother in the corner before slinging her over his shoulder and taking her to the hospital. He has an extremely strange house as revealed in "Sleepover at Sikowitz's". At the Hollywood Arts Prom he brought a pile of tires, matches and a bottle of fuel, thinking for unknown reasons that they were going to have a bonfire of tires.

Sikowitz appeared in the Sam & Cat episode "#MommaGoomer." He is seen teaching his students about backward acting when Sam and Cat comes in. Sikowitz scolds Cat for showing up very late with class being almost over. When the bell rings, Sam and Cat tell Sikowitz that they would like to use his classroom for a charity called "The Salvation Goomers" (which was a cover-up for Goomer claiming to his mother that he is a history teacher). During Goomer's teaching of history to Sam, Cat, Dice, Goomer's mom, and the local shruggers,[clarification needed] Sikowitz comes in stating that he had gone to Charityosity.com where he found nothing about "The Salvation Goomers." After Goomer confessed to his mother that he is actually an MMA Fighter, Sikowitz uses an electric shaver to get the fake pit hair off of Dice's armpits claiming that he grew them too soon. In the same series, Cat has a picture of Sikowitz near her bed in the room that she shares with Sam.

Lane
Lane Alexander (portrayed by Lane Napper) is the guidance counselor for Hollywood Arts. Lane is a good guidance counselor, and often helps students with their problems and resolves their arguments, but sometimes can be reluctant at times, asking students "Why Me?". He is usually the one making the big announcements at school. He appears to either hate dry skin or is obsessed with lotion (as seen in "The Wood"), as he can be seen frequently applying lotion to his hands. He has a nephew named Devon, as seen in "The Diddly-Bops". Lane is the one who made a reality television series, The Wood, leave the school because it was becoming an issue with the students and disrupting the learning environment.

He tends to be a bit extreme in his dealings such as when he issued a two-week detention to Tori for a supposed accidental hit on Jade during a stage fighting practice, made Robbie and Trina cover for Festus after accidentally injuring him, and having Tori and Jade take Festus home after unknowingly wrecking his car which was similar to one of the janitors' car.

He appears in "Pilot", "The Bird Scene", "Stage Fighting", "Tori The Zombie", "Robarazzi", "Beck's Big Break", "The Great Ping Pong Scam", "Cat's New Boyfriend", "The Diddly Bops", "The Wood", "Tori Gets Stuck", "iParty With Victorious", "Helen Back Again", "Who Did It to Trina?", "Tori Tortures Teacher", "Jade Gets Crushed", "The Worst Couple", "How Trina Got In", "Crazy Ponnie" and "One Thousand Berry Balls".

As revealed on his profile on TheSlap.com, Lane's last name is Alexander.

David and Holly Vega
David and Holly Vega (portrayed by Jim Pirri and Jennifer Carta) are the parents of Tori and Trina. David works as a police officer while Holly's job was never revealed.

They appear in "Pilot", "The Birthweek Song", "Sleepover at Sikowitz's", "Locked Up", and "Jade Gets Crushed" though their mother appeared in "Robarazzi", "A Film by Dale Squires", "Helen Back Again", "Driving Tori Crazy", "Tori Goes Platinum", "Crazy Ponnie", "Cell Block", "The Bad Roommate" and "Star Spangled-Tori", and their dad appears in "Freak the Freak Out" and "Car, Rain and Fire".

They are shown to be caring and loving parents, but when their daughters get too out of control, they tend to stay out of it and go off doing something else, which is indicating that they are very unhelpful parents. For example, in "Freak the Freak Out", Trina gets her wisdom teeth removed and their parents decide to go out of town so they would not have to take care of her, knowing she would get violent. Tori likes to point out at times that her father is a cop, usually to Sinjin, but also to others, especially if someone is annoying her. David Vega works as with LAPD and is originally from Puerto Rico.

Andre's grandmother
Charlotte Harris[9] (portrayed by Marilyn Harris) is Andre's grandmother. She is mentally unstable and often paranoid about things. She is shown to be afraid of nearly everything, including various sensible objects such as clocks and mirrors. In the episode "Wi-Fi in the Sky" she gets scared after seeing her reflection in a mirror, and screams "Andre, there's another 'me' on the wall!". When she is greeted by new people, she hides behind anything she can find, while simultaneously shouting out "I don't know you!" Andre tells Tori in the "Pilot" episode that her coming to see Trina perform "Make it Shine" is the first time in six years that she has left her house. He also mentions in "Survival of the Hottest" that before she lost her mind, she used to tell him, "Andre, no matter how bad things get, you can always make it better by singing a song". She often snaps at Andre, and is possibly the only way she communicates with anyone. In "Wi-Fi in the Sky," she yells at Andre for "talking to himself" when he was in reality video chatting with Tori, Cat, and Beck, then freaks out and punches Andre's computer. During an interview on a video on TheSlap.com in which Andre read off her crazy text messages, her first name is revealed to be Charlotte. She has appeared in "Pilot", "Wi-Fi in the Sky", "Sleepover At Sikowitz's", "iParty With Victorious", "Driving Tori Crazy", "Tori Fixes Beck and Jade" and "The Bad Roommate".

Mrs. Lee
Mrs. Lee (portrayed by Susan Chuang) is the owner of Tori's favorite Chinese restaurant Wok Star, who volunteers to pay to produce Jade's play. But things get complicated when Mrs. Lee makes drastic changes to the script, and wants to put her daughter, Daisy, in the play. Mrs. Lee returns in the episode "Andre's Horrible Girl", now operating a Sushi bar called Nozu after Wok Star burns down. This prompts Tori to ask if she is actually Chinese or Japanese, which she answers with a smack to Tori's head.

She later appears in the third-season episode "How Trina Got In", making Tori and Robbie chop a pile of squid after they cannot pay their bill. After the bill was worked off, Robbie accidentally breaks some dishes, causing Mrs. Lee to have Robbie work off the damages with one of the jobs being rubbing her chef Kwakoo's feet.

She also appeared in the fourth-season episode "The Hambone King" where she praises Robbie's hamboning skills.

Kwakoo
Kwakoo (portrayed by Née Léau) is a worker at Nozu that works for Mrs. Lee as a chef as seen in "How Trina Got In."

In "The Hambone King," Kwakoo asked Robbie for his autograph after seeing Robbie's hambone video.

Festus
Festus (portrayed by Marco Aiello) is the proprietor of The Grub Truck, a food truck located at the school. He appears in "Beck's Big Break"[10] "The Wood", and "Locked Up!". He either has or may have a habit of lying to customers.

In "Beck's Big Break" when Tori asked for a sandwich he said he only served burritos but gave her a sandwich anyway. In the same episode, he is also shown to scream at people who are not there when in the Grub Truck.

In "The Wood", he was injured by Robbie and Trina and they were forced by Lane to replace him for a short time. Tori and Jade accidentally destroyed his car in the same episode upon mistaking for one of the cars belonging to one of Hollywood Arts' janitors and had to take him home in a wheelbarrow.

In "Locked Up!", he tells Tori about his home country Yerba and how she and her friends could stay there if they perform a song every day and the country would pay for the hotel rooms. It is also revealed that he has a brother named Sgrodis (portrayed by Winston Story) who is the hotel manager.

Burf
Burf (portrayed by Darsan Solomon) is a student who goes to Hollywood Arts and always hangs out with Sinjin. He is first seen in the episode "Tori & Jade's Playdate", spying on Tori and Jade for Sikowitz so they cannot escape Nozu. He then appears in "Driving Tori Crazy" when Cat offers him a bag of rags. He also appears in "The Blonde Squad", and in "Tori Goes Platinum", when he sends in a video of himself singing for a contest. He also appears in the season 4 episode, "Wanko's Warehouse".

Principal Eikner
Principal Eikner (portrayed by David Starzyk) is the former principal of Hollywood Arts. Though he is rarely seen in the show, he is mentioned in many episodes. He appears in "Pilot" and "Helen Back Again". In "Helen Back Again", he resigns as principal after announcing his engagement to a Tahitian woman and plans to move to Tahiti. He is also seen in the episode "How Trina Got In," where he appears in the flashbacks of Andre, Jade, Beck, and Sikowitz.

Cat's brother
Cat frequently mentions her brother, whose name is never revealed. He is often mentioned as a focal point of bizarre off-screen antics, which either happen to him or which he causes himself. Examples include eating Cat's charm bracelet, getting stabbed in Japan, biting Cat on the foot, falling from a terrace onto a shuttle bus, being shot by a clown, painting his body purple for a job interview, and somehow procuring twelve gallons of real blood for Jade's play. On TheSlap, Cat revealed he is not allowed outside by himself and that he plays "hide and seek" with the police. His favorite flavor of ice cream is "Funky Nut Blast", as revealed in "Ice Cream for Ke$ha". In "Car, Rain and Fire", Tori, Cat, and Jade borrow Cat's brother's car which had unusual features such as a coverless roof, rope for a seat belt and a bag of prosthetic feet in the trunk. In the episode, Cat says her brother is "pretty weird." She also mentions that he has a turtle with "special" problems.

Ryder Daniels
Ryder Daniels (portrayed by Ryan Rottman) is a male student at Hollywood Arts who dated Tori for a short time. He is in the episode "Beggin' on Your Knees" where Tori found out from her friends that he uses girls to get good grades and then soon after breaks up with them. Tori then humiliates him in front of the whole school by singing "Beggin' on Your Knees" to him.

Hayley Ferguson
Hayley Ferguson (portrayed by Jillian Clare) is a girl who competed against Cat and Jade in a karaoke contest with her friend Tara Ganz in "Freak The Freak Out". They won the contest against Jade and Cat because her father is the owner of the Karaoke Dokie club and the judge of the karaoke contest. Before the contest she started flirting with Beck which started a feud between her and Jade. She has a very mean and snobbish attitude especially toward Jade. Hayley and Tara were easily defeated when Tori performed her new song, "Freak the Freak Out" under the disguise of Louise Nordoff, and after she and Tara lost the bet to Tori, was forced to "babysit" Trina, who had recently gotten her wisdom teeth removed and made it really hard to take care of her. David saw the antics of them trying to restrain Trina when he got home and told Holly to get back into the car.

Tara Ganz
Tara Ganz (portrayed by Jamie Snow) is a girl who competed against Cat and Jade in a karaoke contest with her friend Hayley Ferguson in "Freak The Freak Out". Before the contest, she flirted with Andre. Tara also appears in "Tori Goes Platinum", in which she tried out for a contest but lost.

Principal Helen
Principal Helen Dubois[11] (portrayed by Yvette Nicole Brown) is the current principal of Hollywood Arts. She only appears in "Helen Back Again". All students had to reaudition for her, and the least worthy students would be kicked out of Hollywood Arts. Due to Helen's unnamed assistant mixing up Tori with Trina, Tori had to come up with a plan that involved Robbie dressing up as a robber where he would be beaten up by Trina using her karate skills. After that plan worked, Helen allowed Trina to stay at Hollywood Arts.

It has been mentioned by Dan Schneider that she would have been a recurring character if the show had not stopped production.[citation needed]

Note: Helen was originally a character on Drake & Josh, and her role on that series is referenced in Victorious when she says that she had previously managed the Premiere movie theater in San Diego. Even though Helen is from Drake & Josh, Tori mentions in the episode "Who Did It to Trina?" that Drake & Josh is a television show.

Helen also made an appearance in Game Shakers, as a television show host.

Mamaw
Mamaw (portrayed by Renée Taylor) is Robbie's grandmother who has a strong dislike of Cat; she only appeared in "The Birthweek Song". She lives with her husband Maury. She is very computer illiterate and constantly has to ask Robbie for help to the point where he is annoyed and convinces her that the internet has been cancelled. The role mirrors Taylor's previous role as Sylvia Fine in The Nanny, such as encouraging her grandchild to have a successful love life, a loud voice, and even a loud, unseen husband whose name is Morty. Her dislike for Cat stems from her dyeing her hair a bright, artificial shade of red; she specifically says that "a girl doesn't dye her hair that color unless she has psychological problems!".

Vice Principal Dickers
Dickers (portrayed by Rob Riggle) is the vice principal of Hollywood Arts, who appears in "The Breakfast Bunch". He is the one who gave detention to Tori and the gang after they end up late in class. Dickers is also very strict and constantly yells at the gang when they talk to him, even to apologize.

His role is based on Paul Gleason's character Richard Vernon, the vice principal in The Breakfast Club.

Mona Patterson
Mona Patterson (portrayed by Shirley Jones) is one of Cat's favorite actresses. She appears in "Car, Rain and Fire". Patterson is best known for her role in a 1960s television show titled I Married My Mom. Thinking that Patterson had died, Cat, Tori, and Jade go on a road trip to the actress' house in San Diego to honor her and leave a candle on her doorstep. However, they discover that Patterson is not actually dead but was cast in a new television show titled The Dead, in which she plays David Schwimmer's wife. Mona's reaction toward Cat, Tori, and Jade was very unwelcoming, to the point that Mona took out a water gun and sprayed them away from her property, even though they were already wet from rain. Her house caught on fire because of Cat's candle, which was left on the front porch. Patterson was rushed to a hospital where she was resting very uncomfortably. The reporter covering this incident also mentioned that Mona had muttered something about a "cat with red hair." When Tori and Cat found out, Cat is shocked and Tori gives Cat a gesture to never speak of this to anyone.

Hope Quincy
Hope Quincy (portrayed by Meagan Holder) is a girl who dated Andre in the "Andre's Horrible Girl". She is very pushy and controlling to Andre, often forcing him to do things such as wear the clothes she wants him to wear. Andre and Tori perform the song, "Countdown, at her birthday party, which is held at Nozu. She throws a fit when there is no spicy tuna at her party. She also gets knocked out as she tries to save her presents when an earthquake hits.

Mason Thornesmith
Mason Thornesmith (Charles Shaughnessy) is the head of an unnamed record company and the producer of the Platinum Music Awards. He appears in the episodes "Tori Goes Platinum" and "Robbie Sells Rex".

He tried to make Tori dress outrageously and to act very mean and obnoxious to many people to make hype for her. Mason also threatened to cancel her performance on the Platinum Music Awards if she did not obey him.

He has a bratty son named Francis who Mason wanted to buy Rex from Robbie for.

Ponnie/Fawn Lebowitz
Ponnie (portrayed by Jennette McCurdy) is in "Crazy Ponnie" where she befriends Tori Vega, but Ponnie keeps disappearing from everyone else with Tori, making the other Hollywood Arts students think Tori has gone crazy. She has lunch in the girls' bathroom and tells Tori that she was in the spring showcase with Tori, that she has been going to Hollywood Arts for three years and that she was kicked out because they needed to make room for Tori. In reality, she was expelled because she is completely crazy. According to Sikowitz, her real name is Fawn Lebowitz and that "she stole things, carried weird stuff in her backpack, and called everyone Debbie." She was arrested and taken away. In a twist ending, Tori and Trina were driven home by a cop who actually turned out to be Ponnie who escaped from the police.

Ponnie has not been seen again.

Moose
Moose (portrayed by Brandon Jones) is a boy who is friends with Beck and is from Canada. He was first seen in the episode "Three Girls and a Moose" when Tori, Cat, and Jade try to win the affection of him. Tori tries to impress him with hockey trivia. Jade tries to impress him with their mutual favorite movie, The Scissoring. Cat tries to impress him by cooking burgers. At the end, Moose then explains that he likes Canadian girls because they like hockey, are much bigger, and are not as weird as "L.A. girls". After Cat and Tori sing a song titled "L.A. Boys", Jade tries to take him to Karaoke Dokie but stops her car and they make out.

Kojeezy
Kojeezy (portrayed by Kool Kojak) is a man who is a music producer at Neutronium Records and is in the episode "The Bad Roommate". Tori stole Andre's beat and he got mad so Tori invited him to make some lyrics with her so they can sing it for him tomorrow. The next day, they perform their brand new song "Faster than Boyz" which Kojeezy likes and will maybe produce and buy. Andre and Tori are thrilled when Kojeezy suddenly states that they have to pass "The Baby Test" which is a test to see if the baby will cry (which means won't produce and buy) or smile (which means will produce and buy). The baby ended up crying so Kojeezy won't be producing and buying the song.

Francis Thornesmith
Francis Thornesmith (portrayed by Cole Jensen) is Mason Thornesmith's 12-year-old only son. He appears in the episode "Robbie Sells Rex" when he offers Robbie $2,000 if he can keep Rex. He trades Robbie the $2,000 dollars and his puppet Gonther (voiced by Dan Schneider) which Robbie hates because he does not bully him like Rex does. Robbie and Tori try to get Rex back by hiring a 12-year-old girl, Rhoda Hellberg, to kiss him which Rhoda does. He enjoys it and throws Rex on the ground which means that he does not care about Rex anymore. He also states that "I don't need a stupid puppet, I got me a woman!".

Rhoda Hellberg
Rhoda Hellberg (portrayed by Mackenzie Brook Smith) is a 12-year-old girl who only appears in the episode "Robbie Sells Rex". Her mother took her to Hollywood Arts so Rhoda can apologize to Sikowitz for hitting him with an egg while in the shower. She has an attitude and attacked Tori after Mrs. Hellberg's latest complaint towards Sikowitz had involved the police visiting the Hellberg house after Rhoda's latest egg attack on Sikowitz. Rhoda was hired to kiss Francis Thornesmith so Robbie can get Rex back since he sold it to Francis who gave him his puppet Gunther and $2,000.

Episodes
Main article: List of Victorious episodes

Production
Victorious is the fifth series created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon, after The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly.[10] 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."[11] 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.[11] Near the end of Zoey 101 's run, Justice was summoned to meet with Schneider about a potential series starring her.[12] 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.[12]"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.[13] 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.[13]

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.[14] 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."[13] 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.[15]

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.[16] Season 2 began filming October 4, 2010, and finished filming on February 23, 2011.[17] In August 2011, Victoria Justice confirmed that she was returning to the Victorious set, as Season 3 began filming on October 3, 2011.[18] 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."[19] 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 title 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.[20] Elizabeth Gillies and Ariana Grande had co-starred in the musical 13.[21][22]

Sets
Victorious is filmed at Nickelodeon on Sunset on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.[23] 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."[24]

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.[25] 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.[26]

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."[27] David Hinkley of the New York Daily Newssays 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.[26]Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant describes Victorious as "harmless but hardly entertaining".[28] 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."[29] 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".[30]

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'".[26] Perigard describes her as "undeniably appealing"[29] and Lowry states, "Justice is winsome and talented enough to provide the latest show a leg up in connecting with tween girls."[27] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series four out of five stars, writing, "Upbeat iCarly-like tween comedy promotes confidence".[31]

Viewership
The series' premiere did well among viewers. The first episode, advertised as a "sneak preview" of the series, aired after the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards on March 27, 2010, to 5.7 million viewers, the second-highest premiering live-action Nickelodeon series to date. Its second episode was advertised as the series' official premiere and drew 3.48 million viewers.[32] By comparison, Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush received 3.5 million viewers for its "sneak preview" debut in November 2009,[33] and 7.1 million Total viewers for its "premiere" in January 2010.[34]

On April 2, 2011, the Season 2 premiere episode "Beggin' on Your Knees" became the most-watched episode of the series to date, with 6.1 million total viewers.[35]

Merchandise
In fall 2011, Spin Master released dolls and toys based on the show. In June 2011, Walmart announced an exclusive-to-Walmart product line for the show; including over 250 products, such as apparel, accessories, lunch boxes, T-shirts, soundtrack CDs, DVDs, etc.[36] It has sold its newest toy, Singing Tori, a doll of Tori singing. In 2012 dolls of Cat, Trina, and Jade were released.[37][38][39] In late April 2012, McDonald's released Victorious toys, included in their Happy Meals.[40] They relaunched in Australia in January/February 2013.[41]

Video games
On November 15, 2011, Victorious: Time to Shine for Xbox 360 Kinect and Hollywood Arts Debut for Nintendo DS were released.[42] On November 13, 2012, Victorious: Taking the Lead for Wii and Nintendo DS was released.[43]

Music
Main article: List of songs in Victorious

Soundtracks
"Make It Shine" is the theme song of the series. The song also serves as the lead single from the soundtrack to the series. Victorious features approximately one song every three episodes.[83] The Victorious soundtrack, featuring 12 songs from the show (including "Leave It All to Shine") was released on August 2, 2011.[84][85] 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.[86]
 * Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show (2011)
 * Victorious 2.0: More Music from the Hit TV Show (2012)
 * Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show (2012)

On June 5, 2012, Columbia Records and Nickelodeon released Victorious 2.0: More Music from the Hit TV Show.[87] The third soundtrack from the series, entitled Victorious 3.0: Even More Music from the Hit TV Show, was released on November 6, 2012.[88]

Broadcast
Victorious has aired worldwide on Nickelodeon.

Season 1
Season 1 premiered on April 5, 2010, in Canada, on September 3, 2010, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, on September 14, 2010, in Australia and New Zealand, on October 1, 2010, in Southeast Asia, on March 27, 2011, in Pakistanand on January 23, 2013, in India.

Season 2
Season 2 premiered on October 7, 2011, in Canada, on October 17, 2011, in the UK and Ireland, on October 31, 2011, in Southeast Asia, in December 2011 in Australia and New Zealand, and on March 25, 2013, in India.

Season 3
Season 3 premiered in February 2012 in Canada, on September 7, 2012, in Southeast Asia, on September 15, 2012, in Australia and New Zealand, and on September 22, 2012, in the UK and Ireland.

Season 4
Season 4 premiered on February 8, 2013, in Southeast Asia, on February 11, 2013, in the UK and Ireland, and on March 8, 2013, in Australia and New Zealand.

Spin-off
A pilot was ordered for a series titled Sam & Cat. This series is a spin-off of both iCarly and Victorious, starring Ariana Grande as her character Cat Valentine from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett from iCarly. The series is about these two girls as they buddy up as roommates and start a babysitting business to fund their adventures.[93][94][95] The 20-episode order was doubled to 40 episodes on July 11, 2013.[96] However, by April 2014, the series was on hiatus due to behind-the-scenes issues with the cast and network.[97] After many months of speculation, Sam & Cat was officially canceled on July 13, 2014.[98]