When Dan said that Nickelodeon would have canceled the show even if "Sam & Cat" wasn't in the picture, I actually believe that. Let's be honest here, it was Nickelodeon that asked (demanded), that Dan's next show after ''iCarly'' be music-based. Create a show to be Nickelodeon's version of Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana". Victoria Justice sings, she had a development deal with Nickelodeon at the time, she already worked with Dan before on "Zoey 101'', the show created for her was ''Victorious'', the show was revolved around music and had signature Dan Schneider comedy, what could go wrong. Well, ''Victorious'' premiered after the 2010 KCAs to decent ratings and season 2 premiered after the KCAs again the following year, ratings still just decent, but the show never got ''iCarly''-type ratings numbers. "iSaved Your Life" is ''iCarly''''s highest-rated episode, ''Victorious'' does not have an episode like that ratings-wise. The soundtracks did not sell great, so ''Victorious'' did not become the "Hannah Montana" of Nickelodeon like Nickelodeon hoped. Also factoring in, the show is expensive to produce all those cast members, setting up the sets, putting in studio time for those songs. When it comes down to it, the cancellation of ''Victorious'' was clearly a business decision, a business venture that did not do as expected in the long run.
Ariana Grande was probably the best thing that Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon could salvage from ''Victorious'', the second most popular actor on the show, if not at this point, more popular than Victoria Justice, the show's actual star. Give her own show with the already popular Jennette McCurdy from ''iCarly'', the best of both worlds in one show is the perfect equation for a successful show as far as Nickelodeon is concerned. With that we have "Sam & Cat".
Edited on 09/14/2012 8:43pm