The bad thing about producing a teen show is that the teens grow up and then you either have to bring in the second string or, failing that, dump the show and start over. Hey — nobody wants to see old kids.
Then again, the good thing about producing a teen show is that the teens grow up, but so do their fans, giving you a forever-fan base. Think Hilary Duff, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes.
And tonight, into the already crowded land of dancing and singing and angsting high school shows comes a new one, “Victorious,” which premieres right after the “Kids Choice Awards.” This placement in kid land is the equivalent of getting The Super Bowl as a lead-in.
The show is a star vehicle for Victoria Justice, who you (or your kids) know from her role as fourth banana on “Zoey 101.” That teen show was abruptly yanked when Zoey (aka Jamie Lynn Spears) got herself knocked up, leaving Justice unjustly out in the cold.
But then, as Spears slunk off from stardom to unwed teen motherdom, Justice’s star began to climb until she got her own show.
“Victorious” is an ensemble format that revolves around Tori Vega, a science nerd. On tonight’s show Tori is thrown into the spotlight when when her sister, Trina (Daniella Monet) gets sick (I swear) and she has to take her place at a big show at Hollywood Arts High.
Wow! Who knew she was the singingest, dancingest sister of them all? Right after the performance, the principal comes rushing over and asks her to transfer to Hollywood Arts immediately. What a break!
On her first day of school, which seems to be the following day, she (and we) meet the whole cast of characters. There’s Andre (Leon Thomas), a brilliant musician and Robbie (Matt Bennett), the dorky ventriloquist who lets his dummy say all the mean things. Speaking of “mean,” there’s standard-issue diva/mean girl Jade (Elizabeth Gillies) and her boyfriend, Beck (Avan Jogia), a budding, brooding actor type.
It isn’t “Glee,” but then again not much is. There is a huge amount of over-acting, corny dialogue and a terrible terribly, loud laughtrack. In other words, a surefire ‘tween hit.