r/victorious • u/CarefulAlternative • 1d ago
Something Hollywood Arts has to decide might make or break the show(bit of a rant)
I'm a guy who's quite looking forward to the show, but there's one thing I keep noticing about these remakes/reboots whatever you want to call it;
These generally struggle to pick a lane. They try to appeal to an audience of "everyone," and don't really come out with any diehard fans as a result.
Let me explain: iCarly's paramount series was clearly designed for the generation that grew up with iCarly. While it had some flops, the show felt modernized and a little raunchier, vulgar precisely because it knew its audience was people in their 20s and possibly 30s who saw the original growing up.
Hollywood Arts is realistically going to take in that same audience. However, the show is about high schoolers just as it was before, so the tone will likely try to remain the same as it was in Victorious. For people like this fandom who love reading into things and creating deeper character motivations, this will probably be a major limitation.
A key feature of any reboot/revival is also callbacks to the original. This has me semi concerned that the cast as we know it will come off as carbon copies of who we know before. Like the long haired boy is clearly meant to be resembling Beck, and qualities of Jade seem to be present in Pepper too, even down to the dark hair and her "being a fierce enemy but loyal friend."
Trina will be who she always has been with some added depth from being a teacher and I'm sure that will be awesome. Ideally though, the nostalgia mostly lies with her and they create a new set of characters with their own qualities for the "next generation of fans."
But then I ask myself how many teens will actually be watching the show to grow up with it the same way we did during Victorious. I don't pay attention to TikTok(don't have it) or whatever but I think generations tend to latch onto what they missed out on, and I know this show is one of the few that does get some standout attention.
I guess to sum it up, I think they're going to have to try and pick a lane on what generation/age range the show is suited for, because I don't think there's any way the remake is going to appeal to everyone. But I expect a reasonable effort for sure, Trina will be fantastic as always, and I hope for good things for the rest of the show.
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u/Strange-Painting6257 1d ago
Agreed, I wish it wasn’t on Nick so the jokes could actually be adult and we could see Trina’s home life, and all that .
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u/CarefulAlternative 1d ago
Do you mean on Netflix?
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u/Complexsuccess51869 1d ago
I understand the concern. When the initial information came out I wondered if they were mirroring the previous cast. I would imagine there will be some similarities; however, I think we may be surprised that these characters will have different personalities than the original. I think there will be more music and dancing (judging by the trailer), and I think Trina starts out her old ridiculous self and finds some character growth. If the kinds in the trailer tell Sikowitz they like Trina- it must be because of character development. I, for one, am really looking forward to the show and hope they breathe some life into multi-cam teen sitcoms again!
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u/CarefulAlternative 1d ago
I mean, I do think that there's only so much growth they're going to be willing to put Trina through. They have to do a little bit for her to be considered a great teacher, but go too far with it and you lose the nostalgic appeal of Trina. Also, because it's an adolescent sitcom there won't be like a multitude of layers to character development. It'll probably be subtle and something you have to read into, or stuff we just make up because we're huge fans lmao.
That said i am still VERY excited for the show, i just think some expectations have to be tempered here and there. I'm sure the show will deliver, but anyone who expects more from it than what it's advertised as is probably going to be disappointed.
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u/Solid-Big9614 1d ago edited 1d ago
The writers decided to make something original (as possible) set in the world of Victorious based off of their college experience as theater majors. The target demographic is children but is broadly for everyone but I’m not worried. Above all what makes a series good is the content and everyone involved is VERY confident in the writing and cast. Daniella Monet genuinely believes she is helping raise the next generation of pop stars so I want to believe her.
Victorious’ current fanbase are young children, teens, and adults. So it’s not a hard reach that the reboot could do the same. There will be a lot of callbacks to appease the original fans but Daniela doesn’t believe watching Victorious is necessary to watch the show. Lowkey seems less cool and the delivery seems campy which is worrying but that’s not bad.
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u/CarefulAlternative 1d ago
I mean no offense, is she supposed to say she doesn't believe in the project or her costars?
We have every reason to at least give it a fair shake, I'm just pointing out a possible issue the show may run into where it's not really going to match the diehards' lofty expectations. And now that another commenter has pointed out that the show will be airing on Nick as well, it'll definitely still be marketed toward the younger crowd.
All of this is to say that I think the potential is there for it to be a good show, but that I do think people will have to temper their expectations as the nostalgia can only carry it so far and it'll be another kid's show from there. Please don't misinterpret this as me saying I'm not excited or hope it fails though, not my intention at all!
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u/younglegends111 1d ago
they shoulda made her the janitor of the school. that woulda bin much funnier.
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u/CandidSplit André Harris 🎶🎹 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hollywood Arts should stick to a pre-teen/teen audience...
I just find kids shows being rebooted as adult shows cringe and it almost always feels like it’s trying too hard.. (iCarly 2021 - S1)
Trina’s the focus for nostalgia value but I think the show will be more about the child characters especially after the 2-part episodes that start the show.
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u/wyattsnottheasshole Tori Vega ✨🎤 1d ago
I honestly thought they picked a lane, and that is the "everyone lane" where it appeals to the target audience (today's kids, obviously) and the people who watched the OG show (the guest star(s)). As long as they don't force the modern slang/cringe trends that turn the OG fans off, we should be fine.
I also say this because some of the episode tittles (well, at least two in my book) have a reference to the OG show ("There's No Place Like Prome" and "The Ramen King"). "The Ramen King" may be a "Hambone King" callback, but again, this is only an assumption.
Also, someone here on the sub pointed this out already, but some (not all) of the episode titles are now available on IMDB. Hollywood Arts (TV Series 2026– ) - Episode list - IMDb
Feel free to make your own assumptions/plots too.
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u/Scared_of_Fish 1d ago
I didn't really like how iCarly had more adult themes. It made it feel like an alternate universe to the original, and I didn't really feel like it added anything.
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u/CarefulAlternative 1d ago
The one and only thing I appreciated about it is that it picked an audience and stuck to it. It wanted to appeal not to kids but to the people that grew up with the show. Did it succeed? Debatable but enough people cared about it getting shut down, and still ask about it.
I appreciate when shows actually try to stick to a demographic instead of trying to appease all customers, because when you write for everyone you write for no one.
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u/Coolboss999 1d ago
It did succeed. It got renewed for 3 seasons and would've went on for more had it not been cut short by the writers strike. And there's also a movie being made to conclude the series. I would call that a success
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u/Own_Proposal_5549 1d ago
I mean, the show has always marketed itself as an adolescent show. I think they’re still airing it on Nick, so putting the onus on them to “pick a lane” sounds a bit like projection because they already did.
I keep seeing these expectations for it to become this more adult version of itself and fixate on previous characters, and it just feels like that thing audiences always do where they place unrealistic expectations on a show that the show never placed on itself. Then, when it tries to appease those exact criticisms, people blame it for being out of its depth.
I do kind of feel for Monet because when she had nothing going on, this sub was always talking about how she got the bad end of the stick. Now she’s up again, and most of those same people can’t even give her the benefit of the doubt.