Sam & Cat


Sam & Cat is an American teen sitcom that originally aired from June 8, 2013 to July 17, 2014, on Nickelodeon. It is a spin off of two TV shows iCarly and Victorious which Dan Schneider created. It stars Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett from iCarly, and Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine from Victorious. The girls meet by chance during a bizarre adventure and become roommates, then start a babysitting business to earn extra money. The series was picked up for 20 episodes on November 29, 2012. It began filming in January 2013 and premiered on June 8, 2013. The first season was doubled to 40 episodes on July 11, 2013.
At the Nickelodeon upfront meeting with advertisers on March 13, 2014, Nickelodeon programming president Russell Hicks stated that Sam & Cat had been renewed for a second season, and Adweek reported that an additional 20 episodes were ordered. However, other Nickelodeon sources stated that an official decision was yet to be made on whether the show would be renewed, leading to cancellation rumors after Nickelodeon put the series on a production hiatus on April 3, 2014. After airing 33 episodes, Nickelodeon released a promo stating two episodes remained to air. On July 13, 2014, after a three-month production hiatus, Nickelodeon cancelled the series, having produced only 36 episodes of the 40 episode order. Media outlets attributed the cancellation to a salary dispute between McCurdy and Nickelodeon, an alleged feud between McCurdy and Grande, the leak of racy photographs of McCurdy, the rising music career of Grande, and both actresses' desires to move on to other projects. The last episode aired on July 17, 2014, as a lead-in to the first Kids' Choice Sports ceremony.

Plot

Ever since Carly Shay moved to Italy with her father, Sam Puckett has been touring the West Coast on her motorcycle and stops in Venice, Los Angeles. She witnesses Cat Valentine being thrown into the back of a garbage truck and rescues her. They become friends and Cat convinces her to become roommates after Cat's cheerful and supportive grandmother Nona moves to a retirement home called Elderly Acres. To make money rather than getting traditional after-school jobs, Sam and Cat develop an after-school babysitting business called "Sam and Cat's Super Rockin' Funtime Babysitting Service", which leads them into a series of wacky adventures. Besides Nona, other people involved in their lives are Dice, their next door neighbor who is notorious for helping people for money, and Goomer, a dim-witted professional MMA fighter whom Dice manages.

Cast and characters

Main

Development

In August 2012, Nickelodeon announced that Dan Schneider, the creator of iCarly and Victorious, would be making a spin-off of both shows called Sam & Cat, and ordered the pilot episode. The series was then picked up for 20 episodes in November, with the premiere planned for 2013. Production began in January 2013, and on June 8, 2013, Sam & Cat premiered in the United States. Several weeks later, on July 11, Nickelodeon doubled the season one order of 20 episodes, to 40. Filming was scheduled to resume in early September 2013 to finish the second half of the first season.
Schneider originally aimed for a March 23, 2013, premiere of Sam & Cat, following the Kids' Choice Awards; however, Nickelodeon intended for the show to make its debut in the fall. On April 18, 2013, the show's two stars Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande, via Twitter, announced its premiere was set for June.

Cancellation

On April 2, 2014, Nickelodeon announced the series would be on hiatus. Although they insisted the series was not cancelled, many speculated that it was. This was due to a rumored dispute between McCurdy and the network, Grande's rising music career, and both actresses' desires to move on to other projects. On July 13, 2014, it was announced that the last episode would be "#GettinWiggy," which aired four days later.

Controversy

In March 2014, Jennette McCurdy became the subject of scandal after the leak of photographs revealing McCurdy in various states of undress. Her absence was noted at the 2014 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, where Sam & Cat won "Favorite Show" and Ariana Grande won "Favorite Actress." McCurdy claimed that Nickelodeon was treating her unfairly and that was the sole purpose for her failure to attend the awards. On April 2, 2014, despite reports of a second season and with four episodes yet to be produced, Nickelodeon abruptly put the series on hiatus. Rumors were that McCurdy and Grande were having issues with the network over their salaries, with McCurdy accusing Nickelodeon of paying Grande more money. Grande later took to social media to deny the allegations. The network explained that the hiatus was planned and said the series was not cancelled. However, three months later on July 13, 2014, Nickelodeon announced that the series had been cancelled.
For months in between, rumors of a feud between Grande and McCurdy ran high, and continued to after the series' cancellation. However, McCurdy stated in a 2015 interview with E! Online:

Broadcast

The series airs on Nickelodeon worldwide. It premiered in Canada on August 12, 2013, on YTV and on September 7, 2013, on the original channel. The show previewed on September 1, 2013, and premiered on October 14, 2013, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It previewed on September 30, 2013, and premiered on October 7, 2013, and October 11, 2013, in New Zealand and Australia, respectively. In Southeast Asia it started airing on October 19, 2013.

Home media release

Sam & Cat: The Complete Series, containing all 35 episodes, was released on DVD exclusive to Amazon in region 1 on October 8, 2015.

Reception

Ratings

The pilot episode debuted on Nickelodeon June 8, 2013, to an audience of 4.2 million viewers. The second episode, one week later, drew 2.6 million viewers. The most watched episode is "#TheKillerTunaJump: #Freddie #Jade #Robbie," which aired January 18, 2014, to 4.8 million viewers; the second most watched episode is the pilot, while the least watched is "#SecretSafe". In the United Kingdom the series premiere delivered 340,000 viewers, the most for that week. The Halloween episode premiere on October 26, 2013, brought 210,000 viewers staying in the same place.

Awards and nominations