Sam & Cat

Another low-brow, immature offering from the creators at Nickelodeon. The show generates a few laughs but continues to rely on slapstick comedy a little too much. I get it, it is a show for younger children but why must it be so brainless.

The show is watch worthy but the style is nothing new and a little weak. Sam Puckett bores me and although Cat Valentine is adorable there is only so much of her you can take.

Nickelodeon pick up your game. Putting two supporting actors together does not equal a star. Also a weird child grifter and a man who behaves like Forrest Gump does not make a supporting cast.

Sam & Cat is a bit of a disappointment. It looks like every other show running on Nick right now and that's not very good. The Cat character isn't as funny as she was on Victorious and Jenny is just as dour. Together the two don't make for great comedy. The humor seems skewed for 5-8 year olds who have never read a book in their lives and don't want to. There are no original characters and no original jokes. Which doesn't mean it won't do well. It just doesn't have anything of value. The best thing that could happen to this show is lots of visits from the other cast members of iCarly and Victorious. Maybe that would spark the brains of the writers back into writing comedy. This looks like something slapped together to look like every other show on Nick. Ooops, I guess I'm repeating myself but the show looks like a repeat so it's only fitting. Seriously, how could Cat be so funny on Victorious and so boring on this show? Maybe it has to do with the fact that on Victorious the other characters were intelligent and so her "dumb," "literal" humor worked. Here it just fits in with everyone else and isn't funny at all.

Sam and Cat is exactly what the title says - two characters from two of Dan Schneider's previous shows put together in one environment and left to have fun together. The two characters haven't changed significantly since their previous appearances on iCarly and Victorious, respectively. There are a few laughs scattered throughout the premiere, but even the laugh track seems aware of how frail the comedy is. Any longtime fan of Schneider's brand of humor will be satisfied by seeing gutsy Sam and ditzy Cat interacting with each other and other folks, but genuine gut- busting comedy of the kind that was more common on iCarly is nowhere to be found. It seems Schneider is simply going through the motions rather than trying to create something original and memorable, but as of the time of this review's writing, only one episode has debuted so far. Thus, it remains to be seen whether or not Sam and Cat can rise above mediocrity and come close to matching iCarly in influence and enjoyment.

I have not seen someone this funny (especially a young adult) in a very long time. I tuned in less than a month ago to see what Jennette McCurdy was up to and Ariana Grande's character totally shocked me. I had no idea what she was doing. At first I thought she was mentally-challenged then I read her say that she was playing dumb. She would stare into space and hesitate and wave her arms in the air and talk with an inflection that reminded me so much of Emo Phillips, the comedian (I could never understand him and I could not tolerate his inflection) or even Pee-Wee Herman to an extent. Ariana is so unique for her age and she's quick and an extremely good actor and comic. She is going to be huge at whatever she puts her mind to. (She is a better actor than any of the "Friends" actors were during their first two seasons.) I would give this series a "10" but I think the writing and themes can be poor. Producer Dan Schneider has a pretty warped sense of humor. Some of the stories and lines give bad examples to kids, imo: Sam and Cat are very materialistic, Sam's character basically hates people (eg. that part shocked me), and some of the other older characters seem very shallow. Plus, these characters do not need to be making butt jokes. (It's totally inappropriate for young kids.) But some of the stories, lines and sight gags are extremely funny! The acting and laughs sold me after the 3rd episode that I watched. This series had "success" written all over it due to Jennette and Ariana. (I would have replaced the writers if the series went on to a second season. I'm an adult male and I'll watch some of these adolescent shows for a change of pace just to see what they're up to. Lord knows Hollywood has been striking out with adult TV sitcoms and reality shows.) I can't believe that they couldn't bring Jennette and Ariana back together for more Sam and Cat!

There are a few reasons why this double-spin off is a total miss: First of all, both Sam (from iCarly) and Cat (from Victorious) were foil characters on their respective shows, with the funny weird stuff to offset the more well-defined, balanced characters. Here we have two comic relief characters and no one to offset them. Look at 'Friends': The ill-advised spin off, 'Joey', was an absolute train wreck, because Joey as a character was not strong enough to occupy an entire show. Sam and Cat are just not strong enough as separates or together in this same way. Both Victorious and iCarly also had strong premises, whereas the premise of Sam & Cat is extremely weak. They're living together and they've started a baby-sitting service. That's pretty much it. There are a few throw-in characters, like a little black market-dealing kid, but none of them add anything to the already weak concept. Nickelodeon was grasping at straws trying to come up with a reason why these two girls would live together and what they would do. My biggest complaint, however, is that when you take Sam away from the iCarly cast and Cat from the Victorious cast, their characters are basically just annoying. Putting them together doesn't help anything. Sam is just a really bad person all the way around, and Cat is borderline mentally retarded. To sum it up, going from iCarly and Victorious, this is a huge step down from both. Not nearly as funny, or interesting, or relatable in any way shape or form.