The Weird Current State of Nick's Sitcoms

The Weird Current State of Nick's Sitcoms

        It was the year 2012. Nickelodeon has decided to end production on several of their live-action shows. Those shows included iCarly, Victorious, Big Time Rush, Bucket and Skinner, and How to Rock. Out of those 5, only iCarly and BTR received a proper ending. The rest never got to finish their story. And so, the future of Nickcoms was at stake now that their highest rated live-action show was over. How will they keep their live-action department afloat? Unfortunately, the infamous Dan Schneider was still employed with them, so he pitched two ideas, which were basically spinoffs. One of them was about GIBBY, and the other was about Sam and Cat. Only one of them ended up being a series and it was obvious Nick wanted Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande as leads (not helping the fact they share the same birthday). At the same time, Nickelodeon has also greenlit Marvin Marvin (another vehicle for Lucas Cruikshank), The Haunted Hathaways, and The Thundermans. All of them were potential replacements for the aforementioned cancelled shows. However, in the end, you'll realize most of them failed and the only successful live-action show to come out of Nick during the year of 2013 was this show: 

        Simply put, Sam & Cat was a hit as you expect for any show Schneider pumped out, due to the popularity of the titular characters (Jennette and especially Ariana's growing fanbase reflected this). It was the network’s highest rated show at the time. Everything all went smooth sailing, until something bad happened. As we all know with Jennette’s recently released memoir “I’m Glad My Mother Died”, Sam & Cat was hell for her and this is how we got the controversial behind the scenes drama. It happened during Kids Choice Awards week, and the news broke out that after 36 episodes, the show was declared cancelled, much to Jennette’s delight. (And mine as well, because I can’t stand the show either and it’s the worst show Dan had ever came up with). Despite the ridiculously long episode order, this is his only show to get less than three seasons. There was also Wendell & Winnie starring Jerry Trainor who moved on too quickly to another show for Nick after ICarly concluded. It was an one season wonder because it was too adult to air during regular hours and felt more akin to a Nick @ Nite series. Next, we have a supernatural themed sitcom called the Haunted Hathaways where a mom and her kids moved to a mansion and they are greeted with ghosts. I never watched it, but the fact that the ghost family are black feels racially motivated. It did okay for what it’s worth, and only made it to two seasons. Before the year ends, Nick needed a true hit show for the teens to enjoy that doesn’t cause behind the scenes drama in order to have a good run. On October 14, 2013, a little show called The Thundermans came to the airwaves. Why is this show so impactful, you ask? Well, it is the first of Nick’s attempt to do superhero sitcoms, something that they’re still producing to this day. (I know there’s been past super-powered attempts, like Alex Mack, but it felt like more a drama and their animation department had experience with shows like MLAATR, Danny Phantom, El Tigre, etc.) What made this show stands out is that for once, a Nick sitcom not created by Dan Schneider have an impressively long run, at nearly 100 episodes (technically, 102 if we count the specials as two separate episodes). At the time the show finished its run, it was the second longest running Nick sitcom after ICarly. The shocking thing is that the creator is none other than Jed Spargin, the writer for Jimmy Neutron, Back at the Barnyard, and Big Time Rush. I only seen snippets of the show every now and then and while I have very strong opinions on Nick’s 2010s non-animated shows/movies, I felt like I should’ve gotten into the Thundermans while it was airing because it was different from other sitcoms made by Nick. What I’m trying to say is the show deserved it’s popularity and it was nice having other creators in the spotlight for once, right? But as we all know, this achievement wasn’t going to last long as we head to 2014.

       With Sam & Cat being killed by BTS drama between the main stars, what else would Nickelodeon’s favorite producer do now? Create another series, of course! The next show, Henry Danger, premiered only a week after Sam & Cat’s final episode, as a sneak peek (as it doesn’t officially premiered until September, paired up with another new sitcom). The show is literally The Thundermans Redux, but instead of an Incredibles-esque show, it’s now more like a show with a dynamic similar to Batman and Robin. I bet when we first heard about this, it was not surprising that the foot man himself wanted to attempt to do a superhero show. His previous shows’ premise consisted of a sketch show, siblings, a teen drama set an actual university, a web series, and a lm arts performance school. Like The Thundermans and his previous efforts, it too was a success. Maybe too much, perhaps, in hindsight? We’ll talk about it that later, but let’s look other sitcoms that were ordered during Cyma Zarghami’s final years as president. One of Dan’s writers ended up creating a show for Nick, called Nicky Ricky Dicky, and Dawn (try saying that title many times in a row, it’s such a mouthful). As you expect from the four names, it’s about quadruplets (three boys with names that rhyme and a girl who name doesn’t even rhyme). The most surprising thing is that this show reached 4 seasons, despite not having a gimmick. To date, this remains the only Nickcom to premiered after the debut of Thundermans and Henry Danger to get 4 seasons. Yes, seriously, it’s been 6 years since a Nick sitcom got renewed for a fourth season. Unfortunately, unlike The Thundermans, the show did had creative differences, such as the creator and one of the main cast members (who play one of the quadruplets, no less) leaving. Of course, Mace leaving NRDD during its final episodes meant that it was inevitable the show was cancelled. The next few shows weren’t so lucky to get longer runs: Bella and the Bulldogs, 100 Things to Do Before High School, Make It Pop, as they either had one or two seasons. And this includes the shows with telenovela format, but we’re only specifying the sitcoms. Game Shakers and School of Rock were fortunate enough to get third season renewals, but that’s because one of them is yet another project from the Bakery and the other is a reboot of a beloved movie (sans Jack Black). Knight Squad and Cousins for Life were the final sitcoms greenlit under Cyma, even though the latter premiered after her departure. They, too, were short runners, even though Knight Squad wrapped up its story pretty nicely.

     All these shows were cancelled (with only The Thundermans getting a proper conclusion), but only one show remains. If you guessed Henry Danger, you are correct. However, if you didn’t know until now, March 2018 was when Nick cut ties with Dan Schneider, due to being hard to work with. Rather than cancelling their most popular live-action show, they decided to keep it for an unusually long final season with Christopher J Nowak as his replacement showrunner. ICarly is no longer the longest running Nick sitcom as HD has dethroned it. I want ask the question already, but we still got to recap the live action comedies ordered by Brian Robbins’ team. It was not surprising to see All That back with Robbins himself as president of the network. And frankly, I’m thankful it happened, because just like the past All That eras, it also spanned a few shows featuring its cast members and writers, like Drama Club, That Girl Lay Lay, and Warped! (Sadly, only Lay Lay seems to be getting a longer lifespan due to star power, but Drama Club is understandable as it had a miniseries format) There’s even a show by Tyler Perry called Young Dylan. While I hate how his shows are marketed to have his name slapped in everything, he was only involved with the first season. It’s one of the few modern Nick shows to reach three seasons (arguably thanks to star power and creator, of course). And of course, with Henry Danger ending after nearly 6 years, it was time for them to expand the DangerVerse with Danger Force, with a third season currently in production. For a while, all production of scripted live action shows (this includes unscripted as well) had to be held due to COVID, leaving Nick to only produce quarantine shows (the ones done at home). Side Hustle, which was announced on February 2020, wouldn’t come out until November. The Barbarian and the Troll just came and went as it probably had a miniseries format used as filler on Friday nights (it aired alongside cartoons, but it is still considered a live action show). Some people will say Nickelodeon has become creatively bankrupt due to recycling IPs, and we’re not even safe from this for the sitcoms. In fact, both of them are currently paired up for Thursday nights. Yep, you guessed it, live-action adaptations of The Fairly OddParents (a franchise that refused to die) and The Loud House (even though the original series is still airing). The quality for Fairly Odder speak for itself, but The Really Loud House surely can’t be that bad, even if it’s unoriginal. Time is too early to tell if they’ll get another season, but they are not getting good reviews from cartoon fans, and I don’t blame them. Live-action adaptations of cartoons are getting old at this point.

   If you’re wondering why this journal feels like a recap, that’s because it is a recap of what Nickelodeon been doing in the past decade with their sitcoms. They have gotten in this strange position since Victorious ended when they realized they cannot emulate Disney Channel’s success anymore (especially with the musicals and all, even though they still pop up from time to time). And arguably, their standards of making a successful sitcom have gotten worse. As you can tell, only three of their live-action shows in the past 10 years had ever reached four seasons (the two of being superhero shows and the other being a family show). And it makes you wonder, why are they’re so fond of only having hit sitcoms if the main protagonist is a superhero (or later, a young rapper as Young Dylan and That Girl Lay Lay prove it, considering how much Nick is treating them) and so many shows have ended/get cancelled with only one or two seasons? Maybe they finally found their definitive solution to make a successful sitcom (Disney’s usually consist of musical prodigy, and I wanted to say secret identity but some of Nick’s shows have the same format). And it’s still going strong thanks to Henry Danger’s massive popularity and it’s spin-off. However, TeenNick has seen better days since NickRewind died. The signs were already showing last year, but they really have such a strong bias on playing superhero shows (they used to be the Dan Schneider channel, with actual teen shows put to the wayside) that other shows are hardly on the schedule. Their obsessive nature with the genre has taken up to eleven that Henry Danger is literally the only show (not counting America’s Funniest Home Videos) playing on TeenNick weekly. I don’t know about you, but while Nick has gotten out of their musical era a long time ago, they really need to find a way to conclude their superhero era soon. Disney Channel has already started theirs this year and it’s superior because I’m sure those shows won’t be milked to death. All I’m saying is, if Nick wants to find a new successful sitcom, they need to market very well and give it a good run. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck with Henry Danger and Young Dylan ripoffs for years to come and this is no better than most of their failed cartoons being SpongeBob clones with a different setting. There’s more to explore in the Nickelodeon Sitcom Universe than superheroes and young rappers, and I hope they realize that soon.