What good is a dynasty if it doesn't fall?
Seeing as how Ray had an interesting concept with his post about shows from 2009-2011, I wanted to carry it on and see where else I could go with it. Although, this will be from my personal perspective more because that's the only way it will be any fun for me. Plus, this actually gives me the opportunity to talk about something I've been putting off for a long time now. But we'll get to that later.
2011 was an interesting time for Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. Both networks were going strong with entertaining shows, and I was still a fan of both at the time, but there was a notable difference from the previous era. The elements that made up that time period were slowly disappearing or being erased entirely. This is more on the Disney Channel side of things, because Nickelodeon was still running on the same engine as before. By this time, a new generation of shows were being introduced to Disney. In just that one year, A.N.T. Farm, Jessie, and Austin & Ally all made their debuts, and they all ran for multiple seasons. Hannah Montana and The Suite Life on Deck both ended their runs, closing out a six-year period of episodes if you count The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Demi Lovato decided not to return for the third season of Sonny with a Chance, which led to the show being retooled as So Random! and getting a 26-episode run before being cancelled. Wizards of Waverly Place was on its way out as well, with the series finale airing in early 2012.
Disney Channel was making a lot of moves during this period. It was getting rid of the past and preparing for the future by going for an almost entirely new lineup. For a while, the network was defined by its stars. Demi, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers. By the beginning of 2012, they were all gone from the network, and Disney Channel no longer had crossover appeal. The kind of appeal that meant that shows like Family Guy and South Park were taking notice of them. Slowly but surely, the network started to decay, because some of these new shows were decent, but not as entertaining as previous shows. The acting across the board became less charming, the writing became more simplified, brighter colors were emphasized more. By the end of this period, Good Luck Charlie was the only show with any genuine humanity, and it was closing its doors also. Disney Channel was smart enough to know when to change their brand and eliminate the "superstar" mentality it had from 2009-2011, but their new mentality meant their new stars (and by extension, their new shows) wouldn't get as much traction.
Meanwhile, things looked like they were never going to get any better for Nick. iCarly, Victorious, and Big Time Rush were all huge successes, and the anchors of the network during this period. Unlike Disney Channel, which embraced change as soon as the 2010s hit, Nickelodeon didn't have the same urgency. The only new scripted shows that came out in 2011 were Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures, House of Anubis, and Supah Ninjas. Only House of Anubis really had much of a run worth talking about, and if you asked people who grew up with 2010s Nickelodeon what the other two shows were, they would most likely tell you they didn't even know they existed.
For a long time, Nickelodeon never had to worry about the future in terms of live-action programming. Whenever an old, long-running show closed its doors, a new show took its place. This is the same network that once had Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, and Unfabulous all running at the same time, all of which became successes. 2011 was another year where Nickelodeon was riding high off the strength of three shows that were not only ratings hits, but instantly memorable and entertaining in their own ways. Big Time Rush never got anywhere near the success of the Jonas Brothers or other Disney acts, but they were Nickelodeon's first real attempt to make a musical sensation, and they did a respectable job. Also, as quiet as it's kept, their music was really damn good. You don't realize it until you play back Elevate one day and you're wondering why you never cared about songs like "Show Me" and "Invisible" until now.
The point is, Nickelodeon was embracing the art of having crossover appeal when Disney Channel was beginning to abandon it, whether it was by design or not. It really seemed like the network was just going to continue having more success as the 2010s rolled on.
But then 2012 happened.
That was the year iCarly ended its run and Victorious was unceremoniously cancelled. Honestly, I don't think Nickelodeon ever recovered from losing both shows like that. While iCarly was growing stale and needed to end at some point, Victorious most likely had one or two more seasons left in it. The reasons for the show ending are still unclear. While it was Nick's decision, many theories have been put forth since 2012. The show reached the end of its required run and was never going to get more episodes to begin with. The show was appealing to teenagers and adults, but the key demographic (children) wasn't tuning in enough. Victoria Justice was trying to branch out and in the process, put the cast and crew of Victorious in a bad spot. The show was becoming more expensive to produce. I don't know the reason Nickelodeon decided to pull the plug, but they're paying for it to this day because Victorious has gained a second life on Netflix. People are watching the show like it's still running today, and it's being hailed as one of Nick's best programs.
I don't subscribe to that belief. While I've always been a fan of Victorious, and still think the first season is fantastic, the show fell off as soon as season two. There were some legitimately bad episodes in that season ("Tori Gets Stuck," "Prom Wrecker," "Tori Tortures Teacher") which makes them stick out even worse when you compare them to the good episodes ("Ice Cream for Ke$ha," "Jade Gets Crushed," "Terror on Cupcake Street," "Blooptorious"). As the show went on, it kept fluctuating between really good and really bad, and with the way season four turned out, it makes me wonder how much worse Victorious would have gotten if Nickelodeon let it continue.
Victorious was the last Dan Schneider show that was capable of being good. Before that, his track record was flawless. iCarly was a legitimately funny show for a while, which is something even I forget about. But the fact that Schneider was working on both shows at the same time led to neither of them getting the attention they really needed. It worked in the mid-2000s, but lightning didn't strike twice. The humor became broader and more shallow, scenes started dragging on, the acting performances became more exaggerated, and stories began descending into nonsensical territory. Could you imagine an episode like "Josh is Done" even being attempted in 2013? It wouldn't have, and if it had been, it would have been slowed down by corny, awkward jokes that killed the mood.
In 2013, not only did Victorious air its last episode, but so did Big Time Rush. At least that show got a proper finale. How to Rock began airing in 2012 and ended that same year, which is a shame because that show was at least decent and never got the chance to become better. Marvin Marvin had a short run also, and since Victorious was a consistent disappointment at the time, that show stood out as being infinitely better. Not even joking, I genuinely liked Marvin Marvin. I know everybody hated it, but it was nothing but ridiculous fuckery every week and I lived for it. Would I watch it now? I don't really know, but at least it gave Lucas Cruikshank something to do besides scream everything he says in a high-pitched voice.
Disney Channel wasn't in a great place in 2013, but at least it knew what it was trying to do and had an actual direction. Nickelodeon had the direction of a broken compass being used by a crack addict. I believe Ray has referred to this as the Kidocalypse. I remember shows being cancelled left and right, whether it was deserved or not. Nickelodeon was hitting the panic button more times than necessary, constantly transitioning and rebuilding. The perfect structure from 2010/2011 had crumbled completely, and in less than three years, the crossover appeal was gone completely. Nickelodeon and Disney Channel were no longer cool. They were just there for background noise.
By the end of 2013, Nick had three live-action shows holding things down: Sam & Cat, which put two characters with no chemistry together and carried none of the elements that made the original shows good. The Haunted Hathaways, which was a respectable show and at least had somewhat of a run before it got cancelled. And lastly, The Thundermans, which lasted much longer than the other two shows and was actually decent, having a little bit of that old Nickelodeon charm. A new generation was forced to come to Nick, but you have to wonder what that generation would have looked like if some of the shows were allowed to crawl before they could walk.
In 2014, Disney Channel introduced one of its most memorable shows in the last decade, and the one show that constantly tested my patience as a fan and a reviewer: Girl Meets World. As much as I talked about the many problems this show had, it was usually interesting and gave me a consistent source of material, good and bad. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here. This is for the next write-up. That same year, Nickelodeon introduced the newest member of the Schneider's Bakery family, Henry Danger. This show was interesting because it represented many things. First of all, it was a superhero show, not just a sitcom. So at least it had some unique element to it. Second, it was made entirely from scratch. What I mean is the show starred people that had never worked with Dan Schneider before. iCarly and Victorious weren't spinoffs, but they starred actresses who had already been on other Schneider shows. Even Drake & Josh had the built-in Schneider connection. So, for the first time ever, Henry Danger was a Schneider's Bakery show with no lineage to anything that came before it. Sam & Cat also ended this year (coming up short of its 40-episode order), bringing an official end to an era that had started seven years ago with iCarly.
2014 also brought us the debut of Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, & Dawn. It's okay if you don't remember that this show existed, or that it ran for four years. Sometimes, I have trouble remembering too.
The question now is, what happens in the next couple years for Nickelodeon and Disney Channel? I don't know if I want to find out, maybe Ray can do it for me.
And yeah, I know this blog literally started in 2015, but even then, I wasn't paying nearly as much attention to Nick and Disney as I did five years ago.
