Victorious

Dan Schneider’s Victorious is a decent children’s sitcom whose lead does more for it than its stories. Victoria Justice is easy company, the songs have some life and there are enough quick, absurd jokes to keep it agreeable. The thin plotting matters, though, especially when the programme asks us to stay interested between the better gags. For an undemanding evening of pop and comedy, it does the job without giving us much to think about afterwards.

Victoria Justice plays Tori Vega, and her warmth is useful in scenes built around reaching the next punchline. She makes the sitcom exchanges inviting, even when the material is familiar. The musical numbers give her a chance to be more expansive, and the enthusiasm comes across clearly. There is a limit to how much a lead can compensate for slight writing, but she makes those stretches easier to sit through. The programme needs that steadiness more than it needs another joke.

The mock commercials are a good reason to stay. We laughed at them because the absurdity has something specific to make fun of: the familiar business of selling us things. These spoofs are brisk enough to avoid labouring the joke, and the quick references to popular culture give the comedy some welcome variety. Recognition does some of the work, certainly. Yet the willingness to be ridiculous is more engaging than the routine sitcom passages around it.

The writing credits include Christopher J. Nowak, Dan Schneider and David Malkoff, and the weakness is in giving the episodes enough story. It is possible to enjoy a run of jokes here without becoming particularly curious about what happens next. Nobody needs a children’s comedy to become a complicated drama, but even a simple plot should make the gaps between laughs worth watching. Too often, we are waiting for another song or another bit of spoofing to get things going.

Against the ordinary demands of a pop sitcom, Victorious fares reasonably well. It has a personable lead, musical performances with some energy behind them and a sense that silliness is worth pursuing for its own sake. The comedy is less dependable when it relies on familiar situations to supply interest the writing has not earned. At that point, the quick pace begins to seem impatient, leaving less time to enjoy the comic possibilities of a situation before another joke arrives.

At 24 minutes an episode, the commitment is modest, though brevity does not excuse the weaker material. We would suggest it to viewers who enjoy musical numbers and fast pop-cultural jokes more than they need a story to hold together. Victoria Justice is good company, and the mock commercials offer a useful sample of the humour at its liveliest. If neither appeals after an episode, there is little reason to persist.