Victorious is a musical sitcom, airing on Nickelodeon and created by Dan Schneider. The star of the show is Tori Vega (Victoria Justice), who gets into Hollywood Arts (a school for the arts in Hollywood) after filling in for her less talented sister Trina (Daniella Monet) during a big showcase. Backing her up throughout the experience is André Harris (Leon Thomas III), a musically gifted boy who almost immediately warms up to her. On the flip-side, there's Jade West (Elizabeth Gillies), a dark-natured girl acting as Tori's rival. Completing the cast are Caterina "Cat" Valentine (Ariana Grande), a hypersensitive girl on her own level of reality; Robbie Shapiro (Matt Bennett), an awkward and shy guy who is rarely seen without his puppet Rex Powers; and Beck Oliver (Avan Jogia), Jade's much more mellow significant other.As should be no surprise, Hollywood Arts is... untraditional. Students are required to customize their lockers, live music in the hallways is more rule than exception, and nobody bats an eyelash at the eccentricities of their fellow schoolmates. Some of the show's plots are derived from the school, usually dealing with performances or assignments. Other plots come from character interaction outside school walls, providing plenty of fuel for Shipping. It must be noted that, for a Nickelodeon show, the show can venture quite far into innuendo – though considering Schneider's other current show, this is to be expected.It has Getting Crap Past The Radar, Character Sheet, a Headscratchers, Awesome Music and HoYay/LesYay pages.Due to a major crossover with iCarly and an upcoming crossover Spin-Off named Sam And Cat it is a major part of the Nick Verse.The show's cancellation was confirmed in August 2012, while the current 3rd season was still airing. The show aired its last episode on February 2013. Cat Valentine will be returning for the spin-off Sam And Cat.
Abusive Parents: Robbie's mom moved out at some point, but moved back in for a time during "Locked Up!". When asked about her return home, Robbie says that she's "giving him another chance", implying that his mother left to get away from him.
Or at least, it initially appeared that way; as the series progressed, their adoration for Tori noticeably declined, skewing more toward apathy.
Action Girl: This seems to be what Trina actually does best, as she appears to make up in physical strength, agility and fighting skill, even when drugged up to the gills ("Freak The Freak Out") what she lacks in singing ability. Also, in Locked Up!, while Jade and Tori discussed turning Trina's mike off for the first performance, they didn't seem to mind having her dance with them.
Also, in "Freak The Freak Out", Tori had to tie Trina up to control her, and later, Beck, Andre and Robbie could barely keep her under control.
In '"Helen Back Again", Trina is seen practicing martial arts. Which becomes a Chekhov's Skill later in the episode.
Jade got cranky when she learned that Beck is part Canadian. Avan Jogia is a Canadian-born actor of Southern Asian descent.
In the episode 'Stuck in an RV', one of the decorations in Beck's RV is a whiteboard with the quote "Buy the ticket, take the ride" written on it. This quote is also tattooed across the right side of Avan Jogia's chest. (Un)Fortunately, it's always covered with makeup for the show.
In "The Breakfast Bunch", Jade gives Cat and Robbie grief for being vegans. Liz Gillies is a vegan in real life.
In "Tori & Jade's Play Date", Tori signs one of her posts on TheSlap with the emoticon ":{(", using a curly bracket to represent a moustache. Victoria Justice frequently uses this emoticon (and its happier variants) on Twitter.
In "April Fools Blank", Andre playing the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard Of Oz skit was likely a reference to Leon Thomas III playing Young Simba in the Broadway musical version of The Lion King.
A subtle one in "Crazy Ponnie": During her rant at Tori, Ponnie shouts "It's my time to be!" "It's your time to be" is a lyric from the theme song to iCarly, a show in which Jennette McCurdy is a co-star.
The Alleged Car: That car Robbie got from his uncle in "A Film by Dale Squires." One also has to wonder how that piece of crap Festus owns gets him to work every day.
All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Played for laughs in "Wi-Fi in the Sky" where Beck is taking care of a puppy for his neighbor. When Jade discovers that his neighbor is a cheerleader, she storms over to his house and stays there until the neighbor returns from cheer practice to pick up the dog. An hour later the neighbor arrives— she is about 9 or 10. Cue mortified scowling by Jade.
Jade is an Alpha Bitch with the usual set of Freudian Excuse tropes that count as 'character development' for that archetype. They make her slightly more bearable and believable as the character who flip flops between antagonist and protagonist depending on the episode plot. If the plot requires a Alpha Bitch-like antagonist, Jade is more than capable.
Tara and Hayley from "Freak The Freak Out" play it straight.
Anime Hair: Cat's unnatural hair color can be seen as fitting this trope. She later justifies it on the Slap (the in-show social networking site), saying she dyed it that color because it reminds her of red velvet cupcakes and isn't real in the slightest.
Interestingly, in a different video she posted she said the reason for the color was that she came home late one day and her brother thought she was an intruder and broke a vase over her head. She apparently liked the color and so she cut off a lock of bloody hair and brought it with her the next time she went to the hair salon.
Asian Airhead: In "Driving Tori Crazy", while most of the girls in the car with Beck were of less than normal intellect, the Asian one in the front seat kind of took the prize with the constant gum twirling and vacant way of speaking.
Sikowitz: "Cat, your line had to start with an S!" Cat: "Salami!" Sikowitz: "It's too late, Cat." Cat: "Awwww, my life's the worst!" Sikowitz: "Here's a piece of candy." Cat: "Yay, I love candy!" (happily walks off the stage)
Beck: You did it! Tori: Shoosh yeah, I did! Beck: WHO'S A ROCKSTAR?!?! Tori: MEEEEEEEEE! Beck: Whoo! (they hi-five) You are definitely a real risk taker! Tori: I know! And to prove it even more you know what I'm gonna do RIGHT NOW?! Beck: WHAT? Tori: I'm gonna use the bathroom HERE! (jumps) Beck: ...Sitting? Tori: (in a menacing voice)Sitting.
Awesome McCoolname: Tori Vega, Cat Valentine and Jade West to name a few. The lead actress's real name, Victoria Justice, is probably the coolest sounding of all of them.
Base on Wheels: Beck's trailer. It's surprising that it hasn't been used more often.
Probably because they're traumatized from getting trapped in it.
Batman Gambit: Cat and Jade make Tori look hideous in "Freak the Freak Out" as they knew Haley and Tara would pick the least attractive person to sing. Tori then shows that she is not only a good singer but also not even unattractive.
Beach Episode: "Trapped in an RV" is a subversion, since the main cast (except for Cat) spent very little screen time actually at the beach, having been trapped in Beck's RV for most of the episode.
BFG: Ke$ha's glitter guns in "Ice Cream For Ke$ha".
Beware the Nice Ones: In "Freak The Freak Out", Cat is actually the one to declare that if Hayley and Tara lose against Louise (Tori in disguise) in a round of karaoke by vote of the audience, they would have to 'babysit' Trina, who was drugged up from her wisdom tooth removal and fought off anyone who'd try to tame her. It may show that Cat was more pissed about the contest being rigged than Jade.
Beck in Tori Tortures Teacher or A Christmas Tori is not very pretty when angry or sleep deprived.
If Rex is just a way for Robbie to speak his real thoughts, this may apply to him.
Big Bad: Usually appear in specials, Hayley Fergunson in Freak The Freak Out, The Yerbanian Chancellor in Locked Up and Mason Thornsmith in Tori Goes Platinum.
Big "NO!": At the end of "The Bad Roommate", Jade tries to reshoot a picture that has previously caused her humiliation. So what happens this time around during the reshoot? Robbie accidentally trips over on Jade and the end picture shows the 2 appearing to be intimate.
The Diddlybops and their song are stylistically similar to Yo Gabba Gabba, a major program for Nick Jr..
"Brain Squeezers" seems to be an extreme deconstruction of children's game shows which are more about the stunts than actual gameplay, of which Nickelodeon has produced many.
Jade:(crying) "I got a little make-up on your pillow..." Tori: "That's OK... I'll just ask my grandmother to make me another one... If she ever comes back to life."
The entire episode of Tori Gets Stuck: A toy car lodged in Robbie's intestinal tract since childhood. Tori loses THREE pints of blood in the "donating blood to Robbie" plot-line, one of which splashes on both of them. On the side, Trina deliberately contracts herself tuberculosis in order to play her role in the play well. Trina insists it's "just pneumonia".
"Ice Cream For Ke$ha": Tori's bathing Trina (It Makes Sense in Context, sorta), Trina's being her normal rude self. Tori pushes her head under the water, cut to commercial *
Trina's fine when they come back. They never mention it again though, so it's unclear if Tori really did it or just imagined doing it.
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In "Car, Rain and Fire", Tori reveals that she didn't pass her driving test because she didn't see the old lady in the wheelchair. In Tori's defense, she did signal before she hit her.
When Andre's friends ask him to stay at Tori's house and help them write a song, he eventually caves, saying "Fine, I'll just celebrate my 98 year old grandfather's birthday with him next year...maybe!"
In The Worst Couple, as Jade and Beck are arguing, Cat stands between them with her hands pressed against her ears, chanting to herself: "I'm under my bed, I'm under my bed..."
In Driving Tori Crazy, Jade drives Tori out to the desert with a shovel in the backseat.
"Who Did it to Trina" only uses three previously existing sets and only has main and recurring cast members.
The only new set in "The Breakfast Bunch" is the library and the only character outside of the main cast to appear is Vice Principal Dickers (and a cameo from the "iParty With Victorious" panda). Also counts as Locked in a Room.
The entire episode "Wi-Fi in the Sky" takes place on a plane.
Brick Joke: In the pilot, Sikowitz asks Tori if she'd thought of entering the class room through the window, before encouraging her to do think about it. Several episodes later, Sikowitz does that very thing. (In the unedited version of the pilot, he also enters through the window before ever suggesting it to Tori.)
Coconut milk giving Sikowitz visions. A joke made in the first season pays off in the third season. It's how Trina got into Hollywood Arts.
Shows up in the acting class, for obvious reasons.
Jade does this whenever she mockingly imitates Tori.
Broken Aesop: In "Tori Gets Stuck," Tori can't star in Steamboat Suzie after giving three pints of blood and Jade, her understudy, is disqualified because of her actions during the episode. So Sikowitz is left as the only one capable of playing the lead role in a play about women being able to do anything men can do.
Jade:(about Sikowitz) "He's not completely right in the head, but the man's a great acting teacher."
Butt Monkey: Robbie. Sinjin, sometimes Cat, and Tori to a certain extent. Lampshaded in "Tori Gets Stuck" where Jade complains about being cheated and humiliated. Sinjin tells her that it was something to get used to and Robbie nods in agreement.
Most of the music played at the party in iParty With Victorious. Included in the mix: "Number One" by Ginger Fox, which was also featured in Freak The Freak Out, "Give It Up" by Jade and Cat, "The Joke Is On You" from Wok Star and the iCarly episode iGet Pranky, and "The Queen of White Lies" by The Orion Experience, which appeared at the end of Stage Fighting.
Also in iParty With Victorious:
Sikowitz: Do you see the little children? Spencer: Yeah. Sikowitz: Fantastic.
In the first minute or so of the first episode, look at the fridge behind Tori. There's an iCarly magnet visible.
Another iCarly reference - Jerry Trainor (Spencer) and Nathan Kress (Freddie) both appear in the audience in separate episodes where Trina is playing a lead role.
In Stage Fighting, the girl who played Tammy (the girl from Tennessee) from The Girls Room in The Amanda Show appears as the girl in the hall who Rex puts his hand on creepily.
In Wok Star, Josh Peck of Drake & Josh fame, shows up at the end of Jade's play to congratulate her, only to be brushed off.
Drake Bell from Drake and Josh, and Mr. Belding from Saved By The Bell both show up in the April Fools episode.
Cant Get Away With Nuthin: While usually averted (especially with Tori), Jade gets this in "Tori Gets Stuck" at the very end by not being allowed in the play.
Crazy Ponnie is about Tori trying to convince the others that Ponnie is a real person (and later, that she is trying to sabotage her) but they all believe Tori is losing her mind. Tori was telling the truth.
The Cast Showoff: It's a show about a performing arts school so even extras will show off, but Leon and Victoria seem to do the most on-screen performing of the main cast.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Jade towards Beck. Justified as Beck has shown receptiveness to the advances of other girls.
Cloudcuckoolander: Robbie and his puppet Rex. Cat also fits perfectly, as well as showing some of The Ditz symptoms.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Or something like that: Trina's uniform in "Helen Back Again", which was blue with a yellow belt, is actually a Vovinam Gi, not a Karate Gi. Also, unlike Karate, a yellow belt is the equivalent of a black belt; Trina Vega of all people is a highly skilled martial artist.
In Stage Fighting, Tori takes up the French horn, but clearly sucks at it, as shown by Andre taking it off her and playing it expertly. Several episodes later (in Beck's Big Break, though the first episode filmed after that one) she takes up the piccolo, leading to this conversation:
Tori: "Hey hey! Look what I got!" Andre: "A piccolo?" Tori: "It's my new instrument!" Cat: "I thought you were learning how to play the fr-" Tori: "It didn't work out!"
In "Cat's New Boyfriend", Tori gets lectured for kissing Cats boyfriend and Jade tells her "Those things upset some girls." She's probably referring to Tori kissing Beck in the Pilot.
In "The Wood," they ask Tori what the worst thing she's ever done was:
Tori: "Hmm, so I threw hot cheese on my friend and then made out with her boyfriend, who happened to be my ex-boyfriend. But it was okay, because she punched me in the face afterwards."
In "Ice Cream for Ke$ha", Lendell, the loser who was set up on a date with Trina in "Rex Dies", is seen to still be calling her, much to her dissatisfaction.
In "Stage Fighting", Jade notes how Tori doesn't know many of the technical terms in theater. This comes back to annoy Jade even more in "Tori Gets Stuck", when she is chosen as Tori's understudy in a play... and Tori doesn't know what an understudy is.
Episodes aired after "Wok Star" have Jade mocking Tori on the way she talks, as seen in "Beck Falls For Tori", "Ice Cream for Ke$ha", "Prom Wrecker" and "Locked Up!". Here's a compilation.
In iParty With Victorious, Tori suggests that they expose her and Carly's cheating boyfriend to the entire party to punish him, just like she did to Ryder in "Begging On Your Knees".
Kenan also says that to Tori "I know you're not from Northridge"
In Who Did It To Trina?, Jade (in her flashback) says that Tori mentions that she's pretty. Tori says that she said nothing of the kind, and Jade asks 'So you don't think I'm pretty?' Later, in Tori and Jade's Playdate, Jade says that others might think Tori's pretty; when she then says that Tori could say that she (Jane) is also pretty, Tori agrees - which leads to an uncomfortable silence from both.
Mason Thornesmith (who first appeared in "Tori Goes Platinum") makes his second appearance in "Robbie Sells Rex". His office is also shown again. In "Robbie Sells Rex" Cat keeps asking for some Bibble which is a fictional British snack that she got addicted to in the subplot of "Tori Goes Platinum". There is also a reference to "Rex Dies" in "Robbie Sells Rex".
Let us simply say that Cat's Drake & Josh flashback in "Who Did To Trina", the episode following the introduction of Helen as the new principal of Hollywood Arts, raised some interesting questions about continuity and leave it at that.
There's also the problem of Nozu and Mrs. Lee. Tori and the gang met her at Wok Star in Wok Star, and we saw her once again in Andre's Horrible Girl - however, a full season earlier, in Tori Gets Stuck, Tori asks the gang if they want to go to Nozu after school for sushi! Now, that wouldn't be a problem, except that Tori and Andre act as if it's their first visit to Nozu (when they visit in Andre's Horrible Girl), and Mrs. Lee specifically says she used the insurance money from Wok Star burning down to build Nozu!
Converting for Love: Robbie asks Trina if she would be willing to convert to Judaism while he is infatuated with her. It's not a dealbreaker, though.
Cat: "I make it [her hair] this color because I love red velvet cupcakes, and this is the exact same color of a red velvet cupcake!" (puts hair in mouth) "...But it tastes like hair." Cat: "They [her family] accidentally left me on the side of the road. It was funny...! Until it got dark outside. And... then it got less funny."
Cat even recounted Tori and Jade to be within the D&J episode iLove Sushi to tell a story behind Trina's accident, which had no connection to the event whatsoever.
Cat: Oh. Then I don't know what happened with Tori and Trina. Can I have some oatmeal?
Tori: Beck said you haven't done one nice thing for him in two years. Jade: That is so not true. We've only been dating for a year and eleven months.
Crapsack School/Informed Deformity: If you're anything like Robbie, Sinjin, or the Quartets, people are going to treat you like shit. Sure, Tori and Andre are portrayed as nice people, but both didn't even bat an eye in rejecting the Quartets, whose audiences in "Beggin' On Your Knees" look bored during their performance.
Crapsack Country- Yerba. Never go there, unless you like civil war, secret police, kangaroo courts, far below sub-standard living conditions, and deadly insects.
One of Tori's friends in her messenger list is Mindy Crenshaw. Helen Dubois became a Hollywood Principal. All while Drake & Josh is a TV show within the Victorious universe.
Cute Bruiser: Cat is undeniably cute, yet she managed to almost break Tori's nose in one punch.
A Day in the Limelight: "Jade Dumps Beck" and "Wok Star" are more about Jade than Tori. And to a lesser extent, "Stage Fighting" can be counted as well.
"Freak The Freak Out" is actually a Trina-centric episode, as everything centers around her and her mouth surgery.
Deal with the Devil: The plot of Tori Goes Platinum. The Corrupt Corporate Executive Mason convinces Tori to build a massive Jerk Ass persona in order to create buzz for herself and her upcoming appearance in the Platinum Music Awards.
In "Jade Dumps Beck", Trina physically threatens Robbie because he refuses to write a good review of her play.
Jade went out of her way to keep Tori from playing the lead in "Tori Gets Stuck." The biggest part of this was leafing through Tori's medical records and exploiting them to make her donate two pints of blood in one night (Jade purposely misplaced the first pint). Rule of Funny, since you'd be advised to wait eight weeks to recover after donating one pint (never mind the third Tori ended up donating, which was Robbie's fault and might have been life-threatening had the show treated it more realistically).
In "Locked Up", while it's subverted when the chancellor not only sentences Tori to four years in prison all because of her shoe malfunction that blinded him, it's then taken Up to Eleven when he then sentences the entire rest of the gang after Robbie accidentally kills his electric clock and octopus!
"Who Did It To Trina:" Rex sabotaged the harness which lead to Trina being injured. All because she punched him in the face.
Robbie is viciously beaten up by a group of mothers because he offered their kids ice cream. Which he brought in a bucket and announced loudly, clearly not trying to be sneaky and steal their kids. And he was on his bike. They apparently chased him into an alley and beat him with sticks, stepped on his throat, and he has a black eye for the rest of the episode.
Jade shaving Cat's head just because she accidentally waxed her eyebrows.
Double Standard: Abuse—Female on Male: Averted with Andre's girlfriend Hope. While Played for Laughs, it's evident that the viewers are supposed to feel sympathy for Andre, and think that Hope got what she deserved by the end of the episode.
Beck and Jade's relationship is a slightly more ambiguous example, mainly because it's unclear if Jade's treatment of Beck counts as abuse or not. She's never assaulted him onscreen (although it's stated in Jade Dumps Beck that she threw a rock at him) and she's typically not verbally abusive toward him, as she is to the other characters. However, her jealousy and possessive nature are often hand waved by the fact that he gets a lot of attention from other girls, therefore making it his fault.
Downer Ending: "The Gorilla Club" ends with Tori being about to obtain her role in the movie, but unable to do so due to her injuries from being attacked by the gorilla.
Dyeing For Your Art: Ariana Grande, who plays Cat, dyed her hair just for the role. Dan Schneider had noticed the entire main cast had dark brown hair, and asked if Ariana would dye it a different color. She showed up next time with her red hair.
Early Installment Weirdness: Most characters are fairly different from how they were in the pilot. For example, Trina went from "untalented" to "talented, but not enough to justify her ego." Jade was significantly deepened, saving her from being the Alpha Bitch. Robbie, while still not suave, became capable of normal conversation with the opposite sex. Rex's design is very different from the pilot, including paler skin, a thinner body and neck, paler complexion, and smaller eyes/mouth. Cat's hair is no longer curly as well. Tori's hair, instead of being perfectly straight, is now wavy. Probably the biggest change is that Beck and Tori no longer seem romantically interested in each other.
Adding to the weirdness, Trina in the pilot was at least somewhat aware that she couldn't sing, to the point where she took the Chinese Herb Gargle in the hopes of improving her voice. Rule of Funny, naturally, causes that to be thrown out the window in future episodes, resulting in Trina being completely and utterly oblivious to how bad her singing is.
Fascinating Eyebrow: Jade and Tori can do it. Tori in particular is quite fond of it.
Felony Misdemeanor: Every offense that the students get punished for in "The Breakfast Bunch", with the exception of being late for class and Tori leaving the library during detention, which are things any reasonable administrator would have punished them for. (And she only gets lectured for the latter, not really punished, except for Dickers trying to force Tori to pop a zit on his arm). Jade even gets an extra detention for apologizing.
Five-Token Band: The main character is half-Latina (as is her sister), André is black, Robbie is Jewish, and Beck is Indian. The only two main white characters are Jade and Cat. It's a rare example of the trope being pulled off very tastefully, and it doesn't seem forced or unnatural – it probably wasn't even intentional.
Beck's race has never been stated. While the actor that portrays him is half-Indian, the character has the more ambiguous last name 'Oliver' and no reference to race was ever made.
Flanderization: Jade and Cat being the worst victims. The former's meanness is extremely amplified whenever Beck is not around, while the latter's Cloudcuckoolander tendencies are played into downright ridiculous idiocy.
Beck seems to have become a bit of a jerk since he and Jade broke up.
Jade's flanderization seems to be becomingaverted in Season 3 (notably in "Tori Goes Platinum" and "Opposite Date") whereas Cat's verging into Ralph Wiggum territory.
Flash Back: A fairly long and very hilarious one happens in The Great Ping-Pong Scam as André, Beck, Robbie, Cat and Jade narrate in way too much detail how they formed their ping-pong team.
Tori: So, you guys formed a fake ping pong team so you could get some money, buy a trophy for the school, save the principal's job, and take Sikowitz out for a big fancy dinner?
Andre:(pause) Yeah, I guess we could've just told it that way.
In the first episode, Tori has her bare feet up on the coffee table while she's sitting on the couch.
A video on the slap has André pouring ketchup on Tori's feet. It grosses her out, too.
Essentially the point of the B-plot in "Cat's New Boyfriend."
We get a heavy dose of this when Tori shoots a bow-and-arrow with her feet in "The Breakfast Bunch".
Four Temperament Ensemble: Trina (Choleric), Cat (Sanguine), Jade (Melancholic), and Tori (Phlegmatic).
Freeze Frame Bonus: What's on the classroom dry-erase board. Also, some of the various lockers.
Fore Shadowing: Cat and Jade's rivals were introduced as Tara Ferguson and Haley Ganz. Later, the bar's owner (who decides the winner) is revealed as Joey Ferguson: a giveaway how he would decide the contest to advance the plot.
Gag Boobs: Liz Gillies and Daniella Monet are quite well-endowed. The writers noticed.
Then there's this quote from Dan Schneider's blog:
After André asks Tori why she picked the French Horn, Tori says, "I dunno. I like French fries, French toast..." In the original script, Tori also said "French kissing" – but I decided that was a bit much for a Nickelodeon show, so I cut "French kissing" from the script. :)
Genki Girl: Cat. Even though she's a Mood Swinger, she spends most of her time in happy mode.
Tori, to a lesser degree.
George Jetson Job Security: One of Jade's "What I Hate" videos implies that her father has been fired many times.
The Ghost: Gary, an officer along with Mr. Vega's police force that Mrs. Vega has been seen texting in episodes like Crazy Ponnie and Cell Block. Some viewers are under the suspicion that she has a thing for him...
Actually, we did see Gary at the end of Crazy Ponnie. (He manages to slip in some implications that he might have a thing for Mrs. Vega as well.)
Gilligan Cut: "Driving Tori Crazy". Tori makes Cat promise not to tell anyone about the party bus that will take her to school, which she does. She then explicitly tells Cat again not to let anyone know about it. Cat says she gets it...next scene, we see the party bus and the entire gang is in it. We then get this exchange:
Tori: I told you not to tell anyone!
Cat: You did not make that clear.
In "Robarazzi", when Rex suggests Robbie use the video of Tori's pimple for his blog, Robbie says that would be mean. After Rex tells Robbie that he'll be a loser if he doesn't, which Robbie protests against. After a few seconds, cut to some students watching the video on The Slap.
From "The Wood":
Beck: The producers took two separate phone conversations and cut them together!
Jade: I want to hear that from them!
(Tori holds her hands out in questioning. Cut to the Black Box theater)
Producer: Yeah, we took two separate phone calls and cut them together.
Good Bad Girl: Cat's boyfriends tend not to last very long (81 hours is her record), and it's subtly implied that they get further than what could be shown on Nickelodeon. She's also described as "the sweetest thing ever" and, though her actions may have negative consequences, she always has good intentions.
He Who Must Not Be Seen: Two examples, Cat's extremely ditzy brother being The Ghost variant is regularly referred to either through Cat's random Black Comedy Burst or Noodle Incident anecdotes with no relevance to the plot or through text messages. Cats is an example of sanity compared to her brother who once painted a 'part' of his body purple for a job interview (he didn't get it) and got Jade 12 gallons of real blood for her play.
Robbie's grandfather Maury who is the The Voice variant who is rude to his wife.
Averted with Tara and Haley in Freak The Freak Out. Their singing isn't exaggeratedly bad, but it's instead rather mediocre, especially compared to Jade and Cat.
This is an example of the Moral Dissonance in the Schneiderverse, as even Jade feels sorry for the guy getting it in the neck - even though Dale screwed them all out of a serious career boost (because the most he could honestly take credit for was being executive producer).
In "Sleepover At Sikowitz's", Tori chooses 'a sweet, innocent farm girl who never gets angry, no matter what happens' as the persona for Jade during the sleepover. Ever since (notably in "Beck Falls For Tori" and "Tori Gets Stuck"), Jade gleefully falls into that persona whenever she feels like running Tori over the coals...
Ryder Daniels used girls who were in love with him to get good grades before dumping them the moment they weren't of use to him anymore. This comes back to bite him hard when Tori discovers what he's up to and uses the very event he was using her to get a good grade in to reveal him to the entire school and give him a Humiliation Conga via a The Villain Sucks Song.
Jade in "Prom Wrecker", subverting her normal Karma Houdini status. Her attempts to ruin the prom Tori set up end up making it better and in the end, she's forced to be prom queen with Doug the Diaper Guy as her prom king, who she hired to wreck the prom in the first place.
In the pilot episode, Tori most likely wouldn't have kissed Beck on-stage (thus intentionally ticking off Jade) if Jade hadn't been mean to her. Granted, she saw Tori with Beck, but Jade also knew (as EVERYONE at Hollywood Arts knew) that Tori was new there, and thus wouldn't know to steer clear of Beck at all costs.
Humiliation Conga: Manipulative Bastard Ryder Daniels is given one by Tori and all the girls he's gone out with just so he could use them to get himself a good grade and then breaking their hearts directly afterwards. Tori sings "Begging On Your Knees" in front of the whole school, her friends and Ryder's ex-girlfriends keeping him onstage and revealing his manipulative ways to the entire school and giving him a well-deserved humiliation. To top it off, another group sing "You just got served" at him directly afterwards.
Steven, the boyfriend who cheated on both Tori and Carly got his live on the internet.
"Random Humiliation!"
Hustling The Mark: Jade, Tori, and Cat pull off a rather awesome example of this trope on Haley and Tara in Freak The Freak Out. (Complete with Oh Crap looks on Haley and Tara's faces when they realized Tori wasn't the pushover they thought she would be.)
Trina:(to Tori) "You have to be more careful with people's feelings." (Before turning and yelling at the annoying kid behind her for kicking her seat.)
Incredibly Lame Pun: A visual one in the Christmas episode. When Cat, Tori, and Jade are dressed and lined up like Christmas showgirls: "Ho-ho-ho"
Tori unleashes a load of food related ones on The Slap during the events of "The Diddly Bops"
Inherently Funny Words: In Who Did It To Trina, the word 'ranch-house' is apparently one of these, as the laugh track plays every single time it's said, and it's said half a dozen times.
Impaled Palm: Melinda Murray got a crossbow bolt through her palm, causing her to get pulled out of the film. Cue the staff and co-actors rejoicing over the cause of the accident Tori Vega Crystal Waters.
Robbie: Tori, the puns HAVE to stop. Tori: You'll have to mustard up the courage to stop me! Hahahaha.
Informed Flaw: Trina's bad singing is Hollywood Tone Deaf at worst. Other than too much scooping and being flat at times. Trina could sing well if she would just accept that she's not perfect and maybe some lessons would do her some good. And Trina's audition with the submarine scene was pretty good, but it was implied she didn't get the role because of her bad acting, while all she did was say one word wrong.
She stage kissed well enough to make Robbie believe that she actually liked him.
That's probably more Robbie's cluelessness than Trina's talent...
Supposedly, we're supposed to believe Trina has no talent whatsoever. Yet, she's not too bad at acting, as pointed out here, and also seems to be a good dancer (in Locked Up, even Jade doesn't seem to mind Trina dancing with them, as long as her mic is off).
In The Breakfast Bunch, the gang begins acting as if they were high after eating tacos.
In How Trina Got In, Sikowitz reveals that his drinking milk from a badly-spoiled coconut, and his visions during Trina's audition, was the reason Trina got into Hollywood Arts.
Tori: Read the phone Jade. Reeeead the phoooone. (Later, after Jade points out how she doesn't have to let Tori on the team, no matter how good her tryout was) Jade: Read the phone Tori. Reeeead the phoooone.
In iParty With Victorious, Tori and Carly, on what Steven said when he gave both girls their charm bracelets:
Tori and Carly (in unison}: "It's one of a kind - just like you!"
It's All About Me: Trina does have a vain and narcissistic ego, and is easily the most selfish character on the show.
Trina: "If I'd shared it, there would be less for me!"
While not to the same extent as her sister, Tori can be pretty selfish as well.
Also this exchange from "Jade Dumps Beck," which occurs while the dog is attacking Beck's dad.
Just Friends: Cat to Robbie in One Thousands Berry Balls.
Karma Houdini: A common theme in Dan Schneider shows: this show has Jade. In the episode about stage fighting, she gets away with framing Tori, whose stuck with a bad grade, detention, and virtually being publicly humiliated, despite it still looking like Tori did anything by accident. While Tori intentionally does not report Jade when she learns she was set up, André knew and should have at least told someone.
It does follow the Rule of Funny, though, which is probably why Jade never gets in trouble.
Averted in "Prom Wrecker". Tori gets her revenge on Jade for trying to ruin the prom she set up by making Jade prom queen, with Doug the Diaper Guy as her Prom King. To add further karma, everything Jade did to try to ruin the prom only served to make it even better.
Averted in "Tori Gets Stuck" where Jade spends the episode trying to get Tori out of the play so that she can take her place. She succeeds, but Sikowitz tells her "Screw you" and takes Tori's place instead.
Tori in Locked Up. Accident or not, she did blind the man...you'd at least expect them to be fined, or something.
Also in Beck's Big Break, though possibly justified because of the callousness of the lead star.
Kick the Dog: It's practically Jade's hobby. The worst example occurs in Crazy Ponnie. During a sleepover, Cat accidentally waxed Jade's eyebrows off. Throughout the episode, she chased Cat in hopes of revenge until finally, she shaved her head while she was sleeping. For many, this turned a lot of fans against Jade.
Doctor: If that car... backs out, it could rip that kid's guts apart.
Robbie: (high pitched squealing niose)
*laugh track*
The Law of Conservation of Detail: Explains why we never see Cat's locker, or anyone's immediate family, unless there is a reason to show them, for instance, Jade's Dad, Andre's Grandmother and Robbie's Grandmother.
Word Of God says that he will try to find a reason to show Cat's locker.
Jade mentions in Prom Wrecker that Beck is in Canada. It was mentioned before the episode aired that Avan Jogia was in Vancouver at the time of filming and would be absent because of it.
In Tori Tortures Teacher during lunch Andre asks why none of them "ever sits on that side of the table", which would feature them facing away from the camera.
In Terror in Cupcake Street the main cast and Sikowitz discuss why they are the only ones chosen. They later realize the fact their classmates "never talk and just react" as a nod to the extras.
In Who Did it to Trina Andrč hints at the plot's Rashomon-Style. "Aw, no! Now we have to hear another story about what happened from a unique point of view?!"
Line-of-Sight Name: Tori adopts the name "Crystal Waters" from a visible water dispenser to infiltrate Melinda Murray's filming location.
Literal-Minded: Somewhat inverted in Drving Tori Crazy. Andre's grandmother asks Tori to hold her oatmeal which Tori accepts, turns out she hold her oatmeal (she dumped the oatmeal on Tori's hands instead of giving her the mug)
Malaproper: In the "Stuck in an RV" episode, Tori berates Jade with a vicious "Thank you, Catherine Obvious." Cue confusion from the other characters. After they correct her, she weakly tries to defend herself by pointing out that Catherine could be a captain.
Manipulative Bastard: Ryder Daniels, who uses love to manipulate girls into helping him get a good grade only to break their hearts when he's through using them. Tori makes sure he gets what he deserves though.
Manipulative Editing: The producers of The Wood do this to fake a relationship between Beck and Tori.
Jade West, Wicked Witch of the West with a jaded personality. Lampshaded when Tori's version in What Happened to Trina depicts Jade like a hag. Lampshaded even more in "April Fools Blank" in which she really is a Wicked Witch.
Sinjin: Sure, I'm not usually invited to the main people's houses
Also
Sinjin: You guys star in every play at this school, and you sing all the songs, and you do all the talking in class
Menstrual Menace: Sorta. Jade gets through "that time of the month" by talking about stuff she hates.
The Millstone: Robbie constantly causes trouble for his friends. He once got them all sent to jail
Mirror Routine: Cat and Sikowitz in "Beck Falls For Tori"
Mistaken Age: In Beck's subplot in "Wi-Fi in the Sky," he's taking care of his next-door neighbor's dog while the owner is away at cheerleader practice. When Jade finds out, she assumes the cheerleader's the same age as her and is trying to steal Beck. When she comes over to Beck's RV to pick up her dog, Jade and the audience find out that she's only nine years old.
Mistaken Identity: Tori being "kicked out" of Hollywood Arts turned out to be because Helen's assistant mixed up Trina's name with Tori's.
Mr. Seahorse: Andre's character in "Sleepover at Sikowitz's" parodies this.
Moment Killer: Robbie does this to Tori's parents on their anniversary after getting kicked out of Sikowitz's house. If that wasn't bad enough, he then invites Cat and a guy she has just been on a date with over as well.
Everybody but Beck and Tori ends up at the Vega household by the end of the night, where they laugh uproariously at Terms Of Endearment.
Mood Swinger: Cat at one point cycles through friendly, upset and cheerful in four sentences.
Morality Pet: Beck for Jade, when he's in Canada Jade can be a real gank.
Ms. Fanservice: All the girls take turns at this but Cat seems to embrace it most often and hardest.
Speaking of Cat, she doubles as a non-naked variant of Innocent Fanservice Girl. (Well she is childlike innocent...)
N-Word Privileges: At the end of "Who Did It To Trina," Rex says that it's only okay if he calls himself a puppet.
Never My Fault: In one episode where most of the main cast (except for Cat) gets trapped in an RV, Trina complains that she didn't even know why the others invited her. In the first few minutes of the episode it's clearly shown that she invites herself along. The others call her out on this, Jade getting a minor Crowning Moment of Awesome when she says "Noone likes you!" after everyone's done talking.
Never Trust a Title: Just going from the title, it sounds as if it's about sports.
There's also a future episode called "Beck Falls for Tori." It's about stunts, i.e. literal falling.
As mentioned below, "Jade Gets Crushed" is about a romantic crush, not being crushed by a falling object.
Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer to "Jade Gets Crushed" suggests that Jade goes on a rampage and Tori dresses up as Jade to give her a taste of her own medicine. Turns out to be a plot where Andre develops a crush on Jade.
Tori: What happens if all that sweat builds up inside you and you just explode?
Jade: (Completely dead pan.) I would love that.
Her asking for the fatty lump in Rex Dies, or thinking that 'mouth blood is cool' in Freak The Freak Out.
Jade on why she loves hot tubs: "Sometime I pretend I've been captured by witches and they're making me into human soup."
Noble Demon: Jade may act mean, but she pets enough dogs (or Cats) to not fool anyone. A good example of this occurs in Rex Dies, where her suggestion to fake Rex's "death" seems to be motivated by genuine concern for Robbie. (Even though she normally treats him with, at best, callous indifference.)
No Ending: The Birthweek Song, which ends with the producers leaving the studio and turning off the lights, and has Tori still in the recording booth and Andre and Trina still out.
"Wi-Fi In The Sky": After Jade signs Beck off in rage, Tori is left by herself to finish the project. Just when she's about to attempt to do it herself, Perez Hilton shows up and confronts Trina, demanding his camera back. Because of this, the episode ends unknown to the viewers whether or not Tori finished her project.
The series as a whole didn't get a true Series Finale. It was cancelled before a proper one could be made.
No Export for You: TheSlap after a period where unlike it's sister show iCarly it let anyone in the entire world view the site, it suddenly started redirecting readers from other countries such as those in Europe, Australia to their country's (badly and poorly updated) Nickelodeon websites.
No Fourth Wall: Schneider essentially took a wrecking ball to the fourth wall in "April Fools Blank": In one scene, a member of the production crew actually interrupts the scene to tell Leon that he's late for a scene with Victoria. Leon rushes to the Asphalt Cafe set and explains that he was late because he "was doing a Wizard of Oz bit." He then says that 3 1/2 minutes is "the same amount of time as a commercial break". And in the game show parody, Trina's card reads, "Cut to the next scene!"
No Hugging, No Kissing: Perhaps thanks in part to the legendary Ship-to-Ship Combat from iCarly, Victorious general avoided ship teasing amongst the main cast. While there was some lightShip Tease between Tori/Beck, Andre/Jade, and Robbie/Cat, they all more or less got sunk with Beck/Jade (who started off as the Official Couple in the first place) being the only long lasting couple in the show.
Surprisingly for a Schneider show, the most common shipmate to Jade/Beck and Cat/Robbie, Tori/Andre, was never teased in canon. Despite being the male and female leads, the subtext between them was no more or less YMMV than the subtext between Tori/Jade.
No Indoor Voice: Tori in Sleepover at Sikowitz's. "I AM A POLICE OFFICER!"
André's grandmother.
Vice Principal Dickers from "The Breakfast Bunch".
Noodle Incident: All we ever find out about why Sikowitz had his driver license suspended is that it was in Vegas and it involved circus performers, including one with six fingers on one hand.
We only ever get snippets from Cat about her brother who apparently once painted a part of his body purple (don't worry, it was for a job interview), once jumped out of a fourth story window and landed on a truck, and was once shot by a clown.
What did that dolphin do to Jade to make her hate the ocean so much?
Jade and Tori. That these two can even stand to be in each other's company is nothing short of a miracle, and yet, recent episodes have them hanging out and doing stuff together. (Albeit with a certain amount of vitriol between then.)
Official Couple: Jade and Beck for the majority of the series. Its even in the title sequence!
Oh Crap: In "A Film by Dale Squires", the main cast has this reaction when Dale apologizes and gives them credit for the movie after they've already put a plan for revenge in motion. (He originally stole credit for their work.) Even Jade is mortified.
Cat: Oh, he's giving us credit. Jade:(in a worried tone) On national TV.
Also Robbie's face clearly says this in "The Great Ping-Pong Scam", when Sikowitz said that they were "mistakenly" charged an extra $600 worth of caviar.
Oh Wait: Though she never uses those words, this is implicilty Jade's intent during the following exchange in "Car, Rain, and Fire":
Out-of-Character Moment: "The Breakfast Bunch", sorta. Since the episode is an Affectionate Parody of The Breakfast Club, the characters act somewhat different than they normally do. This has led some fans to dispute the canonicity of the episode.
Overly Long Gag: The alphabetical improv scene in the pilot.
Also, at the beginning of Freak the Freak Out (and the closing credits of it), we see Trina wearing a pink dress, taking pictures of herself with a camera that she sets to multishot:
Trina: (takes three shots, then her father comes in, followed by three more shots) Hey, Dad... (another shot)
Mr. Vega: Hey, baby.
Trina: How come... (another shot) you're home early? I thought you were... (another shot) working late...tonight. (another shot)
Mr. Vega: Well, I have a lot of paperwork... (poses) and I really need to... (poses) concentrate, so I thought i'd work... (poses) here.
(Tori's phone rings.)
Trina: Hey, can you... (another shot) grab that phone?
Mr. Vega: No, but... (poses) you can.
Defied in Locked Up when Festus is giving Tori his brother's long phone number, and eventually Tori interrupts by saying, "Come on buddy!" in a foreign tone.
"The Gorilla Club" has Trina reading the incredibly long tracking number needed to get the Fazzini shoes to their house. She goes into another room while reading it, comes back into the kitchen (where the rest of the gang is playing cards) still reading it and goes upstairs, then finishes reading it when she returns to the kitchen. She then goes outside to have the package with the shoes hurled at her.
Paper Tiger: Jade can come across as hardcore (smashing Andre's apple in Tori Gets Stuck, kicking in Beck's door in Wi-Fi In The Sky, slicing up the garbage can in Wok Star), but when real danger seems afoot (most prominently in Locked Up!), Jade either bluffs or bolts. A talker, but not much of a fighter.
Robbie: Jackie Bonay is having heart confarctions!
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The Hollywood Arts Ping-Pong team - They don't actually practice, or enter any tournaments; they just say they do to get $1,500 to go to a fancy resteraunt, with part of the money being used to buy a trophy so that they can claim that they won.
Poke the Poodle: When Tori gets annoyed with Jade in The Breakfast Bunch, she threatens to unfriend her on The Slap, a relatively minor form of retaliation. For maximum laughs, Jade takes it as seriously as if Tori had threatened to injure her.
Product Placement: In the first five episodes of the series, Jade sported a messenger bag with Gears of War scrawled on the strap. The messenger bag disappeared for a few episodes, then returned with a plain black strap in its place. Tori also has both a picture of Katy Perry and the singer's name in her locker as decorations.
Protagonist-Centered Morality: Trina having no friends (or being borderline abused by her parents) is portrayed as what she deserves for being conceited. Considering Jade and Tori have done much more horrible things than Trina, if she was a main character, she would probably be The Woobie.
Public Medium Ignorance: In "Locked Up", Tori plays a game of Go Fish with two of her fellow inmates. The cards they are holding are clearly Yu Gi Oh cards.
Tori: "That's not how we play Go Fish in America!"
Punny Name: In "Locked Up", one of the Yerbians is named Kreplach, which is sort of like a Jewish wonton.
Inverted in "Jade Gets Crushed" in an update on The Slap/scene transition. Right before the scene where Tori impersonates Jade, the update lists her mood as "jaded."
Rashomon-Style: Averted in The Great Ping-Pong Scam, but played straight in Who Did it to Trina?
Andre:"Aw, no, NO! Now we have to hear another story about what happened from a unique point-of-view ?!"
In How Trina Got In, there are also sequences fabricated by the characters on how Trina could have possibly been admitted to Hollywood Arts. Sikowitz gives the real version.
Jade: The witch sneers at Dorothy, then exits. (walks out the door) Cat: Oh dear. She spoke her stage directions. What do I do?
Recut: An extended version of the pilot was put on iTunes. With lines that didn't deserve to be cut, like Ariana Grande doing incredibly hilarious little kid voices in an improv scene.
Recycled Premise: The gang (and/or Tori the lead character) getting trapped somewhere. Hilarity Ensues. This plot has been used in about 20% of the series 50 episodes:
"Survival of the Hottest". Trapped in an RV. Which was it's production name before getting the eventual title.
"Sleepover at Sikowitz". Stuck at Sikowitz' house because they need to win his character building competition.
"Locked Up". Trapped in prison in a foreign country.
"Terror on Cupcake Street". Trapped in a cupcake parade float in a bad part of the city.
"The Breakfast Brunch". A rip-off of The Breakfast Club, with the gang being trapped in detention.
"Wankos Warehouse". Trapped in a mall after it closes.
"Wi Fi in the Sky". Tori is stuck on a plane with Trina.
"How Trina Got In". Tori is stuck in a sushi restaurant with Robbie.
"Tori and Jade's Play Date". Tori is stuck with Jade because she'll get an F on the play if she doesn't go on the date ordered by Sikowitz.
Refuge in Audacity: The fact that the group escaped from a prison in Yerba in the presence of the chancellor in "Locked Up" surely counts.
Ridiculous Procrastinator: Tori's group in Wi-Fi in the Sky. They are doing a scriptwriting project on the night before submission, something that can't be normally done in one sitting. All four of them also have to struggle with the constant distractions coming their way, either self-made or by others joining in their chat. Hilarity and chaos ensues, concluding to a rather bleak open-ended ending that depends on the viewer.
Tori: I did not break Sikowitz. (Sikowitz can be heard moaning outside) I did not break Sikowitz. (Sikowitz can be heard moaning again) ...I broke Sikowitz.
Running Gag: Ever since "Rex Dies", people really can't stop mentioning Tori's cheekbones.
Season 2 has Jade speaking like "character in a movie from the '40s" whenever she's imitating Tori, prompting Tori to respond that she doesn't talk like that.
Since the beginning of the show, characters have been known to confuse Robbie for a girl.
Tori: What about your bat mitzvah money?
Robbie: First, it was a bar mitzvah. I'm a boy.
The oft mentioned Northridge Girls.
As with iCarly, most episodes have their own unique gag or dialogue that is repeated at least twice within the episode.
Cat mentioning her brother. While not as much in Season 1, it has gotten almost up to Once per Episode level in Season 2.
Whenever someone comes to the Vega household Trina always yells at someone else to "Get the Door!" Except in "April Fool's Blank" where she says it softly.
Ruritania: The country of Yerba in Locked Up sounded like Yugoslavia and Serbia combined; the military outfits and the occurring conflicts seem to reference war-era Germany and Russia (or the more current Libyan civil war); and the Yerbanian flag's basis IS the Albanian flag.
Sadist Show: The gameshow "Brain Squeezers", clobbering unsuspecting contestants with disproportionate "doink" penalties.
Sassy Black Woman: Cat does a fairly good impression of one when she flirts with her hairdryer (no, you didn't misread that).
Andre's cousin Kendra qualifies.
Principal Helen Dubois
Presumably the spoken female parts of "Five Fingaz To The Face".
Sauna of Death: Beck's trailer in Trapped in an RV, though it's a dry heat and the RV didn't intentionally trap them.
Secret Santa: The main plot of "A Christmas Tori".
Secret Test of Character: The point of the Bird Scene was to believe in your own acting talent instead of questioning it.
Series Continuity Error: In Robarazzi, Jade mentions having had tuna fish for lunch. Later, in The Wood, she says she hates tuna fish. Tuna fish did prevent her from getting laid, though, so it's possible she changed her mind.
In The Breakfast Bunch, Tori says she's never had detention before, but she was assigned 2 weeks in Stage Fighting.
She's Got Legs: The girls in this show really have a thing for short shorts. The temperatures in California and the popularity of said shorts do somewhat justify this, but it still draws the eye. Cat and Trina in particular can often be seen in them.
Shipper on Deck: Sikowitz may or may not ship Jade and Tori. In one episode he has them as a married couple and in "Tori And Jade's Play Date", he does it again (seemingly deliberately), even sending them on a 'date' so they can be more comfortable with each other.
Ship Tease: Big time between Beck and Tori in "Tori Goes Platinum", leading up to an Almost Kiss, but Tori turns it down out of concern for Jade's feelings.
Jade and Andre in Jade Gets Crushed and The Hambone King.
Shout Out: A pretty strange one; in Tori Goes Platinum, after tasting the fake British snack bibble, Jade describes it as having a good mouthfeel.
The emphasis on Victorious is spelled exactly as Tori Spelling's 2006 show So Notorious.
Cat's line "What's THAT supposed to mean!?" was a nod to the Moody's Point sketch on The Amanda Show, also created by Dan Schneider. Furthermore, Cat's format of telling her stories is "One time, my brother... [insert random anecdote], [conclusion]" is exactly how Kyle Rosdensen (Totally Kyle skits) storytells in a dreamily drugged manner.
"The Slap" on the iPhone parody shows Tweets from Dan Schneider's cat, and Dan himself "I hate shameless self-promotion", with both Twitter names visible. Similarly, The Slap appears to be the hybrid of Face Book, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace combined.
In a post on TheSlap, Tori complains that Trina has spent 3 days practising her scream for an audition. In Zoey 101, Lola (played by Victoria Justice) did the same thing.
The fake fight scene between Tori and Jade where the latter spouts one of Josh's lines:
Beck: What up with all of the camping stuff? Jade: Sinjin and his friends are doing some show about a camping trip gone wrong. Beck: Gone wrong? Jade: They end up eating each other, I don't know.
The B-plot of the same episode featured fish that smooth feet by eating the dead skin, though probably not intentional the reactions of the kids and the scenario were all played out in the in the Sae Nakata route in Amagami, the anime of which aired roughly four months before this episode.
The scene in Wok Star when the gang is playing poker the song from the pranking montage in iGet pranky can be heard in the background.
In Sleepover in Sikowitz's, Jade's farm girl costume is a mix of Lulu the Hillbilly and Carly's Idiot Farm Girl. Also, Cat's 80s outfit is reminiscent of Mrs. Hayfer's days as a stand-up comedienne, and her delivery and routine are reminiscent of Jerry Seinfeld.
On The Slap, in the video for Robbie's song "Strangers on a Bus" the phrase "I dropped the screw in the tuna!" is written on the whiteboard.
In Locked Up, after Robbie accidentally electrocutes the chancellors pet, Sikowitz says "Way to go Urkel"
The entire scene involving the dancing convicts is based from the Dancing Inmates in the Philippines. Coincidentally, the said group performed a lot of Michael Jackson songs, while the episode covered a song that involved the said artist.
The gang's escape from prison in Locked Up is no subtle parallel to the scene in The Sound of Music in which the Von Trapps escape the music festival before the winners are announced. After the I Want You Back number in Locked Up, Festus's brother, acting as the master of ceremonies, invites the audience to applaud the Hollywood Arts kids. There is a fanfare, and a spotlight is shone where the kids would enter; they don't. He cues the applause again, with another fanfare and another spotlight; the kids are nowhere to be found, and a guard bursts through the curtain, shouting "They're gone!"
"The Breakfast Bunch" is pretty much an episode-long shout out to The Breakfast Club.
In "Tori And Jade's Playdate", Tori asks what makes the green tea at Nozu green and the sushi chef says "Ancient Japanese secret," which is a reference to an old Calgon commercial.
"April Fools Blank" is full of them. Including, but not limited to: The Amanda Show (the dancing lobsters and Drake Bell), Match Game (they play a game called Match Play), Saved by the Bell (Mr. Belding shows up and mentions Zack), The Wizard of Oz (the scene in the bathroom), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Trina mentions wanting an oompa-loompa and one appears in the opening credits), Saturday Night Live (the ending is like the end of an SNL episode, as are the end credits), The Beverly Hillbillies (Mr. Drysdale was the name of a main character on that show), iCarly (Tori briefly runs through the living room set and says hi to Spencer), SCTV ( Sikowitz blows up and all that's left is a pile of clothes, much like what happens to the guests of Farm Film Report)
Tori Goes Platinum: When the paparazzi comes in while Tori is trying to hide her change from the class, they think that Sikowitz is Plankton. Sikowitz denies this at first, but then says:
Sikowitz: No, I am not the...I mean, Karen, I must have the secret formula for the Krabby Patty!
Spiritual Antithesis: The 1980 motion picture Fame was about a group of students who went to the New York School for the Performing Arts, and was a drama, not a comedy. It spawned a TV series of the same name and it in turn spawned a short-lived L.A.-based spinoff, Fame L.A.
Spiritual Successor: Compared to an earlier Nickelodeon show from the early 2000's, "Taina", another show about a latina who attended a performing arts high school to become a famous singer/actress. Also, just like iCarly has its origins in Drake & Josh, this show comes from Zoey 101
Spicy Latina: Trina; her sister Tori is a bit more passive.
Spoiled Brat: Again, Trina. Her parents give her a week to celebrate her birthday, and she doesn't believe a non-tangible gift counts as a present because "it costs nothing".
This is somewhat subverted by the fact that her parents are borderline abusive towards her.
It's hinted at that Robbie is for Tori. "He'll see you hiding in the bush!" "You never have."
A post on The Slap hints that so is Sinjin, in a similar way in fact.
Lendall, anyone?
This is one possible way to interpret Ponnie's actions in Crazy Ponnie.
Stunned Silence: The look on Andre and Beck’s faces in “Freak The Freak Out” when they hear Tara and Hayley sing. In a twist of this trope, they are actually shocked on how subpar and mediocre their talent is
Take That: In Robarrazi, Robbie enters the scene to find it covered in fake snow. After commenting about it snowing in L.A., Rex says "I told you global warming was bogus" Robbie replies "Stop watching Fox News". Rex defends it by saying it's "fair and balanced".
Jade: If the audience could pick the winners, any person in this place could beat you morons.
Cat: Anyone. Morons.
That Came Out Wrong: A pantsless Sikowitz reports to the police that he is with children wearing pajamas in a cupcake-shaped parade float. Said officers mistake him to be a pedophile and arrest him on the spot.
It actually seems more like the police mistook him for insane and delusional. I mean, they insisted that "there are no children in a parade float".
Throw It In: A very large amount of bloopers with actual reactions thrown in the mix.
The Title Sequence itself. Tori almost doesn't catch the gold microphone and her reaction there is very real.
During the start of Wok Star where Tori drops her notebook.
In Stage Fighting, where Jade tripped over something while she was going to turn on the music.
Tori slips on ice-cream (probably) in Ice Cream for Ke$ha.
The Great Ping-Pong Scam where Robbie takes a Groin Attack; the next shot is a wide shot with Beck's hand over Rex's eyes - and in the next shot, we go to a two-shot of Beck covering Rex's eyes.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Robbie had this in the Christmas episode where he successfully got a kiss from Cat because she was overjoyed by the gift he got her.
Title Drop: At the very end of Sleepover at Sikowitz's, Tori says, "I am a police officer, and I am Victorious!"
There was a title drop at the end of The Bird Scene as well: Tori's status update was "Finally I am Victorious."
Took a Level in Badass: Both Vega sisters, along with Cat, had taken several levels (Trina first, in "Helen Back Again", Tori and Cat in "The Gorilla Club").
Sinjin at the beginning of Wanko's Warehouse. He shows Tori that he's learned karate, and kicks her near her hip, knocking her to the floor. That's pretty crazy for a nerd.
Trailers Always Spoil: Beggin' on Your Knees took this to extreme levels. The trailer alone gave away ALL the key points of the episode. The over-promotion of Victoria's song of the same title ran several weeks before the episode aired made it worse because the Take That plot is on the lyrics much like a Taylor Swift song.
"Cat's New Boyfriend" did this as well. It included the cheese-squirting, Tori kissing Daniel, Cat walking in on Tori kissing Daniel, and Cat punching Tori in the face.
And now we have the trailer for One Thousand Berry Balls. It spoils the whole subplot of the episode, including the Cabbie kiss.
True Companions: The gang themselves are kind of an deconstruction of this: Sure, they're now hanging out with Trina, but as Jade claims, no one likes her. Robbie and Sinjin are treated like social rejects, though Sinjin has it worse. Cat, according to Jade, is just a pet. The only characters who avoid this treatment are Tori, Andre, and Beck.
They could also be viewed as a reconstruction: Yeah, the group has some issues, but they still work. It's been shown multiple times that when the chips are down, they're bound by a strong friendship.
Two Lines, No Waiting: Forumla for every episode of the series. The main plot is usually Tori with between 1 and 3 of the rest of the main cast. Whoever is left over is put into the B-Plot.
Truth in Television: The yoga in an extremely hot environment that Tori mentions Trina doing in "Driving Tori Crazy" is more or less Bikram Yoga.
Mrs Lee, a Chinese woman, owning a Japanese restaurant is a case of this -many, if not most, of the Japanese restaurants in the United States are Chinese owned.
The Unfair Sex: From the fandom, not the show itself. In "Tori Goes Platinum," most of the fandom was outraged when Beck tried to kiss Tori (who, as he points out, isn't even really Jade's friend), even though he immediately backed off and apoligized when she rejects him. However, when Jade pursues and makes out with Moose, Beck's friend since kindergarten, despite him making it clear to her that he wasn't interested, almost none of the fans complained.
Ungrateful Bitch: In Locked Up, Tori protects Jade from a prisoner who was threatening her. Jade's response: "I didn't need your help!" Which is an interesting perspective considering that said prisoner just knocked Jade to the ground with one blow.
According to Tori, she would have eaten Jade if she hadn't stopped her.
Victoria's Secret Compartment: In The Birthweek Song, Tori keeps a flash drive in her bra. This is actually a literal example
In the same episode, Trina keeps her phone in her shirt.
Also, André keeps his phone in his waistband.
A slightly more creepy example in Prom Wrecker: Jade somehow slipped a shrimp into Tori's bra.
Cat keeps candy in her bra in How Trina Got In.
The Villain Sucks Song: "Begging On Your Knees" is this to Ryder, revealing how he loves playing women's feelings for him and how he's gonna get exactly what he deserves. While he's not mentioned by name, it's made very clear he's the subject of the song.
Visual Pun: In "A Christmas Tori", Cat, Tori and Jade preform Andre's song in Christmas outfits that don't skimp on the Fanservice. Intentional or not, it's been pointed out that the three form a Christmas-y visual pun: Ho-Ho-Ho.
Wham Episode: "The Worst Couple" where Jade and Back split up. For real, this time.
Cat: Jade's dad is only coming to the play on the first night, right?
Tori: Yeah.
Cat: So then why don't we just do it the way Jade wrote it for that one night?
Tori: 'Cause, Mrs. Li is gonna be there and she wants it done her way.
Cat: But what if she's not there?
Also in Beggin' on Your Knees:
Robbie: You...dated him?
Christine: Well, I thought I was dating him...then I found out his little game.
What Happened To The Cat?: In the episode "Rex Dies", Cat is accidentally mistaken for a mental patient, being placed into a rubber room for the rest of the episode. By the next episode, she's back with the group, with no explanation of how she got out.
Wild Teen Party: Andre acts as if one is being thrown at Kenan Thompson's party, but it's fairly tame with the shenanigans being limited to silly string, wrestling, a guy in a panda suit, and a....kitten.
CHEESE PUFFS ON THE FLOOR!
Also, a couple of things got broken or almost broken.
Subverted from Kenan's perspective: He didn't think the party was wild enough and wondered why Andre hadn't invited more people.
In "The Wood", Andre and Beck pretend to be fighting about Beck throwing one at Andre's beach house.
Beck: You said I could use your beach house!
Andre: I didn't say people could vomit on my carpet, and make soup in my toilet!
Beck: It was a beach house party, what did you expect?!
The Windy City: Chicagoooooooooooooooooooo/ Chicagoooooooooooooooo/ It's a city that's exciting/ it's a city that's inviting...
With Friends Like These: Jade and Trina can be like this to everyone at times, if you can consider Trina their friend. Everyone will usually give a little of this to Robbie as well, he commonly receives negativity from them he doesn't really deserve.
Woman Scorned: All of Ryder's victims (Tori included) take their revenge on him by humiliating him in front of the entire school. He had it coming.
Tori and Carly don't take finding out Steven has been cheating on them well...
Work Off the Debt: The boot of the episode "The Squid and the Coconut".
World of Snark: Big time, with Andre and Jade being at the top.
Yank the Dog's Chain: "The Gorilla Club" ends with Tori thinking she's beat the monstrous gorilla, but then gets attacked by it. She then auditions for her role in a movie, and is told she did very well...only to be unable to take the part due to her injuries.
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