‘Sam & Cat’ Hits Netflix’s Top 10 Amidst Jennette McCurdy’s Revelations

Jennette McCurdy’s memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died was so riveting that her Nickelodeon spinoff Sam & Cat gained more streams. The show ended up at No. 7 on Netflix’s family top 10 chart amid the former child star’s page-turning book release. The show originally aired for one year, from 2013-2014, with 35 episodes. It was a spinoff of two popular Nickelodeon sitcoms, iCarly and Victorious, which Dan Schneider created. McCurdy starred as Sam Puckett from iCarly, and Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine from Victorious. The show centered around the girls meeting by chance during an adventure and becoming roommates, then starting a babysitting business to earn extra money. It was initially set to go on hiatus before it was announced that it was cancelled overall. 

In an excerpt from her memoir, McCurdy alleged the network offered her $300,000 to keep quiet about her experiences. She claims she was provided alcohol by executives before she was of legal drinking age, and also alleged that she was touched inappropriately by someone she called “The Creator.” Though she never named the perpetrator, many believe him to be Dan Schneider, the network’s former producer. His exit from the network came under mysterious circumstances of alleged abuse from other stars. 

Other Nickelodeon stars have since spoken out about bad treatment at the network. Alexa Nikolas played Nicole on the hit show Zoey 101 and recently protested outside the company’s main office in Burbank, California. She went live for over 15 minutes online and discussed her outrage with the company, saying she “did not feel safe” during her time with the company. 

Nikolas credits Schneider as being “the creator of childhood trauma.” She recalled a moment when Dan, along with other executives, had her in a room alone and made her cry, and calls for the company to be held accountable for the mistreatment of its stars.