Sam & Cat (TV Series) #Pilot (2013) User Reviews

An Excellent Beginning

[NewOCFan · 10/10 · 13 July 2013]

The double spin off that is Sam & Cat begins some time after Cat moved in with her Nona on Victorious and some time after the events of the series finale in iCarly.

For me, the first few lines when Sam is introduced and is buying a burrito is a perfect way to re-introduce the character to us. The same goes for Cat. The dialogue the two have with different people at the start already show us what they're like. After helping two kids find their own cat, Cat herself ends up being thrown into a garbage truck and Sam is the only witness and goes to rescue Cat. Some argue that Sam would find Cat being thrown into a garbage truck to be funny, but forget that towards the end of iCarly, she was changing. She was slowly becoming less of the very mean girl who visited prison often and would even stand up for little nerdy kids. So after Sam rescues Cat, she offers Sam a place to bathe and wash off all the garbage and Sam manages to get a limo driver to drive them to the apartment. Here we get Nona's introduction, which is a really nutty way to do it and I like it. Nona is a really sweet and even funny old lady. Unfortunately the kids she babysits give her a hard time and she wants to quit. She lets Sam stay for the night but during the night she sleepwalks and closes Sam up in the sofa bed. When Cat gets her out, she stays in her bed for the night even though Sam didn't need it. This scene shows how important Carly was to Sam, being the reason that Sam was in Seattle for so long along with the web show, and had no other reason left to stay. After they get stuck in the sofa bed again, Sam gets Nona into Elderly Acres while Cat is at school. The "spit take" when Cat realizes where Nona is is pretty hilarious and not like normal spit takes. Cat gets Sam and the kids Nona is supposed to babysit to the retirement home but the kids get away to an In-N-Out Burger-like restaurant and end up making the owner of the place pass out from exhaustion. At first, I didn't know what to think of the CPR scene. Usually I can defend Dan Schneider's work but didn't know what to think of that part. I then had to look it up and learn that it is possible to perform CPR without giving mouth-to-mouth and that the leg thing does actually help too. They get free food for saving the man's life and the day ends well for them with Cat being paid a good amount of money. Sam decides it's best for her to leave now but Cat convinces her to have a reason to stay in LA and the adventure truly begins.

For the first episode, I think it starts off really strong and it ended up really sweet and funny. Sam & Cat's scenes are worth watching as they have many great moments together. Who knows what'll come for them and what kind of life they're going to have throughout the show's run aside from it being a fun one. Personally, I find Sam to be what keeps the show good and going along with Nona. The character Dice didn't have much to do in this episode but something about him reminds me of Larry from Three's Company for some reason. His name is cool though.

What also can make the show good is that we can see Sam having to interact more with kids and she'll have to be good or at least decent now. Cat, at the very least, now has to live on her own and be a little more independent. I can understand some people not able to stand Cat's voice but there are several moments where it's not THAT high.

As well, there's also a site they leave in the credits for behind the scenes which I really love.

To sum it up, the show is nice, it had a good beginning, it had both of the popular characters from both shows which surprisingly worked well.

Unrealistically Funny

[vivianla · 25 May 2020]

Cat gets into a garbage can to help two kids find their cat. Sam witnesses the whole thing while ordering food. Cat is stuck in the garbage can and the garbage truck picks her up and dumps her in. Sam races to rescue Cat and climbs up the moving truck and jumps in. Sam and Cat are surrounded with garbage. They get out in front of a hotel and get a ride from a chauffeur with a limo for a doctor going back to England. The girls make a scene saying they were the doctor's daughters and the chauffeur gives in. They go to Cat's Nonna's apartment to take showers. Nonna comes in a sack because of the kids she is babysitting. That evening while Sam is on the sofa bed, Nonna is sleepwalking and folds her up into the sofa and this scene is so funny yet I was scared. Nonna had her eyes closed and was walking stiffly. Cat comes out and states she will sleep next to Sam and this scene is shown as endearing. Cat comes home to find Nonna gone and it turns out Sam took her to Elderly Acres. Cat rushes out to get her grandma back and they run into the kids in the hallway where there is a super cute baby. Sam places the baby in the "bushes". They take the kids with them and Nonna is playing Twister. Nonna has her eye on another elderly man who she calls hot.

The kids go to In-N-Out Burger where they had no money so they drove away to the dismay of the manager. Sam and Cat goes back to the luxurious apartment but realizes they forgot the kids. They rush back and saves the manager by giving him not correctly done CPR. The manager declares that the girls will receive a lifetime supply of In-N-Out. They go home to play video games with baby on Cat's lap until the kids' mother shows up. The mom looks rather young - tight outfit and dyed hair. She pays them 150 dollars and Sam divided the money so she gets 130 and Cat gets 20. Then she gives her share to Cat so Cat receives the entire earnings. They decide to run a babysitting business and to have Sam as Cat's roommate. They exit the apartment for In-N-Out and there is a beautiful scene of them on Sam's motorcycle in Los Angeles.