Nickelodeon has doubled its episode order for Sam & Cat, the network’s most recent comedy series. Its 20-episode freshman season has been expanded to 40.
The series, created by Dan Schneider, stars Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande, reprising their roles from iCarly and Victorious, respectively. The show chronicles the adventures of Sam Puckett and Cat Valentine as they meet, become friends and start a babysitting service.
With 4.2 million viewers, Sam & Cat’s June 8 debut was the network’s highest-rated premiere in three years. The expanded episode order indicates that Nickelodeon hopes that success will continue.
Schneider has served as executive producer on multiple popular Nickelodeon shows, including All That, Drake & Josh and Zoey 101. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Schneider has said, “We’re trying to keep our record of excellence going. We wanted Sam & Cat to be popular and good and something we were proud of. We feel we pulled that off, and this is a big endorsement of that.”
Production on the second half of the season will begin in September.