Thirteen years after Nickelodeon’s “Victorious” did its final curtain call, Netflix is returning to the Los Angeles-based performing arts school with a brand-new spinoff, “Hollywood Arts.” Created by Jake Farrow and Samantha Martin, the series follows Trina Vega (Daniella Monet reprising her role) as a struggling actress stuck in the shadow of her superstar sister, Tori (Victoria Justice). With zero acting gigs on the horizon and weary of taking handouts from Tori, Trina returns to Hollywood Arts for a substitute teaching position. Though she is in no way qualified for the job, Trina realizes she can inspire a new class of performers using her eccentric lessons and ideas. Hokey, over-the-top and full of garbled dialogue, “Hollywood Arts” is a near-carbon copy of its predecessor. Still, if Gen Alpha has similar tastes to Gen Z, the show will win over a new generation of kids while offering a Lisa Frank-esque idea of what high school could be.
The 12-episode first season opens amid Mr. Sikowitz’s (Eric Lane reprising his role) abrupt retirement. Blindsided, Principal Helen (Yvette Nicole Brown) comes in to tell his class she’s found a temporary instructor. Wearing impractical stilettos and clutching a massive Stanley cup, Trina is introduced to her new pupils. Qwest (Peyton Jackson) is a musician who has lied to his parents about being at Hollywood Arts on a basketball scholarship. There’s Oscar (Martin Kamm), the school’s biggest star, and his sister Emmy (Alyssa Miles), nicknamed Techie, who works solely behind the scenes as a stage manager and runs the school’s social media accounts. Finally, frenemies Jen (Erika Swayze) and Pepper (Emmy Liu-Wang) are constantly in competition with one another.
The teens are excited to get the deets on Trina’s sister, Tori, but they quickly realize that Trina has no real insight into the entertainment industry overall. The rest of the season is full of hijinks, crushes and the typical fare found in tween-targeted sitcoms. The series is light-hearted and unserious, just like the rest of the shows that were Nickelodeon and Disney Channel’s crown jewels in the early 2000s.
“Hollywood Arts” won’t gain many viewers with fully formed frontal lobes. Yet, Farrow, Martin and Vega nail the distinctiveness of being a millennial. Unlike previous kid-centered shows where the adults appear as frumpy old folks who bask in rigidity or live on a different planet, Trina is a thirtysomething who doesn’t have her life together, yet is stylish, upbeat and continuously striving to achieve her dreams. “Hollywood Arts” isn’t realistic, but depicting a young woman navigating the ups and downs of a life she couldn’t have predicted is a strong underlying trope rarely seen in children’s television programming. Like her students — specifically Emmy, who realizes her talent might be better served center stage — Trina is just trying to figure it all out.
Despite its over-the-top performances, the “Hollywood Arts” cast is talented. Belting out random songs while delivering high-level physical comedy and acting takes skill. Liu-Wang, specifically, has an incredible singing voice, and the ensemble works together like a well-oiled machine.
“Hollywood Arts” isn’t innovative, yet it fills a void for preteens who aren’t quite mature enough to watch YA series like Prime Video’s “Sterling Point” or Netflix’s “Crew Girl.” Recycling an old playbook (this time without the involvement of disgraced creator/producer Dan Schneider), Farrow and Martin deliver a silly, stylish, idealized version of high school to a new era of kiddos. But by centering Trina, they also present a version of adulthood that looks much more realistic than audiences may expect.
“Hollywood Arts” is now streaming on Netflix.