Victoria Justice and her Victorious cast and crew have something to celebrate!

The new Nickelodeon series grabbed the attention of kids and tweens on Sunday night (April 11), topping all basic cable programming in its time period with total viewers (3.5 million, +26%). The Victorious website on Nick.com also boasted a strong performance, earning its highest number of unique visitors on the same day.

Show creator Dan Schneider wrote on his own blog, “I gotta say how freakin’ proud I am of Victoria Justice, the rest of the cast of Victorious, and our whole staff and crew. I did not expect a ratings win our first time out on Sunday night, especially against such heavily promoted competition.”

Congrats Victorious!

Daniella Monet pokes fun at on-screen sister Victoria Justice in this new still from their new series, Victorious.

In the new episode “The Bird Scene,” Tori (Justice) goes all out to master an iconic Hollywood Arts monologue in Sikowitz’s class. She must successfully perform the piece before she is allowed to audition for any of the other shows at Hollywood Arts. Through this test, Tori learns that being a great artist is about being confident in your own choices despite what other people think.

Meanwhile, Andre and Robbie (Leon Thomas, Matthew Bennett) join a ballet class to meet girls with disastrous results. Tori also needs to decorate her locker (a requirement for each student at the school) and each of the other students has their own opinion of how it should be done.

“The Bird Scene” premieres THIS Sunday, April 11 @ 8PM ET/PT on Nickelodeon. Check out a sneak peek below!

More Here! »

Carlos Pena, Ariana Grande, Matthew Bennett, Elizabeth Gillies and Kendall Schmidt all gather in a group pic backstage before they go on to compete on BrainSurge.

The quintet were also joined by pals Daniella Monet and Nathan Kress.

Carlos tweeted, “just got back from filming an episode of BrainSurge!! best time ever.. cant wait for you guys to see it.”

Daniella echoed his enthusiasm, posting, “About to the hit the super sweet BrainSurge set!!!! Can’t wait!!!! SOOO excited!!!! I can’t say who won… But it’s going to be a VERY entertaining episode.”

JJJ doesn’t know an airdate yet, but when we do, we’ll definitely let you know!

TELL JJJ: Do you watch BrainSurge? How do you like it?

Ariana Grande, Elizabeth Gillies and Daniella Monet stopped by to say hi to JJJ at Nickelodeon’s 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards held at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Saturday (March 27) in Los Angeles.

The girls (and Leon Thomas) told us all about their premiere party that happened on Friday night. The girls shared, “I think they [our peers] really enjoyed it. We heard laughs and claps and they really enjoyed the music. It was everything we hoped for and we had a fun, fun, fun time dancing afterward.”

Leon dished on his character a bit, saying, “My character, Andre, is the musically talented one of the bunch. He’s definitely always the shoulder to lean on, especially for Tori, which is Victoria Justice‘s character.”

Victorious premiered right after the KCAs last night. Did you watch it? What did you think?!

FYI: All three girls are sporting Mr. Kate jewels; Ariana and Daniella chose silver bow rings and Liz opted for the signature logo knuckle ring.

15+ pics inside… More Here! »

Victoria Justice shows off her pearly whites as she attends the premiere of School Gyrls held at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., on Monday evening (February 15).

The Victorious starlet officially turns 17 today!

Vic wrote on her Twitter, “Today’s officially my birthday!!!! I’m shocked that people are remembering haha. I have the best friends, family, and fans in the world. And that’s pretty much the BEST gift ever. Cheers to an amazing year for everyone! Time to partayyyyyy;)”

Also pictured below are Elizabeth Gillies and Matthew Bennett.

Victoria Justice is determined to wipe off every bit of coffee she split on Avan Jogia‘s shirt in this new promo for their upcoming show, Victorious.

Tori is a teen who unexpectedly finds herself navigating life at an elite performing arts high school. After her sister Trina (Daniella Monet) has a medical mishap on the night of the school’s annual talent showcase, Tori steps in to perform Trina’s song. Accompanied on the piano by her musically-gifted friend André (Leon Thomas), Tori’s singing and dancing impress the school’s principal so much that she offers her the opportunity of a lifetime – an invitation to become a student at Hollywood Arts High School.

Victorious will premiere right after the 2010 Kids Choice Awards on Saturday, March 27. Are you excited?

Victoria Justice‘s dream is coming a reality.

The 16-year-old actress will play Tori Vega in the upcoming Nickelodeon show, Victorious.

Tori is a teen who unexpectedly finds herself navigating life at an elite performing arts high school. After her sister Trina (Daniella Monet) has a medical mishap on the night of the school’s annual talent showcase, Tori steps in to perform Trina’s song. Accompanied on the piano by her musically-gifted friend André (Leon Thomas), Tori’s singing and dancing impress the school’s principal so much that she offers her the opportunity of a lifetime – an invitation to become a student at Hollywood Arts High School.

From her first day at the school, Tori feels out of place among the amazingly talented students, especially mean diva Jade (Elizabeth Gillies). With the help of Trina, André and her new friends – brooding bad boy Beck (Avan Jogia, Spectacular!), eccentric Cat (Ariana Grande) and lovable but psychologically scrambled ventriloquist Robbie (Matthew Bennett) – Tori realizes that she was born to perform and that entertaining people not only makes her happy but may change her life.

Victoria dished to the NY Post about her performance scene, saying, “It was actually my first time ever performing in front of people which was pretty intense. But, like my character, once I got on stage, I just completely forgot about everything — I was so in the zone that I loved every second of it.”

The series, premiering in early 2010, will feature original music performed by Victoria and the rest of the cast.

TELL JJJ: Are you excited to see Victorious?