Thread:3cooldog92/@comment-3309434-20181009030428/@comment-3247345-20181011020659

Sorry for the late response but this is long and complicated and took me a while to write up.

The season 2 split was an easy decision. In 2008 there was a writer's strike that prevented them from filming season 2 on schedule. They decided to film season 2 and 3 back to back instead of taking a break like they usually do to get back on schedule. Due to this all the episodes filmed during this time have production codes 2xx. If you notice the number of episodes with a production production code of 2xx is about double what is the number of episodes in the other seasons. Given those circumstances it's clear that both Nick and Dan meant for those to be 2 seasons.

The decision to combine the 3xx and 4xx production codes is more complicated. We had a ton of mixed signals coming in from all over the place as to whether the 4xx episodes were the start of a new season or the continuation of the 3xx codes.

Basing the decision on production codes alone would have put the end of season 4 (the 3xx codes) in June 2011 with iParty With Victorious being the final episode of the season. The production codes, the two month wait between iParty with Victorious and iLost My Mind, and Nick advertising iLost My Mind as the start of a new season all pointed toward counting the 4xx codes as a new season. The problem with doing that is that a number of factors including the Seddie arc in particular complicate the hell out of the picture.

iOMG aired in April and and iLost My Mind didn't air until August, a 4 month gap. iParty with Victorious aired about midway in between in June. The order would normally be irrelevant, but the Seddie Arc is the one time in the series where order is relevant. The 4 month gap between iOMG and iLost My Mind was an argument in favor of the 4xx production codes (starting with iLost My Mind) being a separate season. The problem with this argument is iOMG is 310 and iParty with Victorious is 311-313, the final 2 episodes filmed before the 4xx episodes. It wouldn't make sense to have a cliffhanger in iOMG followed by iParty With Victorious being the season finale when it didn't acknowledge the events of iOMG, and then only adressing the iOMG cliffhanger in the new season. It of course begs the question why Dan wrote/filmed the episodes in that strange order, but it's pretty clear iParty With Victorious wasn't a season finale. The giant gaps between airings didn't matter either, since Nick was horrible about scheduling and had a history of long waits between episodes, even mid-season (the November 2010 to February 2011 wait comes to mind). The fact that Nick promoted iLost My Mind as the start of the new season is also less relevant than you would think since Nick will do anything to whore for ratings besides actually running their network in a competent manner. The fact is they promoted a number of episodes as season premieres that were just regular episodes as a ratings grab attempt. The final factor that led us to combining the 3xx and 4xx episodes into one seasons is that they would make small seasons on their own. A standard season is in the 20-25 episode range and combining the 3xx and 4xx episodes into a single season would put the number of episodes for that season into that standard range. This is more evidence that the producers meant for it all to be one season.

I can't really give you any specific advice since I'm not familiar with all the specifics of the Henry Danger situation but I do have some general advice:


 * Most important, don't trust Nick as far as you can throw them. They're ratings whores who will do anything except be competent to get ratings, and that includes lying about an episode being a season premier.
 * Production code numbers only show which episodes were produced in a given "batch" for lack of a better word. Basically all a production code says is that episodes with the same first number were produced in the same run, with no breaks in between. The first number of the production code changing might be evidence of a new season starting, but as shown with the iCarly situation there's any number of reasons that might not be the case. You're going to want corroborating evidence other than production codes to confirm that a new season is in fact starting.


 * Take plot into consideration if applicable. I realize the order of episodes is pretty interchangeable in Dan Schneider shows most of the time but if there's some kind of arc or episode plot that indicates a season finale, that's a pretty big clue.


 * Timing may or may not be relevant. With iCarly long gaps between episode airings meant nothing as far as seasons were concerned because Nick's scheduling was garbage. But if HD is aired pretty regularly and there was a longer than usual gap between airings that is some evidence in favor of a new season starting, but again I'd want more evidence in addition to that if possible.


 * Not all sources are created equal. The best source is from Dan or whoever is calling the shots now that Dan has left Nickelodeon. Actors I'd take less seriously because you don't know where they're getting their information. Same with third party media. Unless you know where they're getting their information the credibility is suspect. Nickelodeon is bottom of the barrel in terms of source reliability. They both have an incentive to lie and a history of lying about premiers for ratings. In short, don't trust them.