Nickelodeon's new(ish) tween shows cater to a hard-to-please audience

Big things are afoot in the land of kid's television, where giants Nickelodeon and Disney seem squared in an eternal face-off, and the New York Times is declaring a comeback for Nickelodeon-whose recent shows are capturing the notoriously fickle 'tween crowd, while freshening their inventory from the decade-old likes of Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer (both of which were made for the younger set).

So what does it take to crack the 'tween code? Apparently "unsuspecting-talented-kid-is-discovered" is a great plot line, as evidenced by shows "Big Time Rush", "Victorious, and "iCarly," all of which place heavy stock in the value of fictional fame, whether it's big time (as with BTR's boy band), small time (Carly's webcast) or just in-good-time (Victorious takes place in Hollywood Performing Arts high school, where presumably, the performers will become more famous as time passes).

While I'm always healthily suspicious of anything the Times declares a trend, my son is still a little too young to be interested in television, so I'm pretty unclear if these are genuinely great new shows or just the same old thing, repackaged a thousand ways. What do you think? Do any of your kids watch the shows below?

Big Time Rush-Minnesotan hockey players become overnight pop sensations and relocate to L.A. where they learn to deal with fame, hair and make-up, among other things.

Victorious-Tori Vega goes to Hollywood Arts high school, where "crazy talented students learn how to become real artists."

iCarly-Every day girl hosts her web show and launches strangest culinary trend ever (see: Spaghetti Tacos).