The Nickelodeon documentary, “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” has attracted a large audience of concerned viewers. On March 18, 2024, the first episode came out, shining light on the abuse some child actors endure. “Quiet on Set” is a five-part documentary series that focuses on the reality of popular children’s shows; specifically, “The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh,” and “iCarly.”
“The documentary focuses on Dan Schneider, the ‘golden boy’ creator of many Nickelodeon shows who left the network under a cloud of scandal in 2018.” Joel Mathis, Week Us author, said.
Schnieder has left Nickelodeon covered with scandals, and the series centers around the continuous abuse he caused children. He had a long history on television, starring in the show “Head of the Class” before producing different series. Schnieder worked with Nickelodeon from 1994 -2019, creating and writing for around 15 popular TV shows. Writers alongside Schnieder felt very uncomfortable with the scripts he chose for young children and often said that they portrayed pornographic resemblance.
“Working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship,” Christy Stratton, co-author, said.
Dan Schnieder started his producing career with “All That,” a popular kids TV show that focused on comedy. Schnieder was the head writer for “All That” from 1994-1998 and then left the show to produce “The Amanda Show.” The documentary “Quiet on Set” shared that Schnieder and Amanda Bynes had a very close relationship while she was growing up, but Bynes did not appear in the docuseries. Their close relationship was reportedly very physical, with Bynes frequently hugging, sitting on, and giving neck massages to Schnieder. Although they had a very close relationship, no one else on set reported seeing anything unusual about their relationship.
Schnieder was also the producer of “iCarly” and “Sam&Cat” in the early 2000s. Many examples of inappropriate material revolve around short clips of Ariana Grande. Grande was repeatedly sexualized in public clips, where she was forced into performing uncomfortable scenes. The entire cast of “iCarly” was reported to be uncomfortable anytime Schnieder was present.
The attention of the docuseries applies a heavy focus on “Drake&Josh” star, Drake Bell. In “Quiet on Set,” Bell speaks on the sexual abuse he endured while starring on Nickelodeon. Bell pleaded guilty in 2021 to a felony charge of attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor of disseminating matter harmful to children.
On the podcast, “Not Skinny but Not Fat,” Bell said, “I’d responded on some DMs and was incredibly irresponsible, and got myself into conversations that I shouldn’t have had, and I ended up finding out that I was talking to someone that I shouldn’t have been talking to, and it snowballed into these allegations that were not true, and it just turned into this big thing.”
In the third episode, Bell talks about the abuse he faced from his actor and voice coach, Brian Peck. Peck was convicted of sexually assaulting children on the Nickelodeon set in 2004, and it was revealed that Bell was in the center of that court case. At 14 and 15 years old, Bell was manipulated and assaulted by Peck on numerous occasions.
“I woke up to him. … I woke up, opened my eyes, and he was sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock. I had no idea what to do or how to react,” Bell said.
Bell continues to say that his experiences with Peck kept getting worse and that Bell’s mother had been manipulated into allowing him alone time with a minor. In 2003, Bell finally spoke up against Peck and got the authorities involved in his situation. While all of this was happening, Schnieder was reported not to care and often supported toxic environments. Schiender even told Bell, “You don’t need to talk anymore about it,” after Peck’s arrest.
The “Quiet on Set” docuseries showed that many famous childhood TV shows centered around backstage abuse. Dan Schneider was at the face of it all because he allowed children to get abused, forced actors into performing inappropriate actions, and even committed abuse himself. On March 19, 2024, Schinder released a 20 minute video apologizing for all of the allegations made against him, but many people who worked with him feel like they deserve a direct apology. The series showed millions of people that children need to be provided with a safer environment while working at such a young age.