Before you read any of this, please note that most of this information is from the documentary, and the information about Dan Schneider are allegations. However, the documentary also includes child groomers who have been charged and convicted of crimes.
Ever since the late 90s and early 2000s, Nickelodeon was the top channel for children’s TV shows. Many people grew up watching Nickelodeon, and shows like All That, Drake and Josh, The Amanda Show, ICarly, and Victorious were a big part of their childhood. Although these TV shows may be considered older, children now still watch and enjoy most of them.
Behind all of these hit TV shows is director Dan Schneider, a man who used to be well respected in the TV industry.
As the years went by, many of the young fans who grew up watching Nickelodeon re-watched the shows as adults. In almost all of these TV shows, these fans noticed odd behaviors and repetitive scenarios.
Dan Schneider was blasted over the years for these scenes in his TV shows that fans perceived as sexual innuendos.
Some also believe that Dan Schneider is creepy for the way he acted towards many child stars and the way he treated them.
Recently, a documentary featured on MAX was released, called “Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Children’s TV”. With the self-explanatory title, Quiet on Set is about the dark side of children’s TV, focusing on Nickelodeon, and is filled with interviews, allegations, and some actual crimes against children.
In the documentary series, several interviewees describe the horrors of what happened behind set.
According to the docu-series, Dan Schneider mistreated his only female writers, Jenny Kilgen and Christy Stratton. Both female writers claimed that Schneider was sexist and would harass them by forcing them to do sexual acts.
Quiet on Set had a segment where they spoke about Amanda Bynes, an actor who became extremely popular at a young age. She joined All That when she was 13, and became a fan favorite. Dan Schneider supposedly adored her and found great potential with her talents, however, the documentary mentions how many child actors who worked with Amanda found her relationship with Dan Schneider odd. They mentioned how often many of the child actors would ask where Amanda was, and people would respond with, “She’s with Dan”.
“It’s important for parents to protect their children in the movie industry because parents are responsible for children. They don’t know what they are doing, they’ll probably listen to adults because they told them to. When they reflect back, they’ll realize how bad it was. It’s the parent’s responsibility to stop that from happening,” said freshman Miguel Gonzalez, reflecting how parents should protect their children, especially since there are bad people out there who could take advantage of their children.
Although the relationship between Amanda and Dan generally still seemed normal, the documentary had more allegations. Amanda Bynes tried to get emancipated from her parents at the age of sixteen, because she wanted to be more free. She turned to the help of the other adults she knew in her life, including Dan. The documentary claimed that she lived with Dan for a bit, but the emancipation failed.
Besides the allegations with Dan Schneider, the documentary brings to light crimes involving other people who worked on TV shows at Nickelodeon with children. The show exposed Brian Peck, a dialogue coach for the hit series Drake and Josh. Drake Bell, one of the stars of Drake and Josh, came forward and shared his traumatic story that had never been shared before.
Bell shared how one day he was at Peck’s house and fell asleep, and woke up to Brian Peck sexually assaulting him, when Bell was only 15.
According to Drake Bell, after this incident, Brian Peck would call Bell’s girlfriend’s house over and over again to reach him. The mother of his girlfriend suspected something was wrong, and asked Drake if there was more to the story. His girlfriend’s mom called Bell’s mother, telling her that she would take him to see a therapist, because something was wrong.
One day, Drake was on the phone with his mom, until he broke down and told her everything that happened with Brian Peck. Once Drake does this, he takes legal action. According to Bell, it was a difficult event because he had to explain the trauma that he experienced. However, even though legal action was taken, Brian Peck only served 16 months in jail, and once his sentence was over, he worked on a Disney Channel show.
So far, the drama and allegations with Dan Schneider will be dealt with because he is trying to sue the documentary for defamation. Dan Schneider claims that Quiet On Set has made false claims about him. According to Schneider’s attorneys, the documentary “falsely state or imply that Schneider sexually abused the children who worked on his television shows,” adding, “These statements are fabrications.” (Time)
Schneider also made an apology video before suing the documentary, trying to defend himself from the allegations. This article may not be accurate when published, as the lawsuit progresses.
