Trigger Warning: this article discusses the sexualization and abuse of minors.
If you’re a kid of the 2000s like me, you grew up watching iCarly, you knew the Drake & Josh theme song by heart, and you had a *huge* crush on Beck from Victorious. But now – two decades later – we’re learning that these shows we devoted our childhoods to aren’t as innocent as they seem.
In case you live under a rock, Max (formerly HBO Max) just released a new docuseries called Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. This four-part docuseries exposes the disturbing truth behind Nickelodeon, one of the biggest children’s television networks, and its notorious producer and screenwriter Dan Schneider.
Once again, if you’re in your early 20s right now (or close to it), Dan Schneider is probably a familiar name to you. Schneider has been credited for being producer of so many Nickelodeon classics, including The Amanda Show, iCarly, Drake & Josh, and Victorious. But what we didn’t know about him was that he was responsible for much of the sexism, misogyny, pedophilia, and child abuse that went into producing these shows – until now.
talk about workplace harassment…
The first portion of the docuseries focuses mainly on the workplace harassment that many of Schneider’s subordinates (specifically women) faced while working on his set. Female-identifying screenwriters shared their horror stories while working for Schneider; they were often made fun of, humiliated in front of their male coworkers, and asked for inappropriate acts by Schneider in return for leg-up’s at work – like getting their scripts used in the show.
But the issues on set did not stop there – many of the child actors were also victims of this toxic work environment. The docuseries explains that many actors faced scrutiny over their weight and appearance from Schneider and other executives, while also being forced to work past the legal number of hours for child stars.
The worst part about these issues was that no one could speak up because Schneider had complete control and say over what happened on set. Many feared that if they were to speak up, they would promptly be fired and have their reputations ruined in the television industry.
how did we miss this?
The docuseries also did not shy away from showing the disturbing scenes and clips that Schneider forced his child actors to portray – the same clips that we watched as kids. Scenes like Ariana Grande groping a potato and getting water dripped all over her as Cat Valentine, young girls getting things squirted on their faces to mimic sexual acts, and even grown men touching teenage girls’ feet in episodes of Victorious went completely unnoticed by us because we were just kids. How f@*#ed up is it that we used to watch this stuff without a second thought? And it’s all because executives like Schneider knew they could get away with it.
it gets worse
The later episodes of the docuseries focus on Drake Bell, a famous singer known for his role as Drake on the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh. Bell shares his story of being repeatedly molested and sexually assaulted by another popular Nickelodeon producer and acting coach Brian Peck, who conveniently happened to be a close friend and colleague of Schneider. Bell bravely talks about how Peck groomed him when he was just a teenager, and how his own father tried to stop it but was shunned for trying to stunt his son’s career. Peck was eventually arrested for his actions toward Bell, but not without being defended by many (male) names in the television industry. Is that really what we call ‘justice’?
schneider’s victims today
Schneider’s career came to a halt when the #MeToo movement exposed his workplace behavior and other misconduct. In 2018, Nickelodeon took Schneider off of its shows but since then, he’s been determined to return to the world of kids TV. But we cannot let that happen.
So many suffered at the hands of Schneider. Along with Drake Bell, other child stars like Jeanette McCurdy have spoken up about the abuse they suffered on set as actors on Schneider’s shows. And many of these child stars have taken a turn for the worse; Amanda Bynes has noticeably fallen off since jump-starting her career on Nickelodeon, and Drake Bell even found himself involved in his own case of misconduct with a minor in 2021.
So how can we make sure this never happens again? Well, with our generation’s advocacy against sexual violence and commitment to gender equity, I’m confident that the next generation of child actors is in better hands. But Quiet on Set truly highlights how much is hidden from the public eye, and it is up to us to empower both bystanders and survivors to speak up when they notice something is wrong.