Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV Review

Last Updated on March 26, 2024

PLOT: Former child stars from Nickelodeon look back on their time with the network, sharing troubling stories about their relationship with programming guru Dan Schneider. 

REVIEW: I must admit to complete ignorance regarding Nickelodeon’s empire of kids’ programming from the ’90s and 2000s. For one thing, I was born in ’81, so by the time these shows got popular, I was too old. For another, I’m Canadian and we don’t have Nickelodeon here. I remember when Good Burger came out in 1996, I had no idea why it was considered such a big deal, as I’d never heard of Kenan and Kel. Yet, over the last decade or so, working in the entertainment journalism sphere, I couldn’t help but hear a lot of whispers about Dan Schneider, the producer who ran a mini-empire of kids programming on the network. 

Of course, we’ve all had a front-row seat to the tragedy of Amanda Bynes, with her becoming a cautionary tale for any parent thinking about putting their child in acting. Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV shines a light on the many abuses suffered by the children who worked on many of Nickelodeon’s shows, with Schneider coming off as an emotionally abusive tyrant. One thing that’s important to note is that while there was indeed sexual abuse behind the scenes, as far as this documentary goes, Schneider’s name is still clear in that regard. More may come out at a later date, with Bynes having yet to give her side of the story, but in terms of sexual inappropriateness, the worst is Schneider’s constant use of sexually suggestive humour in his kid’s shows, but not more than that.

Even still, it’s hard to think of Schneider’s career ever bouncing back from this, with him accused of a litany of abuses from both his former child stars and adult colleagues. He’s depicted as sexist and emotionally abusive, although perhaps the worst about him is still to come, with the show acknowledging there’s a whole story waiting to be told about an effort to get Amanda Bynes emancipated from her parents that ended with him blocked from working actively on any of her shows. 

However, Schneider’s story isn’t the most harrowing one in this documentary series. The series reveals that a pedophile named Jason Handy worked on the set as a production assistant and committed several crimes against children while under the network’s employ. Another horrifying story involves a dialogue coach/ actor named Brian Peck, a staple of Schneider’s shows. While working for the network, he became obsessed with one of the rising stars, Drake Bell, and sexually abused him, leading to him going to jail for 16 months before being allowed to resume his career working on other children’s programming (despite being on the sex offenders registry).

Quiet on the Set is generating a ton of press because it features Bell telling his story for the first time, and it’s a difficult one to hear. While he doesn’t blame Schneider (and, in fact, holds him in high regard), he admits Peck was able to run amuck, with him able to ice out Bell’s father, whose concerns about Peck grooming his son were dismissed as homophobia. Bell really does come off as a tragic, broken figure here, with him having been accused of his own inappropriate relationship with a minor over the last few years, making any major redemption for him rather unlikely. 

What’s especially difficult to reckon with is that Peck’s Hollywood friends rallied around him despite knowing full well he was guilty. James Marsden, in particular, emerges as a less-than-admirable person here, along with Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong, who have since acknowledged their support of Peck and apologized (Marsden has said nothing). 

Indeed, Quiet on Set proves that kids TV, until recently, was shockingly lax about the way its child stars were protected. Who knows if things have improved, but any parent considering putting their child in showbiz may want to give this a watch. It’s harrowing but necessary. 

Dan Schneider

GREAT

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