Those of us who grew up watching Nickelodeon’s 90s slate of shows are about to be shocked to know how bad things actually were behind the scenes. When the kids’ network added more than cartoons and children’s entertainers/game shows to their schedule, it seemed like the channel was really reaching its audience by having shows for kids and featuring kids. It would make the network much hipper, and the man behind it all was Dan Schneider. Formerly a teen actor on the 80s sitcom Head of the Class, Schneider struck it big when he produced the sketch show, All That, which was in the vein of Saturday Night Live but with younger comedian performers.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the trailer for the new docuseries from Investigation Discovery. Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is a four-part series that will be exploring all the sinister behavior that Dan Schneider had been accused of instituting in the making of all of Nickelodeon’s hit shows. Quiet on Set interviews female employees who worked on Schneider’s many shows. The docuseries is directed by Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz.
Schneider’s behavior was somewhat brought to the spotlight, but never truly explored in depth…until now. The famous kids network would separate with the prolific showrunner in 2018 after 25 years of collaboration. Nickelodeon would release a statement that said, “Following many conversations together about next directions and future opportunities, Nickelodeon and our longtime creative partner Dan Schneider/Schneider’s Bakery have agreed to not extend the current deal.”
After All That, Schneider would roll out hit-after-hit with shows like The Amanda Show, What I Like About You, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat. His projects would launch talents like Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, Victoria Justice, Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy and Amanda Bynes. Many have speculated that Bynes’ erratic behavior in the past few years stemmed from alleged psychological and physical abuse she sustained from working with Schneider. There is even a tease at the end of the trailer that a big name may show up to give their personal account. Could it be possibly Bynes? The unfortunate thing is…it could be a number of notable names.
The Quiet on Set series will premiere across two nights on ID on March 17 and March 18.