Andrea and I finished up the documentary series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV . The 5 episode series chronicles the lives of child actors on TV shows run by producer Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon.
The series shares tales of people who worked in front and behind the camera who were subjected to a toxic work environment created by the mercurial Dan Schneider whose treatment of women and girls on his shows was frequently inappropriate at the very least. He would pressure women to give him massages on set or create scenarios that were sexual in nature for actors who were fundamentally still children.
The series takes a sharp turn into a disturbingly dark direction addressing instances of sexual abuse and assault against young people on Schneider's shows.
There's the story of an adult staffer who sent an email to a young girl who had been on All That that include a picture of him masturbating with a caption that read "Thinking of you."
But as disturbing as that was (and it was!), Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) comes out and sits down to share his tale of sexual abuse and assault by a Schneider staffer who played "Pickle Boy" on All That.
Drake's tale is a sad and depressing one of a downward spiral as this guy insinuates himself into Drake's life, cutting him off from his father and mother and leaving him with virtually no one to turn to when the relationship towards the sexual without Drake's consent.
Eventually this bastard gets arrested and is found guilty for engaging in sex with a minor. But his sentencing is mitigated by an outpouring of support from various actors and producers for the convicted sex offender. Apparently despite his sex offender status, this person is still working in Hollywood with access to sets where there are children.
By the way, Drake Bell said no one from Nickelodeon ever reached out to him to see if he was OK. Except for Dan Schneider.
Mostly, Schneider's bad behavior was focused on women, treating them inappropriately. And African American performers felt ostracized on the sets of Schneider's shows.
The series returns back to the narrative of Dan Schneider's reign of terror over at his television kingdom. It was a toxic terror dome that Nickelodeon could no longer ignore and eventually Schneider was banned from the sets of his own shows and his production deal with the network was allowed to run out and not be renewed.
A lot of the Schneider shit I was already familiar with but it still hurts. When our child was in the target demographic, we would watch iCarly and Victorious. Yes, the humor was silly and juvenile but the part of my brain that has the sense of humor of a 12 year old kind of liked these shows. And I feel guilty that my enjoyment of these shows makes me complicit in the terrible experiences people had working under Dan Schneider.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV does make for compelling television even if the series is a bit unfocused with a whiplash effect of "This producer is an asshole" to "Oh my God! Children are being raped?" back to "Schneider's a dick".
It's hard to watch. But Drake Bell particularly is very brave to share his story.
Next week's Touchbase, Fallout!
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
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