ID’s ‘Quiet On Set’ Packs A Punch Powerful Enough To Ruin Your Childhood
The children's television behemoth Nickelodeon was a premier fixture for anyone who has experienced childhood within the last 30 years. Some of the most iconic childhood TV shows ever were born in their ever-so-present stable: “All That,” “Zoey 101,” “iCarly,” “Drake & Josh,” and much more. Before the age of uber-customizable content on YouTube and undying social media fodder, watching Nickelodeon on cable TV was one of the very few viable sources for children to genuinely indulge in a tasteful blend of comedy and fun from the comforts of their homes. However, in the essential wake of ID’s limited series “Quiet On Set,” there lies an invariable range of disillusionment strong enough to fully blind and vile enough to obliterate even your sweetest memories tethered to the “higher than high” television platform. Who would have ever thought that underneath the thickly padded veil of humor-ridden glitz and kiddie affectations exists a wildly insidious systematic underbelly of Nickelodeon that has the power to ruin one’s childhood immediately? It might be safe to assume that no one saw it coming on the surface. Fluttering closer to the nucleus of said predicament, “Quiet On Set” is the next installment in a lengthy list of parables that underscore when absolute power is allowed to roam free, detached from the threat of any consequences whatsoever. In an industry designed solely for children and fueled by limitless monetary gain, isn’t it gravely ironic how child actors have always been the prey?
Delicately combing through “one by one,” the harrowing anecdotes of myriad former cast members accompanied by a select group of their parents, the tale starts pretty bleak and continues to descend downhill from there. Swerving from one “I can’t believe this” soundbite to the next, the “difficult to hear” sentiments get the audience closer and closer to the uncomfortable situation at hand. The main culprit isn’t very hard to find from the jump. Suppose you steer upwards to the tip-top of the seemingly innocuous kids’ TV “heaven on earth” sanctuary. In that case, you’ll spot a giant, morally smudged creep with an irrational zeal for vice gripping the pride and self-esteem of his workers to a bloody pulp, enabling a trio of rampant pedophiles, and subjecting his workforce to the most abject abyss of workplace conduct, and sometimes flat-out public humiliation if you remember his “executive producer” tag flying across the screen at the onset of every show. In that case, he goes by the despicable name of Dan Schneider. To disclaim, everything beyond this is only going to get much worse. Throughout his whopping 25-year tenure at Nickelodeon, Schneider developed a knack for being the mastermind behind some of the network’s most reputable (and, of course, lucrative) entities. Dubbed the pristine title of being the “Norman Lear” of children’s television, Schneider began his reign on the set of “All That,” where he started as head writer but then worked his way up to become the beloved program’s showrunner by the third season. Earning his place as one of Nick’s head honchos, the series quickly illuminates how spoiled and entitled he was. Fluctuating between a volatile “hot and cold” temperament almost daily, he had a strong penchant for a string of dubious behaviors. Whether it was favoring certain child stars and discriminating against others, championing obscene sexual acts on his shows, or coercing women on set to engage in inappropriate activities, Schneider cultivated the perfect recipe for an unsafe work environment.
With so many gaping holes in his operation, the toxicity of his ill-crafted workspace not only left the door wide open for others to perpetuate predatory behavior but literally to bathe in it unperturbed. Without giving too much away, all the evidence was hidden in plain sight. The sexually suggestive actions that we all gave the benefit of the doubt. The many penis-shaped objects that appeared across many of his shows over the years. The absurd and heavily abusive acts that child stars were faced to endure for a dollar bill. In retrospect, it begs the question: “How did none of us see what was happening?” With a newfound “me-too” colored paradigm, all of the dirt underneath Nickelodeon’s orange-colored, California king-sized bed has been swept and vacuumed up.
Upon this frightening sight lies all the typical ingredients of a criminal enterprise in Hollywood: haphazardly powerful and wealthy men (often white), enablers across the board who turn a blind eye for one reason or another, and a broad spectrum of victims who obtain scars that will probably never go away. Some of the most publicly known abusers include Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, R.Kelly, Russell Simmons, and now Dan Schneider. By virtue of their unabashed power, all these men were granted an unofficial license to destroy the lives of others in plain sight.
Despite being transgressions of yesteryear, Scheneider’s demise is paramount and still relevant. The extreme wounds that so many childhood luminaries like Drake Bell and Jeanette McCurdy had to face deserve just as much justice now as they did back then and the fact that this much time has elapsed only makes the circumstances that much more grim. Following the 03’ arrest of Brian Peck, former actor, dialogue coach, director, and, of course, child sex offender, he pleaded to no contest when it came to the act of sexually abusing Bell. While justice was measly served with his sentencing of 16 months in prison, which is a proverbial “slap in the face,” Peck was able to reintegrate himself into the industry to the point of being able to do voiceover work for Disney Channel teen sitcom: “The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody” in seamless fashion. On top of this, innumerable supporters in Hollywood were outright vivacious about overlooking Peck’s evident crimes against humanity in the name of tribalism. Some of those people include childhood stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle, actors James Marsden, comedian Taran Killam, and many more.
The mild punishment, coupled with garnering support from so many of his counterparts in Hollywood, illustrates the unequivocally powerful forces of white male privilege and tribalism working together. There is no other way to articulate this, so here’s the candid truth of the matter. If multiple charges of sodomy and oral copulation were charged against someone other than a powerful white man, the verdict would likely have been much more harsh and way less forgiving. With this being said, the documentary underscores deeper issues within the system and the Hollywood corporate machine overall. There is a vicious double standard in this country that once enabled an outright pedophile to flourish freely. Who’s to say that it won’t happen again or hasn’t happened already? Regardless, the fact that every violation is being accounted for is a step in the right direction for Western society and humanity across the board.
Given the magnitude of Nickelodeon and how culturally impactful it is, the efforts of ID, journalist Kate Taylor, writer Scaachi Koul, and directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz are beyond brave and deserve recognition for their master class of what influential journalism feels like, and how it should be executed in the modern era. There are zero punches held back, and after years and years of agonizingly hovering over the matter, justice is finally being served. Hopefully, this series will ignite the spark necessary to dismantle all the unsavory figures within the system while pondering new and innovative methods to reform it altogether.
