Every Allegation in the Explosive New Docuseries About the Dark Side of Children’s TV

Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV—the four-part docuseries, streaming on Max, about the insidious climate perpetuated by Nickelodeon showrunner Dan Schneider during the network’s golden years in the late 1990s and early 2000s—has brought to light shocking revelations about the alleged abuse and misconduct behind the scenes of some of the era’s biggest children’s shows. The allegations presented in Quiet on Set, which have rocked the millennials and zoomers who grew up watching these shows, have spread like wildfire in headlines and on social media this past week. Not only has the information prompted a response from Schneider himself, but there has been further controversy with the names of other famous actors, like James Marsden and additional Nickelodeon stars, being confusingly thrown into the mix.

Below is a summary of the main allegations in Quiet on Set and the responses to them thus far.

Schneider’s habit of putting child actors in subtextually sexual sketches was established on his first main Nickelodeon series All That, of which he became the head writer and showrunner. For example, child actor Leon Frierson was placed in a skintight superhero costume with phallic-looking prosthetic noses on the shoulders. The punchline of the sketch resulted in the nose-y superhero shooting snot at someone else in a move described by journalist Scaachi Koul as “a cumshot joke for children.”

This trend continued on The Amanda Show, Schneider’s next production, which included having lead actress Amanda Bynes portray a character called “Penelope Taint.” According to Amanda Show writers, they were told to lie about the anatomical meaning of the word “taint” to Nickelodeon executives. Quiet on Set also cites a sketch in which a fully clothed Schneider sits in a hot tub with a young, swimsuit-clad Bynes as indicative of Schneider’s inappropriate humor and the close relationship between Schneider and the young star.

Bryan Hearne, the only Black male actor during his tenure on All That’s later seasons, also details a racially discomfiting environment. For instance, he recounts being cast as a Girl Scout Cookie dealer in a sketch which mimicked a drug dealing scenario, and being told that his skin tone was “charcoal” when getting fitted for a costume.

Some All That cast members also describe difficult working conditions, unsafe or exploitative sketches modeled after the adult show Fear Factor, and long workdays that purportedly violated child labor laws. Their parents were incentivized to be quiet in order to not ruin their child’s career, alleges Hearne’s mother, who believes that Hearne was kicked off All That because of her consistent attempts to protect him by questioning the goings-on of the set.

At the peak of Schneider’s career, after his track record of having created juggernaut shows like Drake & Josh, iCarly, Zoey101, and Victorious, the producer’s power at Nickelodeon purportedly allowed him to push the envelope. As Koul puts it, Schneider’s “style had a little bit of edge in it. It also really pushed the boundaries of sexualizing young girls.” This included jokes about girls being slapped by sausages and wanting to be “on the wood,” and zoomed-in shots of feet or tongues licking something. This was taken to a much deeper level with Victorious, which had extra content made for the web that, in Koul’s words, “the network didn’t know how to deal with.” These online extras included clips of Ariana Grande, an actress on the show, putting tomatoes in her bra, sucking on her own toes, massaging a potato, and pouring water on herself in a sexually suggestive manner.

Christy Stratton, one of two female writers on staff at The Amanda Show, states that “working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship.” Stratton and her fellow writer Jenny Kilgen allege that they, as the female writers on staff, were forced to split their salary, and were threatened by Schneider for reporting the matter to the Writers Guild. Additionally, Kilgen claims that when she returned as a writer for Season 2, she was offered a contract that forced her to work for 11 weeks unpaid. (According to Quiet on Set, Schneider denies Kilgen’s claims, stating that he “had no control over salaries.”)

The writers also claim to have been coerced into a sexually exploitative and misogynistic work culture of Schneider’s creation. According to Stratton and Kilgen, Schneider openly stated that women are not funny, showed pornography on his computer screen, and even asked Kilgen to massage him, behavior he would become known for on all of his sets. According to Kilgen, Schneider would present it as a joking quid pro quo—”Can you please give me a massage? I’ll put one of your sketches in the show”—even though the power imbalance made it a request she was scared to deny. Per Kilgen, “you always felt like disagreeing with Dan or standing up for yourself could result in you getting fired.”

Perhaps the most disturbing allegation, per Kilgen, was that Schneider allegedly told Stratton, who was discussing the topic of high school, that it would be funnier if she “leaned over the table and acted like [she was] being sodomized and told that story about high school.” Though Stratton declines discussing it in detail for the documentary, according to Kilgen, Stratton turned Schneider down until he begged to the point where Stratton “couldn’t get out of it.”

Kilgen, with the support of Stratton, filed a suit against Schneider and the production company for gender discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, and harassment. The suit was settled out of court, though allegations of Schneider’s behavior continue beyond his time on The Amanda Show. (In a statement that was given to the Quiet on Set producers and shown at the end of every episode, Nickelodeon states that the network “investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace” and has “adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards.”)

One of the through lines from talking-head interviews with actors on Schneider’s sets revolves around the showrunner’s purported tendency to play favorites. Many interviewees cite Bynes’ and Schneider’s intensely close relationship. According to journalist Kate Taylor, when Bynes’ star power rose beyond children’s media, beginning with the WB sitcom What I Like About You, it appeared that Schneider thought “he should be the one to … usher Amanda into adulthood.” At one point, when Bynes’ relationship with her parents soured, she turned to Schneider, who tried to aid Bynes’ failed attempt at legal emancipation. As Taylor puts it, “Dan inserting himself into Amanda’s life like this is really ethically fraught,” and resulted in an alleged rift between Schneider and Bynes’ parents, and a cooling of his relationship with Bynes.

Schneider was said to be known for his erratic behavior on set, with The Amanda Show actress Raquel Lee Bolleau likening him to “a tornado.” Karyn Finley Thompson, a longtime editor of Schneider’s many shows, says that Schneider’s behavior in the editing bay was dismissive; he allegedly would not talk to her directly, instead making comments to his producer, some of them “degrading.” Per Thompson, he would also badger her into abstaining from eating or using the restroom while maintaining time pressure for the team to finish their work. Thompson alleges that she was passed over for a job she was promised in favor of a younger man with no experience. (Schneider denies ever considering gender while hiring.)

Quiet on Set also touches on iCarly and Sam and Cat actress Jennette McCurdy’s experiences on Schneider’s sets, as presented in her tell-all 2022 memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died. After an investigation following McCurdy’s allegedly negative experiences on set, Schneider was reportedly no longer allowed to interact with casts on the set of Sam and Cat. (Schneider refutes this, saying he “chose to give notes from his office.”)

According to the mother of a young girl who acted as an extra on The Amanda Show, the parents weren’t allowed on set as their children were ushered around by production assistant Jason Handy. Handy, who began an email correspondence with the young girl and sent a nude photo of himself masturbating to her mother, was busted in 2003 for his inappropriate behavior toward children. Law enforcement raided his home and, according to Taylor, found “an enormous trove of child pornography,” including “over 10,000 images of children.” Additionally, he had Ziploc bags with “tokens” of his relationships with children he knew, including the underwear of a 7-year-old girl. After testimony that accused Handy of engaging in sexual activity with a minor, he was eventually sentenced on two felony counts and one misdemeanor.

Four months after Handy’s arrest, Brian Peck—an actor turned dialogue coach who portrayed the character Pickle Boy in All That—was arrested. Peck, who was pen pals with the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, was arrested on 11 charges of child sexual abuse related to a child actor.

In 2009, another worker at the Nickelodeon lot, Ezel Channel, was convicted of abusing a boy on the lot in 2005. He also had prior convictions as a sex offender.

The most shocking part of Quiet on Set is the revelation that Brian Peck’s victim was Drake & Josh star Drake Bell. According to Bell, who provides a rare talking-head interview in Quiet on Set, he and Peck (no relation to Drake & Josh co-star Josh Peck) became close. Bell’s father, who appears in the docuseries, says that the relationship started with Peck always being around Bell and finding ways to make physical contact. When Bell’s father voiced his concerns to producers, he was accused of being homophobic against Peck.

Bell’s father says he tried to prevent Peck from being around his son until Peck successfully drove a wedge between Bell’s parents. After Bell’s father stepped back as his manager, Peck convinced Bell’s mother, who became the main guardian, that it made sense for Bell to stay at Peck’s home for easier access to auditions. “He had pretty much worked his way into every aspect of my life,” Bell says in the documentary. On one of those occasions, Bell, 15, woke up to Peck, 41, sexually assaulting him.

This kickstarted a pattern of abuse, continuing over a six-month period, that increased in severity. Bell says he realized he was “trapped” with “no way out.” Bell describes the abuse as “extensive” and “pretty brutal,” concluding by saying: “Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone can do to somebody as a sexual assault, and that’ll answer your question.” Though the actor does not elaborate further, the implication, coupled with known details of Peck’s arrest, suggests various traumatizing acts of sexual assault.

It wasn’t until Peck reportedly tried to convince Bell to get Schneider to cast Peck as Bell’s father on Drake & Josh that Bell told his mother what had happened. This resulted in the 2003 arrest and investigation, which involved Bell having to recount every excruciating detail, as well as getting a recorded confession from Peck via a tapped phone line. Though Bell says he was not provided with therapy or clinical help following the abuse, he does state that Schneider was actually “the one person” that he remembers “being there for” him.

The stress of the abuse, which took place at the height of Bell’s career, impacted him physically and mentally. Bell struggled with on-and-off alcohol and substance abuse for decades. In 2021, Bell was convicted and sentenced for child endangerment, pleading guilty to charges related to sending “inappropriate text messages” to a minor. In the docuseries, Bell admits responsibility for the incident, but alleges that the “misinformation” regarding his charges in the press “absolutely destroyed” him, causing him to “spin out of control.” (Bell has since sought treatment.)

When recalling testifying against Peck in court, Bell remembers Peck’s side of the courtroom being full of notable figures in the industry, some of whom wrote letters of support for Peck. Quiet on Set names some well-known letter writers, including actors James Marsden, Taran Killam, Alan Thicke, Ron Melendez, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle. On top of asking for leniency for Peck, some letter writers also appear to have used victim-blaming language. (However, some of the letter writers have since said that they were fed misinformation when they wrote their letters of support, stating that they would not have written them now that they know the full story.)

Though Peck pleaded no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and was ordered to register as a sex offender, he still ended up working again on the Disney series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody before his past was brought to light.

In 2017, after the growing #MeToo movement resurfaced rumors about Schneider, Nickelodeon launched another investigation into his behavior on set. Subsequently, in 2018, Schneider was dropped by Nickelodeon with a reported $7 million payout. As Taylor reports, the investigation didn’t find evidence of inappropriate sexual behavior or relationships with children, but it did find “evidence of being abusive to others in the workplace.” In a statement from Schneider presented in the docuseries, Schneider calls this description of why his relationship with Nickelodeon ended inaccurate, but he admits that today, he “would absolutely do some things differently,” adding, “I’ve learned a lot over the years about how to be a better boss.”

At the end of Quiet on Set, a statement from Schneider denies the assumption that he had total control over the production of his shows, stating that everything that happened “was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults.” Schneider maintains that “all stories, dialogue, costumes, and makeup were fully approved by network executives on two coasts.” He also remains adamant that parents and caregivers were always on set.

On Tuesday, Schneider responded to the docuseries in a nearly 20-minute YouTube video moderated by an iCarly actor who goes by the name of “BooG!e.” In the video, Schneider apologizes for “anybody that I ever put in that situation” of being asked for massages, as well as to those who witnessed it happening and found it uncomfortable. He also says that being a participant in the inappropriate jokes, “especially when I was leading the room,” “embarrasses” him. Schneider expresses regret for the claims surrounding both his volatile behavior on set and the more exploitative, Fear Factor–like sketches on All That. He notes that he would be much more willing to cut segments of his shows that were “upsetting,” but maintains that adults are looking at the jokes on his shows “through their lens,” when they were intended for children.