The Dark Side of Kids TV, and how to watch

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a new four-part docuseries that began airing on 17 March, has revealed alleged sexual abuse, harassment racism and gender discrimination behind the scenes of several popular 90s and early 2000s teen shows in the US.

The claims centre around an alleged toxic and harmful work environment on popular Nickelodeon teen and coming-of-age television shows helmed by Dan Schneider including iCarly, The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, Drake & Josh and Sam & Cat, which helped launch the careers of actors such as Drake Bell, Amanda Bynes, Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy.

Among those appearing in the series is former Drake & Josh star Bell, now 37, who opened up for the first time about the abuse he said he suffered as a minor at the hands of his former dialogue coach Brian Peck (no relation to Bell’s former co-star, Josh Peck).

Peck, now 63, spent 16 months in prison in 2004 after being convicted of committing a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16, who was previously un-named.

Here’s what we know about the numerous allegations that have been made in Quiet on Set, as well as where you can watch the series.

What is Quiet on Set about?

Quiet on Set sees some show writers and staffers as well as former child stars and their parents detailing allegations including harassment, discrimination and abuse against Schneider, 58, as well as others, included two sex offenders who were both convicted while working on Nickelodeon shows.

While Schneider – who Nickelodeon announced they were parting ways with in 2018 – does not appear in the documentary, there are statements attributed to him responding to various allegations shown throughout.

Leon Frierson, a former cast member of the show All That which ran from 1994 to 2005, said in the series’ first episode – which charts the beginning of Schneider’s time at Nickelodeon – that “it was in our best interest to go with the flow”.

The documentary’s second episode then features Frierson’s former co-stars Giovonnie Samuels, Bryan Christopher Hearne and Kyle Sullivan, the latter of whom called the set “dysfunctional”, adding: “The show was full of these uncomfortable sketches. I think Dan got a kick out of walking the line with that”.

Describing the racial dynamics on set, Samuels said she felt like the “token Black girl” while Hearne alleged Schneider had a “closer relationship with some of the white kids” and said that he didn’t feel close to him “at all.”

Hearne said he remembers being brought to tears after being told the skin tone of a sketch character he was playing called “Lil Fetus” should be “charcoal”, and also recalled being covered in peanut butter which was then licked off by dogs during one of the show’s “On Air Dares” segment, which cast members described as “traumatic”.

“The thing that was most uncomfortable was having to watch your fellow cast mates be essentially tortured,” said Hearne, whose mother Tracy Brown told the documentary that she was relieved when her son was let go from the show and left a “house of horrors”.

Karyn Finley Thompson, a former editor on All That, alleged that Schneider and Bynes, who joined the show’s cast and also got her own spin-off, The Amanda Bynes Show, had a “close relationship” that included an instance in which Ms Thompson said she saw Bynes massaging Schneider’s shoulders.

The documentary alleges that the relationship between the pair soured when Schneider involved himself in Bynes’ failed effort to emancipate herself from her parents.

Several jokes on various shows which may have carried inappropriate subtext are also revisited, including:

• Frierson being cast as “Nose Boy” in All That, with his costume’s large prosthetic nose on his face and shoulders resembling male genitals and sneezing snot during the punch line
• Ariana Grande, who starred in Victorious, is made to try to “juice a potato” by moving her hands over a brown potato
• Bynes’ alter ego on The Amanda Bynes Show being called ‘Penelope Taynt, a joke about the taint which writers allege Schneider asked them to keep a secret from Nickelodeon executives

Frierson said: “Frankly, it was just uncomfortable.

“But I always did my best to be a trooper, never complained. We knew being close to Dan could mean an extra level of success. It was important to be on his good side, and he made it known who was on his good side.”

Two former writers on Bynes’ spin-off show, Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen, allege that the writers’ room was “like being in an abusive relationship”, with Stratton adding: “[Schneider] had fostered this very fun, casual atmosphere, but I felt Dan could be very volatile and could turn any moment. I was scared”.

The pair were the only women hired on the show and were reportedly asked to “split a salary – which they agreed to do, with Kilgen explaining it was her “dream job” and she didn’t want to “be a complainer”.

She added: “You always felt like disagreeing with Dan could result in getting fired”.

In statements included in the docuseries, Schneider said he had no control over staff salaries on the show and never considered gender during the hiring process.

Kilgen said her “first indication of trouble” and feeling targeted came early on, when Schenider “challenged” the room to “name a funny female writer.”

She also said Schneider’s behaviour got “worse and worse”, and that the showrunner played pornography on set and asked Kilgen to “massage him” in the writers’ room and studio several times.

Kilgen added that “the wrongest thing I’d seen happen to a woman in a professional environment, ever” then came about when Schneider pressured Stratton into retelling a story while acting like she “was being sodomized”.

Stratton claims she accepted a challenge from Schneider to eat two pints of ice cream in half an hour to make $300 dollars because she had “no money”, but that upon completing the challenge and throwing up, “the money didn’t come”.

Both woman alleged Schneider would force pranks on the show’s staff which included pestering them to say random sentences such as “I’m a slut” out loud.

After both left the show, Kilgen filed complaints against the production company on the grounds of gender discrimination, harassment and a hostile work environment, which Nickelodeon settled following an internal investigation.

She said the experience had a “lasting impact on her career.”

The documentary also highlights two sex offenders who were convicted while working on the set of Nickelodeon shows: former production assistant Jason Michael Handy and actor and dialogue coach Brian Peck.

The mother of a former Amanda Show child actor, who was booked on the show aged 11, said her daughter began receiving emails from Handy, who she said “guided) the kids to where they needed to be” on set.

But while she initially “didn’t see any harm in it”, the mother – identified in the docuseries only as MJ – said her daughter soon received a photo of Handy naked and masturbating, leading her to keep her daughter away from Handy and show business in general.

Handy was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 after pleading no contest to two felony counts involving two girls.

When law enforcement searched his home in 2003, they found sexually exploitative images of children as well as a journal in which Handy describes himself as a “pedophile, full-blown,” the documentary says.

Meanwhile, Peck featured regularly in a recurring bit on the show as “Pickle Boy” as well as being a dialogue coach behind the scenes.

All That star Sullivan, who initially described Peck as “charming”, “clever” and someone “everybody loved”, said his opinion changed when upon discovering Peck had a self-portrait by convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy in his home.

The cast also later learned Peck had been accused on 11 counts of sexually abusing a then-unnamed minor.

The final episode of Quiet on Set sees former child star Bell speak out for the first time about the abuse he said he suffered at the hands of Peck, which he said took place over several months at Peck’s home after the acting coach “worked his way into every aspect of [Bell’s] life”.

Bell alleged that Peck also began to “eviscerate” the relationship between him and his father, who was also his manager at the time, and that Peck would then drive Bell around Los Angeles and have him spend the night at his home.

He added that aged 15, between his roles on The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh, Peck began sexually abusing him.

Of the “extensive” and “brutal” abuse, which Bell said continued for months, the former child actor said: “I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep and I woke up to [Peck]… I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me.

“And I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react.”

He continued: “It just got worse and worse. And worse. And worse. And I was just trapped. I had no way out.”

Bell said he eventually “exploded” while on the phone to his mother and that Peck was arrested shortly after police had him call the acting coach on a recorded line to get a confession.

Peck pleaded no contest to two charges and was found guilty of both in October 2004, after which he spent 16 months in prison and was made to register as a sex offender.

Bell said that Peck’s “entire side of the courtroom was full” of supporters during the sentencing, adding: “There were definitely some recognizable faces on that side of the room”.

The documentary producers petitioned the court to unseal letters of support sent on Peck’s behalf, which allegedly revealed that several celebrities had submitted letters supporting the acting coach.

Bell said: “Brian had been convicted, but getting all this support from a lot of people in the industry and yeah, I was pretty shocked.

“I addressed my statement to everyone in the room. I looked at all of them and I just said, ‘How dare you?’”

In a statement on 15 March, Nickelodeon said: “Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward”.

In the docuseries, Bell also revealed that he “didn’t know how to process” the abuse that happened to him, which he said “led to a lot of self-destruction and a lot of self-loathing”.

He referenced his DUIs and a guilty plea to child endangerment in 2021, which saw him sentenced to 200 hours of community service, as “behaviors that were happening because I was lost”.

“I took responsibility for that, I did what was asked of me,” Bell told the docuseries of the 2021 case, in which a female fan accused him of sexual misconduct and “grooming”.

“But the media grabbed a hold of so much misinformation and it destroyed me and I started to spin out of control.”

The actor also told Business Insider that Nickelodeon failed to hire a therapist or provide any “support” for him following Peck’s arrest.

Schneider has continually denied the allegations of misconduct levelled against him, with a recent statement from his spokesperson to US outlet TODAY.com saying: “In the challenges of production, Dan (Schneider) could get frustrated at times, and he understands why some employees found that intimidating and stressful.

The statement cites “many” former colleagues who “still tell him how much they enjoyed and appreciated working on his shows” but concedes that “[Schneider] also knows some people did not have a positive experience, and he is truly sorry for that”.

It adds that Schneider would “act differently” if he could do things over again and that “nobody understood that pressure” of child stars in the “untenable position of becoming the breadwinner for their family” better than Schneider, “and that’s why he was their biggest champion”.

Schneider’s statement concludes by saying: “But let’s be clear, when Dan departed Nickelodeon a full investigation was done and again, what was found is that he was a challenging, tough, and at times inappropriate and demanding person to work for and with, nothing else.”

A spokesperson for Nickelodeon meanwhile said the network “cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago”, but that it had “adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience”.

Can I watch Quiet on Set in the UK?

The series’ four episodes aired across Sunday 17 March and Monday 18 March on the US true crime cable network Investigation Discovery and all services that carry it – such as DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo and Sling – as well as streaming simultaneously on Max.

US-based viewers can also watch online at Investigationdiscovery.com, but you’ll need to log in with US TV provider credentials.

Formerly known as HBO Max, the US streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery was streamlined to ‘Max’ when it merged with Discovery+ in 2023.

Some of the content put out by Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO has historically been available in the UK through Sky TV and NOW.

But the long-term deal with Sky means Max may not land on UK shores as its own service until at least 2026.