Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV documentary

[The Lurker]

Dan Schneider, wow. What a piece of shit.

Fascinating and compelling documentary - if not very tragic and disturbing. What a murky and awful world children's was (or perhaps still is).

I grew up watching the Amanda Show, All That, Drake and Josh (too old for Victorious, iCarly etc) and it's really quite strange seeing clips back now knowing dark it was behind the scenes.

[holyzombiejesus]

I grew up watching the Amanda Show, All That, Drake and Josh (too old for Victorious, iCarly etc)

What? Are these children's programmes?

[Des Wigwam]

Am guessing these are Nikelodian sorts of things where everyone is and full of heroin and having orgies from the age of 8.

Bet Gruey and Jossy's Giants don't feature.

[Des Wigwam]

Also what channel is this on? Would like to watch.

[The Lurker]

Also what channel is this on? Would like to watch.

I had to watch it on YouTube as it's not aired in the UK yet

[Oosp]

I had to watch it on YouTube as it's not aired in the UK yet

Please post the link

[holyzombiejesus]

Great thread!

[touchingcloth]

What a murky and awful world children's was (or perhaps still is).

My partner used to work in production for CBBC/CBeeebies, and experienced absolutely nothing like that. Feckless and redundant middle managers, sure, but you get that in many more industries than just TV.

The true horror stories of people being abusive to their colleagues and acting like divas have come from the world of antiques telly, so there's a wider problem than just children's of people deferring to "the talent" who then think they can get away with murder and asking for massages.

[dissolute ocelot]

I'll need to watch this, as a fan of the horrible man's shows. There have been horrific rumours about Dan Schneider for years, but it seems that Nick also employed multiple sex offenders. One, Brian Peck, was convicted of sexual assault in 2004 (and given character references by showbiz people including actors James Marsden and Rider Strong) but subsequently got a job with Disney on another kids show. The actor Drake Bell who was abused by Peck was later himself convicted of attempted child endangerment.

Former teen actor Jeannette McCurdy's very interesting autobiography I'm Glad My Mom Died includes quite a lot of information, including how after allegations started to creep out several years ago Schneider was not allowed to be alone with child actors or even allowed on sets, but she never referred to Schneider by name (even though it was completely obvious who she was talking about).

Plus there's a lot about gunging teenage girls not being as innocent as it seems.

[Kankurette]

The true horror stories of people being abusive to their colleagues and acting like divas have come from the world of antiques telly, so there's a wider problem than just children's of people deferring to "the talent" who then think they can get away with murder and asking for massages.

Details? I'm intrigued now. Is David Dickinson a horror?

[touchingcloth]

Details? I'm intrigued now. Is David Dickinson a horror?

He's ITV, so I don't know. Tim Wonnacott is a shit*, Paul Martin is clueless but at one time had some ruthless agent and managed to get him a salary that got him a place on the public salaries list when the BBC started to publish that for its highest on-air earners - just look at how much of an outlier he is on there!

*Wottacock/Wottacunt behind his back, apparently. I can DM the potentially libellous stuff.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

mind the time one of his kids shows tweeted asking for fans to post feet pics

[Kankurette]

He's ITV, so I don't know. Tim Wonnacott is a shit*, Paul Martin is clueless but at one time had some ruthless agent and managed to get him a salary that got him a place on the public salaries list when the BBC started to publish that for its highest on-air earners - just look at how much of an outlier he is on there!

*Wottacock/Wottacunt behind his back, apparently. I can DM the potentially libellous stuff.

Oh, the bow tie guy. Yeah, not surprised he's a cunt.

[The Lurker]

Wonnacott did a Clarkson, didn't he? The reports at the time said he was very old school and didn't take fools lightly which is a synonym for a bit of a knob. I'm sure I've read that former jailbird Dickinson gives it the big I am.

Please post the link

Annoyingly the person who posted it has either deleted it or had it removed due to copyright

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

One, Brian Peck, was convicted of sexual assault in 2004 (and given character references by showbiz people including actors James Marsden and Rider Strong) but subsequently got a job with Disney on another kids show.

I'm not here to defend Disney, but this reference has been blown out of proportion.

Brian Peck is a manipulative creep who cajoled a lot of people and abused others. That's why some of the people to whom he had been charming couldn't imagine for a second that he could have done anything horrible.

After he was condemned and put on a sex offenders list, he got a voice over gig on a show produced by Disney. This was through a director and his stage manager wife. Peck had apparently told them that it was just some big misunderstanding that had got him written on the list, and that the issue had been resolved.

However...

Variety confirmed that Peck performed voiceover work on three episodes of "Suite Life," was never on set and had zero interaction with any cast or crew. One insider confirms that when the network learned of his conviction, he was immediately terminated and his voice and on-screen credits on the three episodes had been replaced.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/drake-bell-sexual-assault-brian-peck-documentary-1235934302/

[mippy]

He's ITV, so I don't know. Tim Wonnacott is a shit*, Paul Martin is clueless but at one time had some ruthless agent and managed to get him a salary that got him a place on the public salaries list when the BBC started to publish that for its highest on-air earners - just look at how much of an outlier he is on there!

*Wottacock/Wottacunt behind his back, apparently. I can DM the potentially libellous stuff.

Please yes!

[Ron Maels Moustache]

I'm assuming R0g3r Pr1ce won't come up in this as it's not set within the timeframe of his involvement with the channel, but I feel like there are still a lot of questions to be asked about his treatment of the young people on his shows, particularly wrt the repeated sexualisation/humiliation of young lads, which seems to've been a "thing" across every one of his various projects. The youtube retrospective series "Nick Knacks" went into this in some depth when they covered You Can't Do That On Television a few years back, and apparently Pr1ce even tried to get final cut on the episode in exchange for an in-person interview (this was understandably refused), so he was evidently concerned about what might've been said. And true enough, he does *not* come across well.

[Memorex MP3]

Whole thing came across horrible, surprised there isn't even more talk about Drake Bell's testimony because it was horrific and he done a great job going over it all.

Feel like Bryan Hearne done a great job conveying just how demeaning and crushing a lot of it was even when it just came across like goofy stuff too. Surprised he doesn't seem to have much of a career anymore with how good of a communicator he was.

Schneider actually came out of it less bad than I was expecting though? There wasn't really anything other than what I had already heard and I fully expected there to be more. Horrible prick and a bully as you'd expect from an insecure egotistical man child who got a LOT of power in a weird little bubble at quite a young age to be (as far as I could gather he was basically a showrunner in his mid/late 20s?) but it does feel like they're letting him be a bit of a scapegoat in a way that seems harmful rather than trying to tackle the corporation/industry overall?

[jamiefairlie]

Ro-land used to force runners to blow heroin tablets laced with Marc Almond's ten pints of spunk up his ass during Grange Hill sessions.

[AnOrdinaryBoy]

It's all on Daily Motion - 1, 2, 3, and 4

[niat]

Apparently this is on Discovery + in the UK, so if you've got TNT sports you should be able to watch it.

[George White]

Looking at this, and realised that basically for an entire generation, Dan Schneider normalised sexualisation of children in a way that people thought the MiniPops was doing, but was actually completely innocent, but Schneider actually was doing. I was obsessed with the Amanda Show as a child, and now realise that it was a bit like being forced to watch a child stripper. 'Penelope Taynt'.

[The Lurker]

I could've swore her name was Penelope Tate. Not that I would've known what a taint was when I was a child.

[George White]

Wasn't that the joke? 'Tate' 'No, Taint'.

[The Lurker]

Probably. That's what they suggested in the documentary. Like I say, I wouldn't have got the joke as a kid anyway.

[The Bumlord]

If a grown man can't publicly encourage underage girls to send photos of their feet with drawings on then democracy is finished, my friend