Rising Stars, Rising Questions

There is new controversial documentary regarding Nickelodeon in the 1990’s and the 2000’s being shown on Max. It’s called Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kid’s TV. It has promised to talk about the rise of Dan Schneider and others in the orbit of these kids TV shows in the 90’s and 00’s.

Now Nickelodeon was a little out of my age group. I was in my 20’s in the 90’s and in my 30’s in the 00’s. But I was aware of and watched some of Nickelodeon with my little brother such shows as Double Dare and You Can’t do that on Television. And I did take the tour of Nickelodeon studios once or twice always interested in the shows that were being produced like Clarissa Explains All and Super Double Dare (both with sets erected in that studio and were part of the tour.)

The documentary starts with a history of Dan Schneider, a portly young man who’s father went to Harvard. However unlike his father, Dan never went to Harvard. His parents didn’t have high expectations for him. For whatever reason I thought I knew Dan from Saturday Night live but in fact, I knew him from Head of the Class which was a show I lived found ABC. It outlines his various successes with nickelodeon and focused on All That, a show he called Saturday Night Live for Kids. This show launched the careers of Amanda Bynes, Ariana Grande, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchel (Good Burger).

The documentary also interviews various actors from shows such as “The Amanda Show,” “iCarly,” “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat.” We hear their stories told from there perspectives. At first it was said that Dan was a great big kid and was always doing something silly and kept the atmosphere on the set light and fun. Then the darkness starts to roll in.

The producers called the home of Katrina Johnson (All That) and told her parents that she was getting too fat and that they had a fat one on the show already and that she needed to lose weight. Then she hit puberty and blossomed into a women and then they were upset that she looked like a women. Poor girl couldn’t win.

The documentary talks about the Discovery of Amanda Bynes, at the Laugh Factor on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. She was doing stand up at the comedy club. Dan discovered her there and felt she would be a star. This was a big turning point for Dan. Even though Amanda’s parents were very hands on with her career, she spent a lot of time with Dan by herself. She became Dan’s new favorite actor. Dan created the Amanda Show for her. Writers who worked on the show said that working with Dan was likened to an abusive relationship. He hired two writers and said that they had to split a salary. What kind of bullshit was that. They were however, eager for the opportunity. They revealed that there was a lot of sexual jokes and talk in the writers room. Those sexual innuendo also made it to the screen on many occasions into various shows which is shown to us throughout the documentary. The two female righter said that Dan’s behavior was often volatile and created a very hostile work environment. He would ask some writers to give him shoulder massages and he would watch pornography on his computer. One time he asked a writer to tell her story about high school from the vantage point of her getting sodomized. Sick. So many stories like this in the documentary.

The other actors in The Amanda Show were walking on egg shells around Dan because they didn’t want to be on his bad side because it would affect the amount of lines they would get or keep the possibility of getting their own spin off show. It was all under the control of Dan. It seemed that Amanda trusted Dan. But the others felt he was basically sexist volatile dick who would have cycling mood swings throughout the day.

But if the female adults were being treated poorly what about the kids? Part two Hidden in Plain Sight to follow.