Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV

It was the US channel that gave the world cult series like SpongeBob SquarePants, The Ren & Stimpy Show, iCarly and Drake & Josh.

Providing a genuine, edgier alternative to Disney, it turned young actors such as Miranda Cosgrove, Nick Cannon, Emma Roberts and Ariana Grande into stars.

But as Nickelodeon helped shape children’s entertainment and culture in the 90s and noughties, troubling things were taking place on set – and behind the scenes – as a new four-part docu-series reveals.

Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV lifts the lid on what many of those interviewed described as a “toxic” and “dangerous” culture that permeated around programmes like sketch comedy All That (billed as Saturday Night Live for kids), The Amanda Show and Zoey 101. At the centre of the allegations was uber-producer and writer Dan Schneider. Previously best known for playing the bumbling Dennis Blunden on 1980s sitcom Head Of The Class, he reinvented himself as the network’s “golden child” as he helped the network expand beyond its staple of cartoons.

However, while many of the young performers saw the 30-something “big kid” as both a mentor and a self-deprecating, funny boss, Quiet On Set details troubling behaviour and reminds us of scenes that look like they would be more at home on the Playboy Channel or, for Kiwi viewers of that era, on Sky 1 after midnight.

While there is definitely a touch of VH1’s Behind The Music in Mary Robertson and Emma Swartz’s series, with its ominous soundtrack and its placement of jaw-dropping disclosures just before “breaks”, there’s no doubting its compelling nature as a narrative.

For a certain generation (and their elders who thought their charges were partaking in wholesome viewing), this may taint their memories of certain shows, but Quiet On Set will hopefully ensure vulnerable, nascent artists are never exposed to such a toxic environment again.

Screening on Three Now