'Quiet on Set': Dan Schneider documentary details abuse claims

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Actors Nathan Kress, Victoria Justice, Drake Bell, Maree Cheatham, writer/director Dan Schneider, actors Leon Thomas III, Chris Massey and Josh Peck stand onstage at Nickelodeon's 27th Annual Kids' Choice Awards at USC Galen Center on March 29, 2014

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LOS ANGELES - A new docuseries is putting a spotlight on the "toxic and dangerous" culture behind some of Nickelodeon's most popular kids' shows linked to Dan Schneider in the 90s and early 2000s.

"Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV" addresses the reign of Schneider, who spearheaded Nickelodeon's most popular shows including "All That" and "The Amanda Show," "Drake & Josh," "Zoey 101," and "iCarly." He was often credited for catapulting several child actors to stardom, including Amanda Bynes, Jamie Lynn Spears, Miranda Cosgrove, and Victoria Justice.

Reports first emerged in 2018 about Schneider's misconduct, and several actors and other crew members have since spoken out about the allegations.

Most recently, former child actors Jeanette McCurdy of "iCarly" and Alexa Nikols of "Zoey 101" called out "sexualized" scenes Schneider included in several shows.

Deadline reported that members of his staff were filing multiple complaints of abusive behavior against Schneider. The publication reported Schneider was "under a cloud of suspicion" after he posted pictures of the feet of some of the young actresses he worked with.

Schneider continues to deny all allegations.

"Everything that happened on the shows I ran was scrutinized by dozens of involved adults," he said in a statement to Vanity Fair. "A standards and practices group read and ultimately approved every script, and programming executives reviewed and approved all episodes."

Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress, Jerry Trainor and Dan Schneider at the MTV Summer 2007 TCA Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 13, 2007 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Film Magic via Getty Images)

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Schneider and Nickelodeon parted ways in 2018, despite two separate investigations that concluded he had not committed sexual misconduct on set. The investigations did rule, however, that Schneider was verbally abusive on set, according to a 2021 report by The New York Times.

The docuseries also discusses the allegations against production assistant Jason Handy, animator Ezel Channel, and dialogue coach/actor Brian Peck.

Several former Nickelodeon stars were interviewed, including Bryan Hearne, Raquel Lee Bolleau from "The Amanda Show," Alexis Nikolas from "Zoey 101," and Kyle Sullivan of "All That."

"Drake and Josh" star Drake Bell was also interviewed and discussed how he was allegedly sexually assaulted by Peck when he was a teen.

"I was just trapped. I had no way out," Bell said, speaking out for the first time and explaining that the abuse became "extensive" and "pretty brutal."

"Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and then I’ll answer your question," he said. "I don’t know how else to put it."

Court documents indicated that Peck, who was apparently pen pals with serial killer John Wayne Gacy and kept some of Gacy’s letters in his nightstand, sexually penetrated Bell with a foreign object, among other assaults.

After serving 16 months in state prison and registering as a sex offender, Peck got hired on the Disney Channel show "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" in 2006 and continued a career in the entertainment industry.

Since terminating ties with Nickelodeon, Schneider was credited as a co-creator of the 2020 series "Danger Force", a spinoff for Henry Danger, and a creator of the iCarly spinoff on Paramount+.