[Ksyrup]

Has anyone watched the Investigation Discovery mini-documentary/series Quiet On Set, about the Dan Schneider/Nickelodeon stuff? I've only watched the first 2 episodes, but HOLY SHIT.

I definitely have been aware of Dan Schneider and what a POS he was/is. I think it's been discussed around here generally on more than one occasion. And maybe at some point, I read an article or two with some specifics, but I was not prepared for the level and volume of information about his career and the stuff that went on behind the scenes - and even on camera! - that has been documented.

Part of my lack of knowledge of certain things is simply a function of my age and when I had kids. During the 90s, when he (and fellow Head of the Class alum Brian Robbins) transitioned from sitcom actors/writers to the world of kids TV, I was in my 20s. Sure, I remember the old You Can't Do That on TV and the sliming and all of that stuff, but I completely missed out on any shows in the 90s. For obvious reasons, it just wasn't on my radar. We had our first kid in 1999. By the time she was watching these shows, iCarly, Drake & Josh, Victorious, etc., were the shows I remember (as well as some Disney shows, of course).

I was unaware of All That, which was the kids show Schneider created that started it all - a sketch comedy show for kids. And while I've heard the name Amanda Bynes, I had no idea who she was until watching this show. I'm sure I ran across news articles back in the day about her fight for emancipation from her parents, but didn't know who she was, her connection to him, or how it affected his career arc (basically, he backed her fight and thought she was his ticket into mainstream TV and when she lost, his meal ticket went away and he went back to kids TV, which is when the D&J/iCarly, etc., era of shows began).

In any event, they present some pretty compelling evidence that Schneider was in complete control of these kids' lives, made life for staffers/writers (especially women) complete hell, and did or made people do all sorts of inappropriate things on set under the guise of "joking." But what really caught me off-guard was some of the show content. They provided credible evidence that some of the show content was essentially adult-themed humor portrayed by kids for kids. Numerous skits where girls are squirted with a liquid/goo, some weird shit related to feet, having boys dressed in skin-tight body suits which was uncomfortable for an 8-14 year old boy to have to show the world (including one segment on a Fear Factor-inspired show where a kid was lathered in penaut butter and a group of dogs were unleashed to lick it off of him). Just some completely inappropriate shit.

But wait - there's more! They had 2 convicted pedophiles working on the shows at this time. Unclear whether Schneider knew it or not. One of them had a couple of public accusers who testified against him; the other was convicted or pleaded but the identity of his victim was apparently never known. He came forward for this show - Drake Bell. His interview is apparently part of episode 3 which we haven't started watching yet.

One of the recurring characters Bell's abuser portrayed was Pickle Boy - he literally walked around with a huge plate of pickles and fed them to people? One scene in particular that they showed was Ray Romano as a guest star, in a bathroom, when Pickle Boy shows up outside the door and hands him a pickle through a FUCKING GLORYHOLE, at which point Romano essentially makes love to it while eating. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

If you try to make sense of how any of this was determined to be appropriate at the time, the only thing I can come up with is that they were trying to "hide" some adult-themed entertainment in these shows similar to the way it has always been done on cartoons. Ren & Stimpy, Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, etc. Except here, you're talking about actual children acting out these scenes for other children.

I suppose I saw some weird shit in passing when my kids were watching iCarly and some of these other shows that completely went over my head that they might have a double meaning, but some of this - at least from what I've seen of the 90s/early 2000s shows... wow. I don't know that I paid attention enough to see some sort of theme. But plenty of adults whose job it was to watch certainly had to see it. But RATINGS, you know?

Anyway, this is some pretty terrible but fascinating and necessary stuff to get aired out. There are an awful lot of people well beyond Dan Schneider who need to answer for a lot of what happened. I know society has changed drastically in 3+ decades, but some of this seems obvious and well over the top, even by 90s standards. But maybe I just forget how far we've come on some of these issues. The treatment behind the scenes is one thing, but what aired should have been raising eyebrows and questioned.