From underage performers in bikinis to facial squirting shots and 16-year-old Ariana Grande milking a potato, the crass sexualisation and creepy goings-on at children’s TV behemoth Nickelodeon are laid bare in this rage-inducing exposé
Dear God, not another one. Years after #MeToo, and with Weinstein and so many others unmasked and dealt with long ago, you might have naively hoped not to have to tune in to any more diligent retrospective exposés of how terrible men in the film and television industry ruined the careers of innocent colleagues. Yet here we are again with Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. You are forgiven at this point if your rage is freighted with fatigue. But there is necessary work still to be done.
Nickelodeon dominated US children’s television at the start of the millennium, with many of its most popular shows created and produced by one man, Dan Schneider. Awards came his way, along with personal stardom not usually afforded to children’s TV showrunners. This meant he became untouchable. Since his departure from Nickelodeon in 2018, a steady drip of accusations about toxic working environments on Schneider productions have painted him as a capricious and intimidating presence.
