Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Quiet on Set:
Childhood. Ruined.
Quick synopsis:
The story of how Nickelodeon was a nightmare for the people working there.
Fact for Non-History People:
“Nickelodeon” is actually the name of the first five cent movie theaters.
Fact for History Nerds:
Dan Schnieder, the producer and main villain of the show, was a main character on the show “Head of the Class.” Yes, I remember it, and yes, I understand I am dating myself badly.
My Take on Quiet on Set:
Well, my childhood is ruined. How are you?
Admittedly, I am just old enough to miss out on a lot of the shows profiled on the documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. For context, I am more of an OG “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” fan. This documentary is more focused on when Nickelodeon truly exploded in the 2000s. Even if you are too old for those shows, this is still worth watching.
Mostly, the series (4 episodes) focuses on Dan Schneider, who had a hand in a lot of the most popular shows. To put it plainly, he was an abusive jerk and a bit of a creep. He was untouchable at the company for an extended period of time and plenty of people come on the show to tell you exactly how.
Now, episode 3 gets even darker than the rest. A former child actor comes on to detail how he was sexually assaulted repeatedly by a Nickelodeon employee. It is a harrowing watch with some horrible twists and turns. You’ve been warned. It’s a hard watch.
Overall, I think this is all well done. I could nitpick a few things, but the show does the work to bring as much to light as possible. I noticed that before the show, I saw some information popped up which takes some of the sting out of the more salacious stories. To the show’s credit, it reported on everything and doesn’t ignore anything which may be inconvenient to the story they are telling.
Verdict:
A must watch. You can watch on a bunch of different services. Don’t watch it on Hulu, though. The commercial breaks were ridiculously long.
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