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Nickelodeon exposé Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV isn’t over just yet.
Investigation Discovery has ordered a fifth episode of the docuseries, titled “Breaking the Silence.” It will air Sunday, April 7 at 8/7c on Investigation Discovery (and stream on Max).
According to ID, Episode 5 “will delve deeper into the toxic and dangerous culture behind some of the most iconic children’s television shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s, including allegations of abuse, sexism and racism,” and build off “the revelations explored in the first four episodes.”
Award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien will lead a conversation featuring previous participants Drake Bell, former All That cast members Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne, and Hearne’s mother, Tracey Brown. Additionally, “new voices” will appear — including fellow former All That cast member Shane Lyons — “to discuss where the industry can go from here.”
Bell, now 37, appeared in Episode 3 of Quiet on Set and revealed himself to be the minor at the center of Brian Peck’s 2004 conviction. Peck, who served as a dialogue coach at Nickelodeon and bears no relation to Josh Peck, appeared on episodes of All That and The Amanda Show, and was later convicted of a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16.
Bell’s Amanda Show and Drake & Josh co-stars Josh Peck and Nancy Sullivan both released statements following the release of Quiet on Set. “I reached out to Drake privately, but want to give my support for the survivors who were brave enough to share their stories of emotional and physical abuse on Nickelodeon sets with the world,” Peck said on March 21. “Children should be protected. Reliving this publicly is incredibly difficult, but I hope it can bring healing for the victims and their families as well as necessary change to our industry.”
Sullivan, meanwhile, wrote that it “broke my heart into a million pieces to hear just how much Drake was holding inside while we were working together. I was both devastated and proud seeing the man he’s grown into sit down on camera and bravely tell his truth.
“Past abuse doesn’t define us,” she said, “and it has no right to rule our lives.”
I thought that there were a lot of stories worth exploring in the series, but overall, it was a poorly produced documentary. A lot of adults who worked on those shows are hiding behind the excuse of “he was mean to me too!” as a way to avoid admitting that they should have done something to protect the kids. The wardrobe department who made the offensive costumes should have said no. The camera operators who filmed the offensive scenes should have said no. The writers who were in the room when this material was written should have said no. These were all adults, and to put them in the same victim category as the children is offensive. If they wanted to explore those stories, they should have done a separate documentary about them, because nothing compares to the kids, and they all saw what they were producing for years. The unions should be protecting these kids, and yet their strikes somehow always overlook the most vulnerable.
There was a documentary called “An Open Secret” which did a better job of telling their story, though they didn’t have access to something as huge as the Nickelodeon story.
Way to make child abuse about anti-union sentiment… Studios make everything possible to hindrance any sort of on-set union supervision. Nickelodeon was, as mentioned in the documentary, breaking several union rules, were auctioned and had to settle. Dan was forbidden to interact with the actors. The Drake Bell abuse happened offset. Because most of these parents don’t care, just as long the money is rolling in. Child labour laws need to be a lot stricter and parents shouldn’t be able to keep most of this money.
I am anti-union if the union isn’t serving the purpose that it is supposed to. The kids pay into the union, but do they have a voice there? There have been massive problems with children in the industry for many decades, and we *never* see any of those issues raised when it comes time to march. The hyper sexualization of these kids happened in front of how many adults?
If child r**ist gets a standing ovation from a room full of A-listers after winning an Oscar, there is a problem at the very core of that industry. Sorry if that sounds too anti-union for you.
Unions can’t be Social Services and can’t have the jurisdiction you expect if studios fight them on it. Children being abused offset is way off their purview. I find it sad that all you can think about the assault of minors a way to dismantle unions. How would they be better off without them? Unions are the reason they have limited hours, on-set tutors, etc. Which Nickelodeon violated, was actioned for, reprimanded, Dan was forbid to interact with the children and they got a settlement. You are going on a rant as if people applauding at the Oscars was an union issue.
If you’re going to be in the business of child labor, you need to figure out a way of making it safe and healthy. You don’t get to shrug and say that you’d love to try more, but the studios are too mean. The union strikes for more money, why wouldn’t they strike for better oversight of child actors?
Having the studio hire people to oversee the studio’s behavior is not good enough. How about we gather a committee of child actors and former child actors to discuss the measures that *they* feel are necessary… y’know, if they have time in between intensive therapy sessions.
You think I’m making this about being anti-union, and that exposes the problem right there. I am discussing a need to do better for children. Your blind devotion to a union that is dropping the ball is the problem.
Prove me wrong. Tell me that the union has reviewed their child safety policies lately. Tell me that the kids were a primary concern when negotiating with studios. Show me how anyone at the union is looking out for these children. And saying “they tried, but tue studio violated the rules, so we had no choice but to go along with it” is not an acceptable response.
If the measures aren’t working, get new measures. If that means that productions with kids need a social worker that isn’t hired or fired by the studio, so be it.
I’m not anti-union here. I’m pro-child safety. Why aren’t you?
I watched this over the weekend & couldn’t get past how many of the kids felt like it was their job to support their families. Most seemed miserable with their parts but just put up with it because they were the bread winners – at 12. Maybe that should also be examined.
Really wish we would get past the phrase “my/his/her/their truth.” There is the truth. There are experiences that may be viewed differently in one’s context. But the truth is singular. The truth isn’t the Bell felt abused – he was abused. It is his unique story but the veracity isn’t specific to him with a separate truth felt/experienced/viewed by someone else on the other side of the coin. Our perception of events may be colored, but truth is black and white facts. I think it devalues the victim’s experience and pain to use possessive pronouns to classify truth.