THE FIRST few episodes of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” have recently aired.

The four-part docuseries, directed by Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz, looks at the abuses that went on behind the scenes in some of your favorite children’s shows, specifically those on Nickelodeon from the late 1990s up to the early 2000s.

Included in this is the discussion of questionable, over-the-top, sexually charged, or even racially charged jokes and skits that were made on these shows.

In particular, the series looks at shows like “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” Zoey 101,” and “iCarly,” all of which were manned by television producer Dan Schneider. He was also the man behind beloved shows like “Victorious,” “Drake and Josh,” “Kenan & Kel,” and “Henry Danger.”

All of these follow several accusations of hypersexual practices and misconduct made toward Schneider, though he would later deny said claims.

Allegations

After being let go from Nickelodeon in 2018, allegations of misconduct were quick to come out against Schneider. They said that he would often hypersexualize by using revealing costumes, having male-dominated writer rooms, and sexualized scenes in, again, children’s shows.

Schneider was also accused of creating a hostile, traumatic work environment for many of the people he worked with, with claims of gender discrimination circulating in 2000. He would also allegedly tell people to give him massages while on set; one writer on “The Amanda Show” said that he would repeatedly request this despite her showing her discomfort.

A scene discussed in the documentary was from “Zoey 101,” wherein a plastic bag filled with goo squirted onto Jamie Lynn Spears’s face. As the scene was being filmed, Dan Schneider was heard roaring, laughing, with some of the boys even saying: “It’s a cum shot.”

There have been several other questionable scenes in many of Schneider’s shows, as well. There were numerous scenes involving close-ups of the feet of different characters, for example, on shows like “iCarly” and “Victorious.”

On “Victorious,” some of the episodes featured Cat (played by Ariana Grande) squeezing a potato while moaning and grunting to “get its juice,” biting her toes, and drenching herself with water.

Daniella Monet, the actress who played Trina Vega on “Victorious,” added that some of the outfits she wore on the show at the time were not age-appropriate and that she wouldn’t even wear some of the things she wore on the show now.

Alexa Nikolas, who played Nicole Bristow on “Zoey 101,” also claimed that she felt unsafe around Schneider. She said that he was volatile on set and that working with him was rather traumatizing.

“He’s not a good guy, and Nickelodeon was just letting it happen,” she said.

These allegations reached their height when Jennette McCurdy, who played Sam on “iCarly” detailed the abuses done to her by Schneider in her memoir, “I’m Glad My Mom Died.” Here, she referred to him as “The Creator.”

Some things she notes The Creator did was shouting at her numerous times, as well as forcing her to reshoot her first-ever on-screen kiss a total of seven times. She often felt that she had to obey The Creator, unable to step out of line, even as he would have her drink alcohol or caress her knee.

There was even an instance wherein she had to go through a bikini photoshoot as a young girl. Due to feeling exposed and oversexualized, she asked if she could wear board shorts, but was told that The Creator explicitly asked for bikinis.

Schneider’s team would then release a statement saying he cared heavily about the kids on the shows he created, and that everything Schneider did was scrutinized and approved by Nickelodeon’s executives.

The evidence that has come out since then, however, has led this statement to become questionable, to say the least.

About “Quiet on Set”

“Quiet on Set” discusses several issues that child stars must often face.

Drake Bell, one of the stars of “Drake and Josh,” talks in the series about the abuses he had to endure under his acting and dialogue coach Brian Peck, who also worked closely with Schneider. Peck was later arrested for child sexual abuse and is now a registered offender.

It was also revealed that two people who were working in Schneider’s sets were revealed to be – and arrested for being – pedophiles.

Since the release of the first few episodes, netizens have shown great support for the show, as well as the actors who have come forward to detail their experiences.

“I could not get over the parents and all the adults who stood by, saw this behavior, and still didn’t do anything to help the children at risk,” one Reddit user wrote.

“I am so so so disturbed; the clips they keep showing to demonstrate all of the sick desires that Dan Schneider had, and how he played them out on literal children, make me want to cry,” said another.

“It seems he has a deep sexual perversion, and also a desire to exercise control in big and small ways on vulnerable children and women. I’m just disgusted, I can’t believe Nickelodeon allowed this behavior.”

“Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” is available on the Investigation Discovery channel but will also be available for streaming on both Max and Amazon Prime Video.