On March 18, the premiere of "Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV" was released. It is a documentary unveiling horrors child stars endured under producer Dan Schneider.
Many of our childhood favorites including "Victorious," "Drake & Josh," "Zoey 101" and "iCarly" revealed disturbing scenes that highlighted oversexualizing the cast, inappropriate jokes and references to feet and foot fetishes.
Following the third episode, "The Darkest Secret," many viewers were appalled and disgusted to learn that Drake Bell had been sexually abused by Brian Peck, his former dialogue and acting coach. It was even more astonishing that Peck had only been sentenced to 16 months in prison while Bell has to suffer with the discomfort Peck caused him for the rest of his life.
Not only that, but in response to the documentary, Dan Schneider received an interview from Bobby Bowman, known to us as T-Bo from "iCarly." In this interview, Schneider gave an apology, but critics have not been pleased with his inability to accept the trauma he caused the underraged teens.
Bobby Bowman, was a character that all those watching "iCarly" trusted. We laughed at the wackiness of his character and indulged in his protection of the cast on screen. According to reactions of the interview, many of those who tuned in to "iCarly" years ago were surprised to see T-Bo almost enabling the behavior of Dan Schneider. In fact, many TikTok creators, including @kirajazell, insinuated that this interview was nothing more than a failed PR stunt, capitalizing off of our love for the character T-Bo.
After watching the tragedy unfold and listening to more child stars come out, it is deeply saddening to hear about how these strong adolescent figures maintained our childhoods while theirs was being stripped away.
As people who often search for pieces of childhood as they grow, this piece will never feel the same. We will never be able to bond about how strongly connected we felt to a character or how we dreamed of living a particular lifestyle through them without feeling immense anger and sadness about the reality of their lives.
One of the saddest parts of the documentary is that all the adults in the room ignored or were too frightened to say anything about what was actually happening on set.
Although we were only children, this should serve as a lesson for us to be sure that we speak out against injustices in our adulthood. No child should have to be burdened with abuse or feel unprotected by the adults around them because of our inability to ignore or exhibit the bystander effect.
The most that we can do at this time of exposure is support those who were under the "protection" of producers like Dan Schneider and allow them to come out with their stories when they are ready.
Photo by: Ketut Subiyanto via Pexels
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