Quiet on Set: le côté obscur de la télévision pour enfants

Docu-series dealing with troublesome or traumatic events are always tricky. While I believe that such stories need to be told, it is difficult (sometimes downright impossible) to do so with objectivity and clear-headedness. Somewhat unfortunately, Quiet on the Set gets that balance wrong, for the most part-but also features one gut-wrenching story that has the potential (I think) to spur real change.

The first, second, and fourth episodes of Quiet on the Set are pretty poor from a journalistic perspective. Ostensibly, the goal from directors Mary Robertson & Emma Schwartz seems to be to implicate Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider as a child molester. There is, however, no hard or tangible evidence to point to in this reckoning. As such, viewers get three episodes of circumstantial suppositions and a guilt-by-association angle of trying to link Schneider to other Nick employees who were documented child predators. I do not support such journalism. Was Schneider a weirdo who should not have been afforded as much reign with children as he had? Almost certainly. Am I going to condemn his entire career/reputation based on the scraps of "evidence" this doc submits? Certainly not.

Throughout those three episodes the doc also suffers from the "hindsight is 20/20" problem from nearly all its commentators. To a person, everyone says "someone should have done something to stop this"-but all also come up with excuses as to why they did nothing. It doesn't work both ways like that. One can have regrets for actions or inactions of the past, to be sure, but I have no sympathy for complaining about it and smearing the reputation of others years after the fact. Had any one of these many individuals "blown the whistle" sooner, perhaps much trauma could have been avoided.

On those three eps alone, I'd give this doc maybe 4 stars. So, why the 7-star rating overall? Because the third episode is an important, gut-wrenching tale from star Drake Bell. To me, he seems to be perhaps the only grounded, clear-headed thinker in this entire production. Not only does he tactfully tell a traumatic story (one of legitimate-not supposed-sexual assault), but he does so with a thoughtfulness one might not expect from such a young man. My heart broke for what he went through, but if any good or meaningful change comes from this whole ordeal it will be on the back of his harrowing stories.

So, though the rest of this doc is "tenuous at best", I'll give it a 7/10 overall because of that one extremely compelling story. I hope other viewers are able to separate fact from speculation and not fall into the easily-accessible trap of "guilt by association" that Quiet on the Set is eager to spring.

The only villains in this story, other than the monstrous child predators, are the adults, parents and members on the set, who chose to do nothing when they could've spoken up and been the heroes. Instead, they put their own careers ahead of doing the right thing and keep quiet until now. The gutless mother of Brandi, who struggled whether or not to involve police, after her daughter was victimized by Jason Handy, should be ashamed!!! As a parent and grandparent, I found her story and her tears unconvincing. She completely failed her daughter and is a lousy example of a mother. This series should serve as a lesson to others, but I found myself frustrated and infuriated the whole time I watched it.

This is a story that needs to be told. 5 minutes into the first episode and I was already sick to my stomach. I can't even imagine what else was happening behind closed doors seeing what was even allowed to air.

Really engrossing documentary so far and its utterly shocking seeing everything that was allowed and pushed under the rug simply due to the fact that the shows were getting viewers and making money.

I genuinely feel sick I cannot stress it enough, just be advised before you watch. The conditions these literal children were put in at the hands of a disgusting pervert and writers, coaches that allowed it to happen will trigger you. Nervous to even finish the last two parts.

I just watched the first 2 episodes of the show, and it was a solid start for a Discovery documentary. I definitely learned a lot of new things about the controversy surrounding Dan Shneider and the people he let into his inner circle.

The first episode sets up how Dan became a success, and how he came to weild his power negatively over anyone except cis white men. I certainly have a lot more empathy for Amanda Bynes and the person she is today. The second episode dove deeper into the ways Dan and his on-set friends integrated sex into the children's shows in very non-sublte ways. Unfortunately, we are left on a cliff-hanger, as expected. However, even though we are introduced to the actor who was abused, I still can't wait for the next episode to drop so that we can hear them tell their truth.

I give it an 8, I even rewound the show as a spit take on some of things the grown child actors had to say about their experiences. After watching it, you won't think of pickles the same way.

These kids were completely let down by all the adults who had one job - protecting them. Absolutely heartbreaking testimonies from witnesses and victims.

Nickelodeon was unknown to me (as living in another continent) prior to this documentary and I didn't know so many celebs started out there on these shows. So in that sense very educational. What is actually wrong with show business in the US, I have to wonder.

The style of the documentary was not to my taste though and I wish the seriousness of the topic would've been respected more by choosing a more grounded tone. Now it looks too cheap at times and was annoying to follow with all the fast cuts and back and forths.

Recommended regardless.