A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has allowed a defamation suit against Investigation Discovery’s docuseries, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, to proceed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dan Schneider, the premier TV producer responsible for Nickelodeon’s successful series streak in the 90s and early 200s, was awarded clearance for his lawsuit against the docuseries’ producers and Warner Bros. Discovery.
In a November 22 ruling, via The Hollywood Reporter, Judge Ashfaq G. Chowdhury dismissed WBD and Maxine Productions’ attempt to toss Schneider’s lawsuit. Chowdhury legitimized Schneider’s cause finding it “not a case brought by Schneider on frivolous grounds, simply to harass defendants. He’s suing defendants about a documentary they made about him, that focuses on his activities, and, which a reasonable viewer might conclude makes damning implications about his conduct.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schneider alleges the docuseries implied the former Nickelodeon TV exec engaged in alleged sexual abuse of minor actors on production sets, which Schneider vehemently denies in the complaint.
“This action arises out of the recent television docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (“Quiet on Set”) in which defendants falsely state or imply that Schneider — a well-known television producer, creator and/or writer responsible for some of history’s most beloved children’s television shows — sexually abused the children who worked on his television shows. These statements are fabrications,” Schneider’s legal team stated via The Hollywood Reporter.
The docuseries, which aired in March, chronicled the astronomical success of Schneider’s multiple series on the children’s network, including All That, The Amanda Show, Josh & Drake, and iCarly, from the then-children actors and show creatives. Unfortunately, this stardom hid an underbelly of toxicity and rampant abuse, including alleged sexual abuse at the hands of Nickelodeon Studios employees. In a searing episode, actor Drake Bell came forward to share publicly his years-ordeal with convicted child abuser, Brain Peck.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schneider left Nickelodeon in 2018 after a 25-year run in the wake of an investigation into alleged accusations of abusive behavior.