Rising Stars, Rising Questions

The salacious documentary strand Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, certainly went gunning for Dan Schneider.

He was the hitmaker on children's channel Nickelodeon. A former actor on the comedy show Head of the Class in the mid 1980s.

Schneider became a producer and writer for children's television in sketch show All That in the 1990s.

Like a lot of people who became successful and powerful. Some of Schneider's behaviour was overlooked by network executives in charge. He later apologised for aspects of his behaviour and that some of it was inappropriate.

There was little doubt that Schneider took part in gender discrimination. Women were badly treated in the writers room and paid less. Jenny Kilgen was a writer who took action and won.

However there was a lot here that was based on malicious gossip and accusations. Some contributors came across as bitter. Even seeing things in kids television that many would regard as innocent.

There were jokes that were regarded as inappropriate, words that were sexually suggestive. Ignoring that Disney cartoons for years had jokes that went over kids heads but adults would get it.

More importantly Schneider does not seem to have been approached for his views. He later gave an interview in a YouTube channel giving his version of events.

Schneider admitted he had been rude and cocky in the past. He apologised for that.

He maintained that pay issue were dealt with network executives. What was in the script had to be approved by executives as well. It was not all up to him.

His YouTube interview balanced what looked like a hatchet job in this documentary. The pressure put on young performers and writers by Nickelodeon is not that different to many other channels.