Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has emerged as one of the most-talked about titles on the 2024 TV schedule. The five-part documentary series features former child actors and crew members who worked for Nickelodeon during the ‘90s and 2000s. And, throughout the course of the show, many share negative experiences regarding their time work amidst the tenure of former super producer Dan Schneider. Since the bombshell program finished up, many of its interviewees have continued to speak out. More recently, some have expressed displeasure with the network on which the series landed.
Produced by Business Insider, Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television, the show was released by Investigation Discovery, which is known for producing introspective documentaries, many of which are related to true crime stories. A few of the ex-Nick stars that were involved with Quiet on Set are now claiming that they were unaware that the production was being handled by ID. One of the people to speak out was Zoey 101 alum Alexa Nikolas. She explained to IndieWire that she initially wasn’t aware of the network and weighed in on how its approach to content impacted the doc:
I didn’t even know what ID was honestly. When I looked it up, my first thought was our stories and the conversation that deserves to be had around them are way bigger than ID and deserve a more credible platform. A more serious one. … I feel that the sensationalism was revved up because of it being on ID. It would have been curated differently and would have been more impactful on [another network].
Even before the docuseries aired, Alexa Nikolas had been vocal about her working experience with Nick in the early 2000s and has continued to be since the premiere. (She also went viral for blasting Dan Schneider’s response to the production.) These latest claims come on the heels of comments made about the producers making QoS under false pretenses. Just weeks ago, former Double Dare host Marc Summers said he felt “ambushed” while giving an interview for the doc.
It’s said that Alexa Nikolas ultimately feels that some good came from the show, though she also believes it was exploitative in some regards due in part to ID’s distinct “style.” Similar thoughts were shared by Raquel Lee Bolleau, a veteran of The Amanda Show, who shared her story on the show. Like Nikolas, she reportedly filmed her interview in the spring of 2023 and apparently only knew that the then-untitled project was being crafted by Maxine Productions. They supposedly didn’t learn of the ID connection until early 2024. Lee Bolleau shared her account, saying:
I’m not too familiar with ID, but for the interview I sat down for, it was not an appropriate network for the show. I had no clue it was on [ID] until one or two weeks before it aired. … I see people [online] asking, ‘How could you be a part of something that you didn’t know what it was?’ But when people have an agenda, they’re going to be very, very meticulous and strategic on how they get that agenda to where they want it to be. … I’m upset about them keeping it secret from me. I feel like they did that because they knew if we were aware of the magnitude of how big this was going to be they would’ve had to treat us better.
Though she’s “upset” over how everything reportedly played out, Raquel Lee Bolleau doesn’t hold a grudge against ID. She is, however, placing blame on another entity. During her interview, she also shared thoughts on the series being available to Max subscribers:
I don’t personally hold anything against anyone at ID or Max right now, but I do hold something against Maxine, because they knew what they were doing. About it streaming on Max, it just feels like, ‘How can we make the most money and keep this story circulating?' … We have to live with our stories and how they were treated by ID and Maxine forever while they see it as leverage for future projects.
Aside from Alexa Nikolas and Raquel Lee Bolleau, Quiet on Set also featured interviews with other Nickelodeon alums like Giovonnie Samuels, Bryan Hearne and Drake Bell, who revealed he was sexually abused by former dialogue coach and convicted sex offender Brian Peck. It’s currently unclear if more actors will speak up on ID’s participation with the show and, as of this writing, it’s unclear whether the network or the production companies plan to build on the doc in any way as Lee Bolleau opined.
