‘Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV’ Revealed the Accused Child Predators Working on Nickelodeon in the ’90s and 2000s 

Nickelodeon child actor Drake Bell came forward about the alleged sexual assault he experienced while working on “The Amanda Show” in the late 90s and early 2000s in the docu-series “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which revealed there were three child predators working on Nickelodeon sets at the time. 

Four episodes were released on Max, Discovery Plus, Hulu, etc. on March 17 and a fifth and final episode was released on April 7. 

Brian Peck was an adult actor and dialogue coach on Nickelodeon shows like “All That” and “The Amanda Show.” He was arrested in 2003 for lewd contact with a minor, charged on 11 counts, after Bell came forward to his mother about the abuse, according to “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.” Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison, according to Business Insider.

At the time of the arrest, the victim’s name was never released to the public. The docu-series was the first time Bell linked himself as a victim of the sexual abuse. Bell was asked to share any details he was comfortable with for the docu-series regarding the abuse. 

“Why don’t you think of the worst stuff someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault,” Bell said in the third episode of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. “And that’ll answer your question.” 

Peck was not banished from children’s television like one would expect. Even as a registered sex offender, Peck was hired on the popular Disney show “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody” in 2006, only one year after his release from prison, according to the docu-series. Peck continued working in entertainment throughout the years, his last role was in 2018 as a narrator on the show Animal Shutdown.  

UWM student Lilia Tregoning watched Nickelodeon a lot as a child. It was one of the few channels her parents allowed her and her siblings to watch. 

“While I was enjoying new episodes of my favorite shows after school,” Tregoning said, “these kids were enduring far more than I could ever imagine.” 

Production Assistant Jason Handy was also arrested and sentenced to six years in jail after sending nude pictures to an underage girl working on “All That” in 2003, according to the docu-series.

The victim’s mother claimed that the police raided his home and found disturbing journal entries of Handy admitting to being a pedophile. They also found Ziplock bags with girl’s names written on them with “some kind of token in it,” according to the docu-series.

Handy was released from jail in 2009, then arrested again in 2014 on two charges of violating the sex offender registry and three counts of indecent liberties with a child. He is set to be released in 2038, according to Times Now News.  

The first two episodes focused primarily on the alleged inappropriate behavior displayed by Dan Schneider, the creator or writer on shows such as “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” “ICarly,” “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat.” Specifically, how he allegedly singled out child star, Amanda Bynes. He is not one of the three predators; however, he is accused of having exhibited behavior that caught the attention of cast and crew members.  

Cast members from “All That” and “The Amanda Show” remembered Bynes spending lunches with Schneider in his office instead of with the rest of the cast, the show alleges. Schneider was also described as the alleged mastermind behind a lot of inappropriate scenes in the shows that were clearly referencing sex acts. 

Following the release of the docu-series, Schneider released a video on his YouTube channel addressing some of the claims.

“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult,” Schneider said, “Me, facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret. And I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”

Schneider was also accused of displaying sexist treatment of women writers. Two women were hired for season one of “The Amanda Show,” but they were required to share one salary between them both. These women also recounted instances in which Schneider had them massage him on set, creating an uncomfortable work environment.  

In 2005, a Nickelodeon animator, Ezel Channel was arrested and sentenced to seven years and four months in prison on two felony counts of lewd acts with a child under 14 and two counts of distributing harmful material, according to Los Angeles Times. Allegedly, he lured two underage boys into his workplace, showed them pornography and sexually assaulted them, according to the docu-series.