As shown in Monday night’s finale of Investigation Discovery’s “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” which is now streaming on Max, former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell (“The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh”) recounts the time he attended the sentencing hearing for Brian Peck, his former dialogue coach who was convicted in 2004 for his crimes against Drake and ordered to register as a sex offender.
“It was a different time, so I think it was a little easier to go to and from a courthouse and not worry about Twitter that night or TMZ [paparazzi’s] being there,” Bell notes of the time period before the advent of social media and the immediacy for news and information from the masses. “I get to the courthouse [and] it was the most unbelievable thing I’d ever seen. His entire side of the courtroom was full…full. There were definitely some recognizable faces on that side of the room,” recalled Bell of sentencing day for Peck. “[On] my side was me, my mom and my brother. Brian had been convicted but getting all of this support from a lot of people in the industry. I was pretty shocked.”
“My mom got up. She had a statement. I wasn’t going to address Brian. There was no reason to. I addressed my statement to everyone in the room,” Bell continued. “I looked at all of them, and I just said, ‘How dare you?!’ And I said, ‘You will forever have the memory of sitting in this courtroom and defending this person, and I will forever have the memory of the person you are defending violating me and doing unspeakable things, acts and crimes, and that’s what I’ll remember.”
Uncovering the toxic and dangerous culture behind some of the most iconic children’s shows of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the four-part documentary “Quiet on Set” pulled back the curtain on an empire built by Dan Schneider, the man behind several hit shows that aired on Nickelodeon, including “The Amanda Show,” “Drake & Josh,” “Zoey 101,” “iCarly,” “Victorious” and “Danger Force,” among others.
The special featured unprecedented access to key cast members, parents of some of these cast members, writers, and crew spanning Schneider’s popular series across Nickelodeon, revealing an environment rife with allegations of abuse, sexism and racism.
According to a logline, the featured interviews, woven with archival footage (some of which has never been broadcast), included scenes from the shows and social media commentary, re-contextualized many moments within these series that may have seemed silly or off when first aired but now carry a much darker undertone, offering a powerful reframing of these beloved shows.
Produced by Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction in association with Business Insider, “Quiet on Set” was directed by Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz.
Watch what Drake Bell had to say below, and watch the complete documentary on Max, the streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery.