A harrowing new documentary digging into Dan Schneider’s time at Nickelodeon is painting a number of children’s shows in a harsh new light, as Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV exposes the toxic environment many of our favorite child stars endured.
The four-episode docuseries digs into, in particular, the actions of Dan Schneider while he was serving as a producer on the network. He was behind several enduringly popular Nickelodeon shows, including The Amanda Show, Drake and Josh, and iCarly, and accusations of the abuse he reportedly dealt out while working with stars like Amanda Bynes, Drake Bell, and even Ariana Grande have been circulating for years.
Now, those accusations — along with claims of inappropriate conduct — have been given voice via Quiet on Set, and the docuseries pulls no punches. It exposes just how much went wrong behind the scenes, from inappropriately sexualized scenes to blatantly abusive behavior, and serves as a reminder of how much these stars went through in their youths.
Ariana Grande is now a massive star but she got her start alongside a slew of Nickelodeon stars in Schneider-helmed series. She first appeared in Victorious, but her popularity in the role of Cat Valentine soon saw her cameo in shows like iCarly before branching off to appear in Sam and Cat alongside iCarly‘s Jennette McCurdy. The 30-year-old Grande has left her days as a child star far behind, but clips of her shared in the wake of Quiet on Set are sparking questions about just how young she was when she endured Schneider’s unsettling behavior.
How old was Ariana Grande when she was in Sam and Cat?
Sam and Cat served as a spin-off series to both iCarly and Victorious, placing two fan-favorite characters — Grande’s Cat Valentine and McCurdy’s Sam Puckett — at the core of yet another goofy release. The single-season series follows the pair as they move in together and launch a babysitting business, with plenty of hijinks in between.
The series aired from June 2013 to July 2014, before being placed on hiatus and eventually canceled. Grande, who was born in 1993, was 20 years old during filming for the series. She was technically an adult while appearing on the show, but she was still remarkably young, and she’d been with the network long enough for any abuse she suffered to feel like part of the gig.
Was Dan Schneider ever inappropriate with Ariana Grande?
While Ariana Grande didn’t appear in Quiet on Set herself, she was mentioned in the docuseries, and clips of her time on Nickelodeon have been circulating in the days since the series debuted. Those clips seem to expose that Grande was treated to the same inappropriate behavior that eventually saw Nickelodeon part ways with Schneider, including being the subject of several deeply uncomfortable skits.
Keeping in mind that everything Schneider was behind during his time at Nick was intended for kids, the optics of some of his content becomes disturbing. Clips of Grande pouring water over her face, trying to stick her toes in her mouth, and even makes herself gag come across quite differently in the wake of revelations about Schneider, and seemingly confirm that — while Grande has yet to speak out about her time on set — she was absolutely a victim of Schneider’s predatory behavior.
Grande’s Sam and Cat co-star, McCurdy, has been open about her struggles during her Nickelodeon days and revealed — in the wake of her departure from the network — that she was offered $300,000 to sign an NDA. She refused to do so, opening her up to expose the toxic environment she worked in through much of her youth, but it’s possible Grande took a different route. If she wanted to leave that time in her life behind, and perhaps use an injection of cash to help get her music career off the ground, it is entirely possible that she accepted the payout, signed the NDA, and did everything in her power to put Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider from her mind.