Blog #426: My Neurodivergent Recation to the Nickelodeon Documentary “Quiet on Set.”
- Jeffrey Snyder
- Mar 28, 2024
- 3 min read
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Before I begin this blog, I wanted to warn you all that some of what I will be talking about can be bothersome to some of you reading this. So, viewer discretion is advised.
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So, to begin with, I was a big fan of Nickelodeon during the late 1990s and early 2000’s. Some of the shows I used to watch included the Nicktoon shows liked “Rugrats” and “Rocko’s Modern Life” as well as the game shows like “Nick Arcade, “GUTS,” and “Legends of the Hidden Temple.” I also had been a fan of some of their live action programming such as “All That!” and “Kenan and Kel.”
But little did I know or anyone else know that skeletons were hidden in the closet and this new documentary brought those skeletons out of the closet.
When I watched “Quiet on Set,” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing that the kids I grew up watching like Amanda Bynes and Katrina Johnson were treated so poorly by Nickelodeon’s golden boy, Dan Schneider and several other people. Being a neurodivergent individual, I can see how some people, particularly child stars can get taken advantage of by others simply because they were vulnerable and others who saw them as golden geese or cash cows.
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Now, I have seen people in the news and even in my everyday life get taken advantage of by others and treated so badly either because the people who abuse are weak minded and feel a sense of entitlement. In fact, “Rugrats” had a living breathing example of someone who was very abusive to individuals smaller than them and that was Angelica Pickles.
When I first saw “Quiet on Set,” all I could think of was Angelica and the fact that people like Dan Schneider were essentially a personfication of Angelica while Tommy Pickles and his friends were essentially a personification of the victims.
Now, Angelica is someone who thinks she can do as she pleases because she’s older than the babies. In a way, I could see that with someone like Dan Schneider because he was the boss of these child actors, he could do as he wanted. It’s important to remember that power and authority can only get you so far and this is something that I have seen in my day job where there have been people fighting for promotions and they would treat underlings like me like as nothing.
Although it never went to those extremes at my day job, this documentary does serve as a warning to all workplaces on how to better treat their employees. If there is one thing that I have ZERO tolerance for is inappropriate behavior on others and boundaries getting crossed. Just because you make a ton of money and have all the power in the world, it does not make you invincible to get what you want.
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In fact, this was part of the reason why I left the Brony Fandom after “Friendship is Magic” ended five years ago, because there were some people in the fandom that were shady and felt like they could get away with anything. Hell, there were even people in the neurodiversity community who felt that because they were neurodivergent, they couldn’t face the consequences of their actions. Maybe it was because they couldn’t see that their actions were hurting others and kept on doing it (like I did when I tried my hand at dating) or it could be that they felt a sense of empowerment.
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All this ultimately leads back to the “Quiet on Set” documentary and the fact is that when people that followed you for so many years see your true colors, they will never view you the same way again. Now, I can’t watch Nickelodeon without thinking of the horrors that went on behind the scenes. As good as Nickelodeon was, I can’t fully endorse anyone who doesn’t treat their workforce with dignity and respect.
Will I still watch the shows Nickelodeon made in the 1990s and early 2000s? Yes and no on account of solidarity with the people who had to endure this kind of behavior. When we go into the workplace, we are to be treated with respect because the success of something doesn’t materialize if the workers are treated badly whether they are neurodivergent or not.
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Catch you all later!!
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