Jennie Garth is looking back on her time working with disgraced television producer Dan Schneider on What I Like About You.
“I got called in by Will Calhoun, who was one of the head executives of Friends, and he was doing a new show with Amanda Bynes,” Garth, 54, recalled of the sitcom during the Monday, April 13, episode of Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast. “[Schneider] was the other producer. He was kind of the Amanda side of it because it was starring myself and Amanda Bynes.”
Schneider, 60, had worked closely with Bynes, 40, during her days as a Nickelodeon child star, acting as a producer and creator on All That and The Amanda Show. Schneider and Calhoun, 61, cocreated What I Like About You, which ran for four seasons on The WB from 2002 to 2006.
Shepard, 51, then asked whether Garth had gotten “bad vibes” from Schneider, who has been accused of fostering a toxic workplace and behaving inappropriately with child actors. (Following the release of the Vice TV docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV in 2024, Schneider issued an apology for his actions. The producers fought the allegations when they were first filed, however, a judge ruled that the lawsuit could move forward in November 2024.)
Garth responded, “Yeah, I was, to the point where I said to Will, like, ‘I would rather just communicate solely with you. I trust you. I think that you have my best interests in mind and I don’t feel that way with your partner. So I’d rather just be with you.’ And he was like, ‘No problem.’”
While former Nickelodeon child stars including Jennette McCurdy, Alexa Nikolas and Lori Beth Denberg have made allegations against Schneider, Bynes has not publicly accused the screenwriter of misconduct. In 2024, she slammed claims that Schneider got her pregnant at 13 as “ridiculous” and “clickbait.”
Shepard’s cohost, Monica Padman, asked Garth whether she had witnessed Bynes being “destroyed” by Schneider.
Garth replied, “Not specifically him. There were a lot of problems in the ecosystem of her.”
Bynes has faced mental health struggles and substance abuse issues for many years, including arrests for a DUI and marijuana possession. She was in a conservatorship from 2013 to 2022. While Bynes has stepped away from acting, she recently dropped a new rap and EDM single called “Girlfriend” on Friday, April 10, marking her venture into music.
During Monday’s podcast episode, Garth reflected on her on-set dynamic with Bynes. (The pair played sisters on What I Like About You.)
“When we did the pilot, I had just turned 30 and she had just turned 16,” she said. “I didn’t know how to be around a teenage girl. She taught me so much.”
