Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV explored what caused actress Amanda Bynes and producer Dan Schneider to stop working together.
The Investigation Discovery docuseries, which will air on Sunday, March 17, and Monday, March 18, features interviews with former Nickelodeon cast and crew members about Bynes and Schneider’s professional relationship.
Schneider, 58, originally discovered Bynes, 37, when was performing at the Los Angeles Laugh Factory as a child. This led to Bynes appearing on All That before landing her own sketch series, The Amanda Show.
“Dan saw her and immediately knew she would be a star,” director Virgil L. Fabian, who collaborated with Schneider on multiple shows, said in the docuseries. Despite Schneider being instrumental in Bynes’ success, the duo ended up parting ways once she started to move on to more mature projects.
Since becoming a household name in the early 2000s, Bynes has struggled with her mental health for many years. She was placed under a temporary conservatorship in August 2013 following a series of mental health and substance abuse issues. Her mother was ultimately placed in charge of Bynes’ health care and personal affairs.
In 2022, Bynes filed a petition to terminate her conservatorship and shared a mental capacity declaration stating she is mentally fit to look after herself and her affairs. A judge ended her conservatorship one month later, but Bynes’ personal issues continued to play out in the public eye.
Bynes was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold in March 2023 after she requested help following an alleged psychotic episode. A mental health team evaluated her and determined she needed to be put on a 5150 psychiatric hold, which allows someone experiencing a health crisis to be detained for three days due to a potential threat of self-harm, harming others or being gravely disabled.
Three months later, Bynes was detained by the police and taken to the station for a mental health evaluation by a professional. She returned to the spotlight with a podcast, “Amanda Bynes & Paul Sieminski: The Podcast,” late last year, but it was presumably canceled after one episode. Bynes announced via Instagram earlier this month that she would be taking a board exam to receive a manicurist license.
Schneider, for his part, released a statement through a spokesperson before the docuseries’ debut.
“Dan cared about the kids on his shows even when sometimes their own families unfortunately did not. He understood what they were going through and he was their biggest champion. The fact is many of the kids on these shows are put in the untenable position of becoming the breadwinner for their family and the pressure that comes along with that,” a rep for Schneider told Us Weekly. “Add on top of that the difficulties of growing up and having to do so under the spotlight while working a demanding job, all as a child. That is why there are many levels of standards, executives, lawyers, teachers and parents everywhere, all the time, on every set, every day. However, it is still a hard place to be a kid and nobody knew that better than Dan.”
Keep scrolling for the details shared about Bynes and Schneider’s professional relationship — and its ultimate downfall:
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV airs on ID Sunday, March 17, and Monday, March 18, at 9 p.m. ET.
The Early Days
Bynes was cast on All That in the late ’90s, in which she played various roles for four seasons. According to All That alum Leon Frierson, Schneider’s preference for Bynes was obvious on set.
“We had to go to school on set. There would be times when Amanda would just be missing,” he recalled in the docuseries. “A lot of times we would hear she would be with Dan, pitching ideas and writing. We see them grow closer to each other on set.”
Underage actors were legally required to be accompanied by a parent on guardian on set at all times. Frierson, now 37, said Bynes’ father was consistently present when she filmed scenes for All That.
“Parents on All That, they tried to stay out of the way,” he noted. “Amanda Bynes’ parents were very hands-on in her career. Specifically, her dad. His presence was always felt. A big part of that was his relationship with Dan Schneider. They carefully crafted Amanda’s career. It was enviable for a lot of the cast members.”
Her Own Show
After her success on All That, Bynes and Schneider continued to collaborate on The Amanda Show. Culture writer Scaachi Koul weighed in on Bynes and Schneider’s close connection, saying, “Dan Schneider was very responsible for Amanda Bynes’ career and they were very tied to each other and I think she trusted him.”
Virgil L. Fabian, meanwhile, only had positive memories watching Bynes and Schneider work together. “I remember Dan and Amanda Bynes being very close on The Amanda Show,” he shared. “I think very few people made Dan laugh and she did. During rehearsal she would do and say funny things.”
In a separate interview, All That editor Karyn Finley Thompson reflected on the more potentially questionable interactions between Bynes and Schneider.
“I definitely saw Amanda being very close physically with Dan,” Thompson said in a confessional. “There were many times I saw Amanda sitting behind him hugging him, or giving him a neck massage. Dan and Amanda had a close relationship. I didn’t think anything different than that.”
Thompson called a sketch from The Amanda Show, in which Schneider and Bynes were both sitting in a hot tub, “a little odd.”
A source close to Schneider previously addressed the massage allegations, telling Insider in 2022, “[Schneider] regrets ever asking anyone [for a massage] and agrees it was not appropriate, even though it only happened in public settings.”
(Bynes’ rep had no comment about the claims made in Quiet on Set.)
The ‘What I Like About You’ Evolution
After making her feature film debut in 2002 with Big Fat Liar, Bynes started to book more adult roles. She was cast as the lead alongside Jennie Garth on the WB sitcom What I Like About You, which ran from 2002 to 2006.
Behind the scenes, Schneider served as co-creator on the project alongside Wil Calhoun. Koul and fellow journalist Kate Taylor claimed that the “trouble on set” started in the show’s early days.
“[Dan] was constantly fighting with the co-creator of What I Like About You,” Taylor said in a confessional. “There was just this massive amount of tension there where the network didn’t really trust Dan.”
Meanwhile, All Your Screens writer and founder Rick Ellis claimed the network “stepped in” and Schneider was “pushed out” of the writers room. Schneider responded to the allegations saying he “needed to focus his energy on another show he was creating,” which is why he wasn’t as present on What I Like About You in later seasons.
The Start of the End
Fabian discussed how Bynes and her parents experienced issues as she got older, saying, “She wanted to be a grown-up. She still lived at home so there were some rules.” The director claimed Bynes was dating an older guy, which her parents disapproved of at the time.
Taylor shared information she received from sources about an alleged incident between Bynes’ parents and Schneider.
“She tries to run away from home and in this moment she turns to Dan for help. The details are a little murky but we know from sources that the police were involved. We also know that Amanda’s parents are really upset with Dan’s actions through this,” Taylor, who previously wrote a Nickelodeon exposé, claimed in the docuseries. “But around this time, Amanda turns to Dan and other reps to get her emancipated and get her to a new level of independence. This plan takes her parents completely by surprise.”
Taylor claimed the “ethically fraught” situation led to Bynes and Schneider’s eventual rift, adding, “There is an argument that could be made that he was trying to help Amanda. But unfortunately for Dan, this goes to court and it entirely fails. Because of Dan’s involvement in this plan to emancipate Amanda, this creates this huge split between Amanda’s parents and Dan Schneider.”
Koul also weighed in on the alleged scandal. “[That was] the end of Dan’s relationship with Amanda,” she claimed. “Dan parts ways with What I Like About You and stays with the show in name only.”
