Current Events > Amid all the craziness of 2020-2021, did CE miss this about Dan Schneider?

(+) Yeah! (+)

But a mere four years later, the man The New York Times once crowned the Norman Lear of childrens television was out at the network. In the spring of 2018, he and Nickelodeon sent a joint statement announcing their separation. Almost overnight, Schneider largely disappeared from public view and returned home with the $7 million still owed on his contract.

His rapid-fire Twitter account quieted. He only rarely made public appearances. And although the announcement that was made when he parted ways with Nickelodeon suggested he would pursue other opportunities and projects, for years there were no indications that Schneider, a hit maker who had helped define comedy for Millennials and Gen Z, had any new shows on the way.

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But now interviews with former co-workers, friends and television executives paint a much fuller picture of his departure, his strengths and his weaknesses. They revealed that although Schneider was a hitmaker with an ear for the teen and tween vernacular and humor, he could be difficult to work with. It turns out that, before the announcement about his separation, ViacomCBS, the parent company of Nickelodeon, had investigated Schneider and found that, alongside the many co-workers who praised his attention to detail and work ethic, many people he worked with viewed him as verbally abusive.
Schneider, in his first major interview since the split with Nickelodeon, declined to comment on the investigation. But he defended his leadership style, denied he left on bad terms and described his departure as a natural confluence of events after an exhausting period in which he delivered as many as 50 episodes of shows each year.

I took a break to take care of a lot of stuff that Id let go by the wayside for decades, Schneider said, noting that he lost more than 100 pounds during his time off. Whatever I do next, I want it to outdo what Ive done in the past.
The Viacom review came amid internet chatter that trafficked in innuendo about the appropriateness of Schneiders presence in the world of childrens entertainment.
Online denizens posted compilations that stitched together scenes from Schneiders shows, videos he has taken on set and pictures of him with child actors, to raise questions about his behavior with the young people he worked with. Shots in the shows of bare feet were presented as evidence of a fetish. Other scenes were dissected and discussed as scripted moments of wink-wink sexual innuendo, acted out by a teenage cast.
Schneider said he was well aware of the postings, which he described as ridiculous. He said it was sad that social media companies can freely push forward any lie. Kids find feet goofy and funny, he said, and there was no effort to sexualize his young stars.
The comedy, he said, was totally innocent.
But the internet noise had garnered the attention of Schneiders bosses by 2018, when the #MeToo movement had arrived.
ViacomCBS interviewed dozens of employees, according to four people with knowledge of the review who said they were not authorized to discuss it. The review found no evidence of sexual misconduct by Schneider, the people said, but it did find he could be verbally abusive to people he worked with.

Some former colleagues, in recent interviews, said they found him a controlling, difficult showrunner, prone to tantrums and angry emails a man with a delicate ego who made some staff members feel as though they were always walking on eggshells. Several said they felt uncomfortable when he frequently asked an employee from the costume department for shoulder and neck massages, or texted child actors outside of work hours.
Schneider said he never acted inappropriately with people with whom he worked. I couldnt, and I wouldnt have the long-term friendships and continued loyalty from so many reputable people if Id mistreated my actors of any age, especially minors, he said.
And he said that if people perceived him as difficult, it was because he has high standards.
Im very willing to defend creative things that I believe in, he said.

But some people who worked on Schneiders shows, and asked for anonymity because they said they feared reprisal from him, said they viewed his chumminess with his young actors as awkward and odd for a powerful, middle-aged showrunner. Several recalled that he often spent time during the work day interacting with young fans online and, after work, texting child actors about silly matters of teenage internet life.
Was it research? A desire to be popular? Former crew members recalled that Justices character had a locker on the set of Victorious decorated with photos of young men, alongside the words dudealicious and whos hot? One of the photos was a headshot of a young Dan Schneider.
Schneider said the locker decoration was likely added by someone in the art department and that it was never his goal as a showrunner to be popular or recognized. As for interacting with fans online, he said that he did so only in very public ways that were fully transparent to his colleagues. Among the teenage actors on his shows, he added, texting was often the preferred mode of communication.
I never interacted with actors in any way, texting or otherwise, that should make anyone uncomfortable, he said.
Former crew members also said Schneider seemed to imagine himself as the king of Nick on Sunset, the networks former soundstage. He had a private bathroom next to the one most other staff members used. Three former colleagues recalled occasions when staff members pushed him from one room to another in a roller chair so that he could keep working en route.
Other former colleagues described him as a workaholic, prone to yelling, who expected associates to work 16- or 20-hour days alongside him and writers to work on weekends at his home.

These days, after his three-year hiatus, Schneider seems set on returning to television and reintroducing his brand of comedy to new audiences. During a three-hour interview at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he discussed the state of childrens television and his plan to bring forward an ambitious and very different pilot that he has written and sold to another network.
The new show is aimed at more of an adult audience, he said, and he should know by the end of July whether it has been greenlit. He is working simultaneously on other projects in development, including one pilot meant for kids and their families.
He said he bears no ill will toward Nickelodeon, and says he wishes everyone involved with the iCarly revival the best.
But even as he looked to the future, Schneider, in the interview, considered his legacy, a period of time when his name was all over the credits of the many hit shows.
I dont want to be an old man some day, he said, and look it up and see some episode of one of the shows I did and go, ugh, and be disappointed in myself.

Problem is no one spoke up against him

Tbh I feel like if he ever did anything legitimately inappropriate we would have heard about it by now.

Tbh I feel like if he ever did anything legitimately inappropriate we would have heard about it by now.

Oh yes. Blame the victims.

Anyone gonna watch his new show?

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