Former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider, the subject of the Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, has been given the green light to proceed with his defamation suit against Warner Bros. Discovery and the docuseries’ producers.
Judge Ashfaq G. Chowdhury of the Los Angeles Superior Court, in a Nov. 22 ruling obtained by The Hollywood Reporter dismissed a bid by WBD and Maxine Productions to have the lawsuit tossed out. The court ruling argued “this is manifestly not a case brought by Schneider on frivolous grounds, simply to harass defendants. He’s suing defendants about a documentary they made about him, that focuses on his activities, and, which a reasonable viewer might conclude makes damning implications about his conduct.”
Schneider brought the defamation suit against the docuseries Quiet on Set, directed by Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz and about popular TV shows created and run by the prolific Nickelodeon producer, after it premiered in March 2024.
The ID series alleged that, behind the scenes, underage stars and crew were treated inappropriately on TV sets run by Schneider. Nickelodeon and Schneider, a former child actor turned producer, parted ways in mid-2018 after a 25-year working relationship. The decision to not extend Schneider’s deal at the studio also followed an investigation by then-parent ViacomCBS that claimed abusive behavior by the prolific TV creator toward people he worked with on set.
Schneider in March apologized for his on-set behavior, but his lawsuit denied he was involved in any sexual abuse on or behind the scenes. “This action arises out of the recent television docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (“Quiet on Set”) in which defendants falsely state or imply that Schneider — a well-known television producer, creator and/or writer responsible for some of history’s most beloved children’s television shows — sexually abused the children who worked on his television shows. These statements are fabrications,” his legal action stated.
Judge Chowdhury agreed with Schneider’s lawyers “that defamation can be implied, that the trailer and documentary state or imply Schneider sexually abused children who worked on his show and that Schneider was a child sexual abuser.”
The Quiet on Set series, produced by Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television — Nonfiction, was also produced in association with Business Insider.
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