For anyone who hasn’t paid super-close attention to Nickelodeon-related reports in recent years, Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on the Set could very well be the most surprising entry in the 2024 TV schedule. The high-profile docuseries shines a fresh light on a variety of disturbing allegations, anecdotes and reports surrounding the series and set culture crafted by ousted Nickelodeon creative Dan Schneider, who at one time employed a man later arrested for child sexual abuse, among other charges. Only now, more than 20 years after that arrest, was the previously unidentified victim revealed to be The Amanda Show vet Drake Bell.
The second installment of Quiet on the Set, titled “Hidden in Plain Sight,” used its final segment to draw attention to dialogue coach Brian Peck, who turned small roles in Good Burger and Kenan & Kel into a regular day job working behind the scenes on All That and other shows. (Not to ignore his on-screen persona as the non-sequitur character Pickleboy.) Peck’s various charges were listed, with the docuseries’ on-camera participants like All That’s Kyle Sullivan, Giovonnie Samuels and more talking about how well-liked he was by all the kids and their parents, and the episode ended with Drake & Josh’s namesake star Drake Bell sitting down for his own interview.
Said conversation, which will presumably play out in the third episode (which will be available to stream with a Max subscription), marks the first time Bell has spoken publicly about his allegations against Peck, whose arrest in 2003 led to 16 months in prison, after which he had to register as a child sex offender. The court records remained sealed for all those years without Bell’s identity being revealed, but the project’s directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz spoke to Variety about how they were able to get the actor/musician to appear on camera to talk about those traumatic experiences. According to Schwartz:
Pretty early in the process, we learned that there have been several people who’ve been arrested and convicted of child sex abuse at Nickelodeon. We began to hear whispers that the person who was the victim in Brian Peck’s case was Drake Bell, but we wanted to be really careful and really thoughtful approaching someone who is a survivor of child sex abuse, especially someone who has, at that point, clearly remained very private about that.
Emma Schwartz
Understandably, they were careful with how they chose to approach this matter, since coming at it from the wrong perspective could derail things before they went anywhere. But they kept it professional and on the right side of the line, and were able to gain contact in order to make the big request. Schwartz continued:
But at a certain juncture, when we were pretty certain it was him, I wrote a letter and that letter began a back and forth and a conversation that eventually led to his willingness to sit down on camera. Just sitting down on camera wasn’t easy. It wasn’t as if he went home that day and said, 'Oh, that was the greatest decision I made.' It’s been a process and a journey, trying to sort of heal from the trauma that he experienced more than two decades ago.
Emma Schwartz
To the co-director's point, it was possibly already a large step for Drake Bell to make just to agree to communicate with them via letter-writing, even without the promise of more to come. But with enough time and diligence, the right conversations were had, and Bell felt comfortable enough to finally let that particular skeleton out of the closet in such a big way.
On top of that reveal, the docuseries also unveiled letters that were written by various Nickelodeon employees in support of Brian Peck. (Similar to the messages Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis wrote supporting Danny Masterson ahead of their former co-star's prison sentencing over his guilty rape verdict.) The letters were with the other sealed records, but the directors petitioned the court to have them publicized, and were successful, though it's unclear if Quiet on the Set will be naming the names of those who were on Peck's side at the time.
When asked about the toughest aspect of bringing Quiet on the Set to life, Drake Bell was central to both directors' answers, though Mary Robertson specifically pinpointed the talk with Bell's father as the hardest. In her words:
I think listening to Joe, Drake’s dad, share his account. Listening to him and thinking carefully about how to create a safe environment for him to be personable and share experiences that he felt were really upsetting. I think that that was hard, but it also felt important.
Mary Robertson
Schwartz and Robertson confirmed they were made privy to the fact that Brian Peck knows that the letters were unsealed, and they also confirmed reports that Peck followed his prison sentence by landing a job at Disney for Suite Life of Zack and Cody. That info was corroborated, with Peck revealed to have done voiceover work for three episodes of the show, which were reportedly handled without him dealing with any other cast or crew members. And it's stated that once Disney execs learned he was a convicted child molester, he was fired and his credits were swapped with another actor.
For what it's worth, Drake Bell has been at the center of quite a few curious headlines in recent years, and pled guilty in 2021 after being charged with child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveiles. At the time of the case, he went public with the news that he'd been married since 2018 to Janet Von Schmeling, with whom he'd had a son. The couple split in late 2022 reportedly due to his legal troubles, and she filed for divorce in April 2023. Not long after, he was reported missing to the police, with claims that he was a danger to himself, but he later revealed that situation was all overblown.
Quiet on the Set will air its third and fourth installments on Investigation Discovery and Max on Monday, March 18, at 9:00 p.m. ET.
