Paramount+ is set to premiere a reboot of the Nick teen series iCarly on June 17th, starring three stars from the original series. It's not surprising news, given how all of the streamers are mining whatever old IP they have available. But it's a reminder of the the mysterious disappearance of Dan Schneider, who co-created and produced a number of successful series for Nickelodeon in the 1990s and early 2000s.
After writing and producing on the variety series All That and Keenan & Kel, Schneider created and produced The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, iCarly, Sam & Cat and Henry Danger. At the time, he was described as the "Norman Lear of kids television" and while that's a bit much, he was the most influential teen show producer of the era. But by all reports, he was also a difficult person to work with and work for. He was well-known in the industry for his tirades towards cast, crew and any network executives that were unlucky enough to get in his way. And in early 2018, it all came to an end when Nickelodeon suddenly severed ties with Schneider and his production company Schneider's Bakery. The network paid him some undisclosed amount of money to essentially go away (reportedly in the range of $7-10 million). But he appears to still retain some level of his ownership interest in the series he created and produced. Including iCarly.
Now you wouldn't know that from the coverage of the iCarly premiere, which seems to all be designed to pretend this problem doesn't exist. Schneider hasn't given an interview since he split with Nickelodeon and I have spent a depressing amount of time over the past two years trying to piece together an in-depth story. No one at Viacom is willing to discuss the matter publicly & despite having spoken with close to 40 people who worked on one or more of his shows, I was never able to nail down some of the primary details enough to publish some of the more troubling allegations. Although it's worth noting that there are some actors who have pointedly refused to participate in revivals of their shows or even acknowledge that Schneider exists.
Through most of his producing career, Schneider has had a reputation in the industry as being a difficult person to deal with. But according to multiple cast and crew members who worked with him over the years, the behavior that began to escalate during The Amanda Show culminated in several incidents during the production of the Sam & Cat series that led Nickelodeon to wrap up the show prematurely after one primary cast member refused to work with him after what the actor's representative told network executives was "relentless emotional abuse."
All of this is made more complicated by some of the crazy stories that surround Schneider. This April 2018 piece of mine discusses some of them, which will send you deep into the Hollywood Pedophilia conspiracy rabbit hole. For the record, while I have heard some allegations of fairly horrific behavior by Schneider, pedophilia isn't one of them. But it's a believable allegation to many people, given some of Schneider's unsettling social media posts, which had a strange fascination with the feet of various cast members of his shows.
It's not as if executives at Viacom weren't aware of problems created by Schneider. According to multiple sources, the company human resources department had received multiple complaints over the years about Schneider, which were ignored and/or settled privately. There were complaints about his behavior from network executives, with one former exec ultimately refusing to deal with him directly. In fact, Nickelodeon executives seemed willing for years to ignore the issue until a combination of slumping ratings and an increase in Schneider's problems with executives made the issue impossible to brush aside.
According to sources familiar with the events leading up to Schneider's exit from Nickelodeon, an upper-level Viacom executive ordered an investigation into Schneider's behavior. Although in a particularly cruel turn, the investigation was designed not to to alter Schneider's behavior, but was to be used if necessary by the network if the relationship between the network and Schneider continued to deteriorate. It's not clear precisely what event led to Schneider's departure from the network, but some of it is apparently connected with a meeting between Schneider and network executives, who wanted him to move out of a production space long used by his production company.
None of the long-standing issues were dealt with at the time and there are a number of allegations out there just waiting to explode. And if that is going to happen, it's likely to be brought on by former co-workers and employees who haven't forgotten how they were treated. And who see the return of some of his shows as a slap in the face.
If you are in corporate communications at ViacomCBS, the temptation is to just ignore the issue and hope it doesn't explode. It's been interesting to watch the publicity efforts around the relaunch of iCarly tie itself in knots as the network attempts to pretend Schneider is obscure figure from the show's past that shall not be named.
But while it can take much too long, these stories almost always surface. Usually at the worst possible time. Like when you're trying to rebrand and relaunch a streaming service that is the core part of your business moving forward.
FYI, here is some of the pieces I've written about Schneider over the past couple of years. They are not nearly as specific as I would like. But that's the challenge when you are trying to report out a story where so many people are still afraid of the consequences of talking publicly.
03/28/2018: Dan Schneider's Exit From Nickelodeon Leaves Many Answered Questions
04/02/2018: Former Viacom Exec: 'I Never Saw Any Evidence' Of Sexual Misconduct With Dan Schneider
04/04/2018: #Pizzagate, Hollywood And The Great #Pedogate Conspiracy
09/22/2018: Guest Column: 'This Is Me Screaming'
05/20/2020: Whatever Happened To Dan Schneider?
