While Dan Schneider’s alleged abuse and inappropriate behavior towards child actors on Nickelodeon during the early 2000s has been public knowledge for years, the new Max docuseries “Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” exposed the full extent of the abuse, including the actions of other higher-ups that have previously gone overlooked. I had known somewhat about what had happened, but “Quiet On Set” did a great job telling the victims’ stories.

For me, the docuseries was very victim-focused, a bit of a rarity for TV series of this variety. Other shows have tended to romanticize, making the perpetrator more sympathetic, or not include many interviews or information about the actual victims. We get interviews from victims’ friends, family and their testimony throughout the documentary. It was refreshing and felt like the directors wanted to tell the story of the victims instead of going for shock value.

The production quality wasn’t anything new, however. The series used lighting and scene changes that have been used in similar documentaries for decades, but they used them well. The recreation scenes didn’t throw me off while trying to listen to the interviews; they made it easier to visualize what was happening and how it must have felt in those situations. The series also had good pacing, taking the time to go back and add more information for further context while also not dwelling on a topic for too long.

If you wanted more information not included in the episodes, they released a fifth episode with deleted interviews and other scenes. This was a good move because it meant that the producers made sure to focus on certain aspects of the interviews and overall story, but also made sure to put out bonus content if people wanted more.

Overall, I enjoyed “Quiet On Set” as a documentary and how the directors chose to tell the story, it is certainly one of the better-done true-crime documentaries recently released.