Dan Schneider | |
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Born | Daniel James Schneider January 14, 1966 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1984–present |
Organization | Schneider's Bakery |
Spouse | |
Website | danschneider |
Daniel James Schneider (born January 14, 1966) is an American television producer, screenwriter, and actor. He created and produced a string of children's shows on Nickelodeon from 1994 to 2019. In the years since 2018, he has faced significant media coverage and controversy regarding allegations of inappropriate behavior.
Schneider started his career acting in minor roles in several teen comedy films of the 1980s such as Making the Grade (1984), Better Off Dead (1985), Hot Resort (1985), Happy Together (1989), and The Big Picture (1989). On television, he played Dennis Blunden on the ABC television sitcom Head of the Class (1986–1991). In 1993, he played Walter Peters in the ABC sitcom Home Free which ran for only one season. Schneider is the co-president of his production company Schneider's Bakery, which he founded in 1996. [1]
He changed his career to working in children's television specifically for Nickelodeon. There, Schneider started as a writer and producer on the shows such as All That (1994–2005), and Kenan & Kel (1996–2000) before creating The Amanda Show (1999–2002). He gained fame for serving as the creator, executive producer and writer for numerous children's shows such as Drake & Josh (2004–2007), Zoey 101 (2005–2008), iCarly (2007–2012), Victorious (2010–2013), Sam & Cat (2013–2014), and later Henry Danger (2014–2020), Game Shakers (2015–2019), and The Adventures of Kid Danger (2018). He also wrote and acted in the film Good Burger (1997) and wrote and co-produced the film Big Fat Liar (2002).
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, details of his alleged sexual misconduct and gender discrimination allegations towards Nickelodeon employees, many of them underage, were made public beginning in 2018. In response to the accusations, Nickelodeon ended their long-time partnership with Schneider. After a three-year hiatus, he discussed writing and selling a new pilot to a different network. The Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (2024) detailed the numerous allegations against him of fostering a toxic workplace environment, which he has partly denied. [2]
Daniel James Schneider was born in Memphis, Tennessee, [3] on January 14, 1966, [4] to a Jewish family, the son of Harry and Carol Aisenberg Schneider. He has three sisters: Sally, Nancy, and Kathy. [5] In high school, Schneider was involved in theater and was senior class president. [6] He found work repairing computers upon returning to Memphis, but soon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. [7] [8]
In the 1980s, Schneider appeared in minor roles in several films including the teen comedies Making the Grade (1984) starring Judd Nelson, and Better Off Dead (1985) with John Cusack. He also acted in comedy Hot Resort (1985), the romantic comedy Happy Together (1989) starring Patrick Dempsey, the comedy The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin Bacon and the drama Listen to Me (1989). In 1986, he played Dennis Blunden on the ABC television sitcom Head of the Class . The series ran for five seasons from 1986 to 1991. In 1993, he starred in the series Home Free .[ citation needed ]
Schneider co-hosted the 1988 Kids' Choice Awards, where he met Nickelodeon development executive Albie Hecht. [9] In 1994, he played Shawn Eckardt in Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story, one of two made-for-television films about the Tonya Harding–Nancy Kerrigan scandal. Schneider has made cameo appearances in TV series that he has helped to create and/or produce: All That , and its subsequent film Good Burger , Kenan & Kel , The Amanda Show , Zoey 101 , iCarly , and Henry Danger . [10] [11] Schneider also does voice-overs in many projects.[ citation needed ]
In 1993, Hecht, now head of production for the network, hired Schneider to work on a new sketch-comedy show for children called All That . After writing the pilot episode, Schneider worked as producer, executive producer, and writer on the show. Schneider quit All That after the fourth season to run The Amanda Show (1999–2002) starring Amanda Bynes. [12] [13] The show's ratings soon declined, and it was cancelled in the 2000–2001 season. Schneider himself often appeared on The Amanda Show as a frustrated old man who was frequently the victim of strange prank phone calls.[ citation needed ] Nickelodeon then asked Schneider to come back and revamp All That in 2001. Schneider agreed, and All That returned to Nickelodeon in 2002. It ran for another four seasons until 2005, bringing All That to the end of its 10-season run.[ citation needed ]
From 1996 to 1997, Schneider was an executive producer and a writer for Kenan & Kel starring Keenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Schneider guest-starred in an episode and was an executive producer during the first two seasons. He continued working as a consultant for the remainder of the series. He wrote the 1997 film Good Burger , starring Kenan and Kel and featuring Schneider himself in a supporting role. The film was spun off from a popular All That sketch produced by Schneider. While a modest commercial success [14] it received negative reviews from critics [15] with Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times giving the film two stars out of four, writing "It didn't do much for me, but I am prepared to predict that its target audience will have a good time." [16] In 1998, he began his career as a show creator with Guys Like Us for UPN. The series is one of only two series Schneider created that was produced for broadcast network television. The show was cancelled after its first season due to low ratings and poor reviews.[ citation needed ]
Schneider co-created What I Like About You with former Friends writer/producer Wil Calhoun. It premiered in 2002 on The WB and ran until 2006. Schneider was an executive producer during the show's first two seasons. He wrote and co-produced the comedy film Big Fat Liar (2002) starring Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, and Paul Giamatti which earned a total of $52.4 million at the worldwide box office. [17] Schneider returned to Nickelodeon in 2004 with the show Drake & Josh . The series starred Drake Bell and Josh Peck, who were actors on The Amanda Show, and Miranda Cosgrove, who would later star in another of Schneider's shows, iCarly . Overlapping both Drake & Josh and iCarly, Schneider created the show Zoey 101 , which starred Jamie Lynn Spears. Zoey 101 was Schneider's first and to date only single-camera format program and the first to be presented in a letterboxed format.[ citation needed ] Schneider guest-starred in the Zoey 101 series finale "Chasing Zoey", playing a cab driver.[ citation needed ]
After the show was cancelled in 2008, Schneider began working on a new project for one of the actresses, Victoria Justice. That show, Victorious , premiered in 2010 after the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards. It starred Justice, Ariana Grande, Elizabeth Gillies, Leon Thomas III, Matt Bennett and Avan Jogia. [18] A dual-show spin-off of both iCarly and Victorious called Sam & Cat premiered in 2013. [19] It was cancelled after 36 episodes. On March 9, 2010, it was announced that Schneider himself would sign a deal with Nickelodeon. [20] Following the cancellation of Sam & Cat, Schneider co-created Henry Danger with Dana Olsen. [21] The show premiered in 2014. The following year, Schneider created Game Shakers , which reunited him with actor and Nickelodeon veteran Kel Mitchell. Schneider also served as executive producer.
On March 26, 2018, Nickelodeon announced that it would not be extending its production deal with Schneider and his company Schneider's Bakery. [22] In addition, the network also announced that his comedy Game Shakers would not be renewed for a fourth season. [23] His remaining Nickelodeon comedy Henry Danger would be receiving a fifth season and a new showrunner. [13]
After a three-year hiatus, Schneider announced that he had several new projects in development; The New York Times commented that he seemed "set on returning to television and reintroducing his brand of comedy to new audiences". [24] In a June 2021 interview, he described an "ambitious and very different" television pilot that he had written and sold to a different network. Schneider said that this proposed show is aimed at more of an adult audience than his previous work. [24]
Schneider has been described as "the Norman Lear of children's television" by The New York Times , [25] "the Aaron Sorkin of teen sitcoms" by Gawker , [26] and "the Willy Wonka of television" by Forbes . [27] Variety cited his "Jedi Master-like acumen for creating shows that appeal to kids in the awkward years of adolescence". [28]
Deadline Hollywood , the first to report about Nickelodeon parting ways with Schneider in March 2018, [29] reported that there were complaints about Schneider's behavior. [30] Nickelodeon did not respond to Deadline's report and Schneider's representative refused to comment. [31]
In June 2021, the New York Times reported that Nickelodeon's decision to sever ties with Schneider came after its parent company ViacomCBS completed an internal investigation that found evidence of Schneider verbally abusing his colleagues. Some of his colleagues told the newspaper that they found him to be difficult to work with and "prone to tantrums and angry emails". The investigation did not find evidence of sexual misconduct. [24] [30] When asked about the allegations, Schneider defended his work and said that if people found him to be hard to work with, it was because he maintained "high standards" as showrunner. [30]
In August 2022, Insider reported several new allegations from former actors and employees, including accusations of gender discrimination and asking for "massages from adult female colleagues". [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] A person "close to Schneider" said Schneider "regrets ever asking anyone [for a massage] and agrees it was not appropriate". [35] Russell Hicks, a former executive at Nickelodeon, denied allegations of "sexualized" scenes in Schneider's shows and claimed that, "everyday on every set, were the parents and caregivers and their friends watching every single frame of footage and listening to every joke. Every single thing that Dan ever did on any of his shows was carefully scrutinized and approved". [34] [37] [38]
The 2024 documentary miniseries Quiet on Set discussed Schneider's alleged toxic workplace behavior at Nickelodeon. He responded by apologizing for his treatment of colleagues, but denied other allegations regarding the sexualization of children in his past productions. [39] Schneider received support from former Nickelodeon star Madisyn Shipman, who shared that she had "nothing but positive things to say" about Schneider based on her experience on set. [40] In May 2024, Schneider filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Sony Pictures Television, and the series' directors, claiming the docuseries defamed him by falsely implying he sexually abused child actors he worked with. [41] In a statement, Schneider acknowledged "mistakes and poor judgment" exhibited during his time at Nickelodeon, and expressed that reactions to the series left him "no choice but to take legal action against the people behind it." [42]
Schneider has also been accused of behaving inappropriately with some of the young actresses who appeared in shows he developed. Alexa Nikolas, who appeared in Zoey 101 for two seasons from 2004 to 2006, has said that, during her time on the show, she did "not feel safe" around Schneider, [43] [44] and that he had pressured her to wear revealing clothing and responded to her complaints about the way her costar Jamie Lynn Spears treated her by screaming at her. [45] Lori Beth Denberg, who appeared in All That from 1994 to 1998, accused Schneider of touching her inappropriately, showing her pornography, and attempting to initiate phone sex with her when she was 19. [46]
Schneider met food blogger Lisa Lillien at Nickelodeon in the 1990s, and the two were married in 2002. [47] They lived in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles until 2016, [48] when they purchased a $9 million mansion from heiress Lori Milgard in Hidden Hills, California. [49] After being overweight for much of his life, Schneider revealed in 2021 that he had lost over 100 lb (45 kg) since departing from Nickelodeon. [24]
Year | Title | Credit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | Making the Grade | Blimp | |
1985 | Better Off Dead | Ricky Smith | |
Hot Resort | Chuck | ||
1989 | Happy Together | Stan | |
Listen to Me | Nathan Gore | ||
The Big Picture | Jonathan Tristan-Bennet | ||
1997 | Good Burger | Mr. Bailey | also screenwriter and co-producer |
2002 | Big Fat Liar | — | Screenwriter, story, and producer |
Acting credits
Year | Title | Credit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986–1991 | Head of the Class | Dennis Blunden | |
1993 | Home Free | Walter Peters | |
1994–1999 | All That | Mr. Bailey | |
1994 | Tonya and Nancy: The Inside Story | Shawn Eckardt | |
1996 | Kenan & Kel | Angus | "Baggin' Saggin' Kel" (season 1: episode 12) |
2000–2001 | The Amanda Show | Mr. Oldman | 9 episodes |
2008 | Zoey 101 | Taxi driver | "Chasing Zoey" (season 4: episode 12) |
2008 | The Mighty B! | Factory Manager | Voice, "Something's Wrong With This Taffy" (season 1: episode 13) |
2012 | iCarly | Meekalito / Police Officer / Various | 9 episodes; Cameos |
2013–2014 | Sam & Cat | Tandy (red robot) | Voice, recurring role |
Creator and producer roles
Year | Title | Creator | Writer | Producer | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1994–2005 | All That | No | Yes | Yes | Nickelodeon | Writer (Seasons 1–4, 6–10), producer (Seasons 1–2) Exec producer (Seasons 6–10), guest star |
1996–2000 | Kenan & Kel | No | Yes | Yes | Writer (Seasons 1–2), exec producer (Seasons 1–2); consultant (Seasons 3–4), guest star | |
1998–1999 | Guys Like Us | Yes | No | Executive | UPN | |
1999–2002 | The Amanda Show | Yes | Yes | Yes | Nickelodeon | Also director (Seasons 2–3), recurring guest star |
2002–2006 | What I Like About You | Co-creator | Yes | Executive | The WB | Executive producer (Seasons 1–2); executive consultant (Seasons 3–4) |
2004–2007 | Drake & Josh | Yes | Yes | Executive | Nickelodeon | |
2005–2008 | Zoey 101 | Yes | Yes | Executive | Guest star ("Chasing Zoey") | |
2007–2012 | iCarly | Yes | Yes | Executive | Guest star | |
2010–2013 | Victorious | Yes | Yes | Executive | Actor (voice) | |
2013–2014 | Sam & Cat | Yes | Yes | Executive | ||
2014–2020 | Henry Danger | Co-creator | Yes | Executive | Also director and guest star | |
2015–2019 | Game Shakers | Yes | Yes | Executive | ||
2018 | The Adventures of Kid Danger | Yes | Yes | Executive | ||
2020–2024 | Danger Force | Co-creator | No | No | Co-creator (credit only) | |
2021–2023 | iCarly | Yes | No | No | Paramount+ | Creator (credit only) |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated Production | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | CableACE Award | Children's Series – 7 and Older | All That | Nominated | |
2000 | Burbank International Children's Film Festival Award | Best Short Comedy | The Amanda Show | Won | |
2005 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Children's Program | Zoey 101 | Nominated | [50] |
2009 | iCarly | Nominated | [51] | ||
2010 | BAFTA Children's Award | Best International | Nominated | ||
Best International | Victorious | Nominated | |||
Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Children's Program | iCarly | Nominated | [52] | |
2011 | Nominated | [53] | |||
Victorious | Nominated | ||||
2014 | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award | Lifetime Achievement Award | Won |
Frederick Aaron Savage is an American actor and director. He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years (1988–1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as People's Choice Awards and Young Artist Awards. He is also known for playing the Grandson in The Princess Bride, and voiced the title protagonist in Oswald. Savage has worked as a director, and in 2005 later starred in the television sitcom Crumbs. Savage returned to acting in the television series The Grinder, as well as the Netflix series Friends from College.
The Amanda Show is an American sketch comedy and variety show television series created by Dan Schneider and starring Amanda Bynes that aired on Nickelodeon from October 16, 1999, to September 21, 2002. A spin-off of All That, another Nickelodeon variety show featuring Bynes, The Amanda Show's cast members include Drake Bell, Nancy Sullivan, John Kassir, Raquel Lee, and Josh Peck. Writers for the show include Christy Stratton, Jenny Kilgen, Dan Schneider, John Hoberg, Steven Molaro, and Andrew Hill Newman.
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, acting coach and acting teacher. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom The Ropers (1979–1980), as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998), George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Maura Pfefferman on Transparent (2014–2017). For his role in the latter, Tambor earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. In 2015, he was also awarded a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Pfefferman.
Lori Beth Denberg is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her work as an original cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That and for her role as Lydia Liza Gutman on The WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show.
Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and game show host. He is best known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the comedy series Black-ish (2014–2022), Marlin Boulet on the drama series K-Ville (2007), and NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama Law & Order. He has also had major roles in feature films such as Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004), Hustle & Flow (2005), The Departed (2006), Transformers (2007), and Scream 4 (2011).
Kyle Orlando Massey, also known mononymously as Massey, is a former American actor and rapper. He starred in the Disney Channel sitcoms That's So Raven and its spin-off Cory in the House, in which he played Cory Baxter. In 2005, Massey starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Life Is Ruff. He has released several rap songs for Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records. He also provided the voice of Milo in the Disney animated series Fish Hooks and was the runner-up on the 11th season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.
Zoey 101 is an American comedy drama television series created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. It aired from January 9, 2005, to May 2, 2008, spanning a total of 61 episodes across four seasons.
Alexa Nikolas is an American YouTuber and former actress. Nikolas began acting as a child and is best known for her role as Nicole Bristow on the Nickelodeon television series Zoey 101. She also appeared on various other television series, including That's Life, Hidden Hills, Revelations, and The Walking Dead.
Christopher Michael Massey is an American rapper and actor, best known for his role as Michael Barret on the Nickelodeon television series Zoey 101 (2005–2008).
Telegraph is the debut studio album by singer-songwriter Drake Bell, released on August 23, 2005, on Nine Yards Records. It was recorded by Bell and producer Michael Corcoran, as well as a few friends in a simple home studio using a Digidesign Digi 002.
Christopher Mason Savino is an American writer, comic book artist and former animator. He is well-known as the creator of the animated series The Loud House. Savino has also worked on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Mickey Mouse and Johnny Test.
iCarly is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007, to November 23, 2012. The series tells the story of Carly Shay, a teenager who creates and hosts her own web show called iCarly with her best friends, Sam and Freddie in the apartment loft that she and her older brother, Spencer live in. As the web show quickly becomes an internet phenomenon, the characters are tasked with balancing their normal teenage lives with the wacky situations their newfound fame lands them in. By the fourth season, their school friend, Gibby also works with them on the web show.
James A. "Jake" Farrow is an American television writer and retired actor. He wrote for Fox's Arrested Development and two shows on The WB: Off Centre and What I Like About You. He later worked as a writer and producer on several Nickelodeon shows, including Drake & Josh, iCarly, Victorious, Sam & Cat, Henry Danger,Game Shakers, The Adventures of Kid Danger, and Danger Force. As an actor, Farrow is known for the role of Gavin Mitchell on Drake & Josh and for voicing Rex Powers, Robbie Shapiro's ventriloquist dummy character on Victorious.
Victorious is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. The series revolves around aspiring singer Tori Vega, a teenager who attends a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts High School, after taking her older sister Trina's place in a showcase while getting into screwball situations on a daily basis. On her first day at Hollywood Arts, she meets Andre Harris, Robbie Shapiro, Rex Powers, Jade West, Cat Valentine, and Beck Oliver. The series premiered after the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards. The series won Favorite TV Show award at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards and 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, beating out iCarly. Victorious earned four Emmy nominations.
All That is an American sketch comedy children's television series created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions and by Schneider's Bakery in season ten. The pilot episode was originally shown as a special "sneak peek" on April 16, 1994, with the show officially debuting as a regular series on January 21, 1995.
Steven Molaro is an American television producer and writer. He has worked on such productions as Freddie, The Class, Complete Savages, Nickelodeon's All That, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly and The WB's What I Like About You. From 2007 to 2019, he was a producer/writer on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Molaro also co-created its prequel spinoff, Young Sheldon, with Chuck Lorre.
Henry Danger is an American comedy television series created by Dan Schneider and Dana Olsen that aired on Nickelodeon from July 26, 2014 to March 21, 2020. The series stars Jace Norman, Cooper Barnes, Riele Downs, Sean Ryan Fox, Ella Anderson, and Michael D. Cohen.
Jace Lee Norman is an American actor. He starred as Henry Hart in the Nickelodeon television series Henry Danger from 2014 to 2020.
Danger Force is an American comedy television series developed by Christopher J. Nowak that premiered on Nickelodeon on March 28, 2020. It lasted three seasons, with the final episode airing on February 21, 2024. The series is a spinoff of Henry Danger and includes returning stars Cooper Barnes and Michael D. Cohen. Starring alongside them are Havan Flores, Terrence Little Gardenhigh, Dana Heath, and Luca Luhan.
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV is a 2024 American five-part documentary television series that details the toxic behind-the-scenes world of children's television programs from the 1990s to the 2000s, with a special focus on Dan Schneider's tenure as a producer and showrunner at Nickelodeon. The first four episodes aired March 17–18, 2024, on Investigation Discovery, and the fifth episode aired on April 7. The series was simultaneously released on Max and Discovery+, and produced by Maxine Productions with Sony Pictures Television Nonfiction and Business Insider; it was loosely based on a Business Insider article about Nickelodeon from 2022.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)These days, after his three-year hiatus, Schneider seems set on returning to television ... to bring forward an 'ambitious and very different' pilot that he has written and sold to another network.