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‘Quiet on Set’ docuseries features MN man’s reporting
Rick Ellis, Inver Grove Heights resident & founder of AllYourScreens.com, started asking questions after producer Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon severed ties in 2018.
INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn — Through his website AllYourScreens.com, Rick Ellis writes about all things TV.
Ellis, who lives in Inver Grove Heights, has been doing some version of this since the late ’90s but it became his full-time job about seven or eight years ago.
In 2018, after producer Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon severed ties, Ellis started asking questions. It led to Ellis writing many articles on the subject. Years later, Ellis received an unexpected email.
“They [directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz] had apparently decided to do some sort of a documentary about Dan Schneider and the whole Nickelodeon team TV era, and they were looking around and really there were only a couple of people who had written anything about it,” Ellis recalled.
More than 16 million people have watched Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, according to Investigation Discovery and Max/discovery+. It’s the largest audience of an unscripted series since the launch of Max.
The docuseries is described as uncovering the toxic culture behind some of the most iconic children’s shows on Nickelodeon from the late ’90s to early 2000s.
Ellis is one of the journalists featured in the documentary which may come as a surprise to some people, considering he’s based out of Minnesota.
“I think they really have a hard time wrapping their brains around it,” Ellis said. “I’m able to do it for a couple of reasons because I’ve been around a long time. So I know a lot of people in the industry and I don’t necessarily have to be there to beat down people’s doors. And just the way things are now… there’s Zoom calls and it’s so easy to be close to things.”
The series heavily features Schneider and his time with Nickelodeon.
“He produced a lot of these shows that people remember from that era. Sam & Cat, Victorious, iCarly. All these different shows he created, he was a showrunner on. He was not an easy person to work for,” Ellis said.
Quiet on Set accuses Schneider of everything from inappropriate to abusive behavior. He responded to the docuseries in a YouTube video.
“There’s a lot of incentive if you’re 10 years old, and you’re on a show, and you’re making more money than your entire family. You’re going to take a lot of abuse. You’re going to do a lot of things, which probably you wouldn’t do if you thought about it or you were a little older,” Ellis said.
In the documentary, former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell said he was sexually abused as a child by Brian Peck. The former Nickelodeon dialogue coach pleaded no contest in 2004 and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
“I talked to the one of the producers, Emma, who did the Drake Bell interview and she said that was the hardest interview she’s ever done. Because it’s just so heartfelt and so you can just tell the pain in the guy. Just watching it, it’s really difficult,” Ellis said. “It was just a really horrible experience for a lot of people. It’s amazing talking to to someone… it happened 20 years ago and they still basically have a PTSD response to it. It’s just so horrible; they just don’t really want to talk about it.”
Ellis said he’s glad the documentary got made but as far as its larger impact?
“I guess there will be some things put into place so that this doesn’t happen again and that will protect some of the kids. But as far as the people who are involved in this getting any sort of impact on their lives? I don’t think there’s going to be much, unfortunately,” Ellis said.
In a statement to KARE 11, a Nickelodeon spokesperson said, “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct. Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Ellis said he plans to keep on writing about the topic to his 80,000 newsletter subscribers.
A bonus fifth episode of Quiet on Set will be released April 7, digging deeper into the topics explored in the previous episodes. It will launch on Investigation Discovery and then stream on Max.
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Officials say a speeding Chevy Avalanche set off a chain reaction, eventually involving seven vehicles.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are investigating after a speeding vehicle set off a chain reaction crash near interstates 94 and 394 involving multiple vehicles, leaving one person dead and several with injuries.
The fatal incident – which involved seven vehicles – unfolded around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on the Dunwoody exit between I-94 and Lyndale Avenue. A report on the Minnesota State Patrol website says a Chevrolet Avalanche was traveling at a high rate of speed on the exit ramp when it struck several vehicles and inflicted severe damage.
The driver of the Chevy Avalanche – a 29-year-old man from St. Paul – suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The State Patrol says it appears he was under the influence of alcohol. A 20-year-old female passenger in the Avalanche was badly injured and is listed in life-threatening condition.
According to court records, the driver was previously convicted of driving with marijuana and an open bottle of alcohol in 2017, and driving carelessly in 2021.
Twelve other people were involved in the crash, including a 26-year-old Minneapolis woman who did not survive. She was listed as a passenger in a 2015 Jeep Cherokee, and her identity will be released after the medical examiner notifies the family.
Six other people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including two children – one a 2-year-old boy.
It took hours to reconstruct the crash and clear the scene before the exit was reopened for Thursday morning traffic.
“All of these crashes are 100% preventable, every single time,” said Lauren Johnson with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
MADD is currently working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on regulations that would require all new cars to come equipped with sensors that would detect and stop impaired drivers.
“The technology for these vehicles to stop impaired driving, it’s already there,” Johnson said. “We can easily have it be in vehicles, and we know that this would save 10s of 1000s of lives.”
According to a 2023 report by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, since 2020, nearly one-third of all fatal crashes were alcohol-related.
“It truly is heartbreaking because we see this happen again and again, and we are working towards a vision of no more victims,” Johnson said.
The Columbia Heights Police Department is asking for the public’s help as they search for a missing man.
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. — Authorities are searching for a man who hasn’t been in contact with his family in six months and is considered endangered.
According to the Columbia Heights Police Department, 62-year-old David Alan Klint, was last known to be staying in a facility in the Twin Cities area.
He isn’t known to have a car or phone, and officials say his family is concerned for his welfare as he has no similar history.
Klint is described as 5’6, 150 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is encouraged to contact police at (763) 427-1212 and reference case number 24236092.
Similar to coal, researchers believe the carbon product holds the key to minimizing human impact on air, soil and water.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota researchers are on the cutting edge of the fight against climate change.
The Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) and the city of Minneapolis are using Biochar to clean up pollution from different angles.
“It’s a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere,” explains NRRI researcher Eric Singsaas.
Singsaas and his research team in Duluth are creating this black carbon product by collecting wood damaged by storms and invasive species like the Emerald Ash Borer. Then, they incinerate it in an oxygen-free environment.
The result: small black bricks that look like charcoal, but prevent a more harmful substance from being released into air.
“If you just take a piece of wood and it falls on the ground, it will naturally decay and turn back into carbon dioxide,” Singsaas said. “If you take a piece of wood and you convert it in this process of pyrolysis, into Biochar, it’s a stable form of carbon.
“It sequesters that carbon away from the atmosphere,” Singsaas said.
Once biochar is made, NRRI researchers are putting it to use against an ever-growing list of threats to the climate.
“Biochar is one potential material that can be useful for filtering contaminants from stormwater,” NRRI researcher Bridget Ulrich said.
Ulrich’s biochar work focuses on filtering E. coli bacteria out of water sources and streams before they reach Minnesota’s lakes and rivers. ”But we’re also interested in organic contaminants like pesticides and PFAS, so biochar can also act as an adsorbent for those contaminants as well,” Ulrich said.
NRRI is also experimenting with mixing biochar and concrete, attempting to make the construction material more environmentally friendly.
“It improves things like the setting time of the concrete,” Singsaas said.
On the Iron Range, Singsaas believes the steel industry could one day swap coal for biochar in carrying out the forging process. “Coal is responsible for a lot of carbon emissions from those industries,” Singsaas shared.
“The Swiss Army knife of climate tools,” said Jim Doten, Carbon Sequestration Program Manager for the city of Minneapolis while explaining the allure of Biochar.
Standing in a green cit plot known as Ventura Village, Doten explained to KARE 11’s Audrey Russo how biochar transformed an eyesore vacant lot into a flourishing community garden.
“We mix it with compost and it makes both of them work better. It’s the synergy,” Doten said. “It really helps hold the water, it helps with the drought resistance.”
Doten is no Johnny Come Lately to the promise of Biochar – He’s studied the science since 2012. With help from a $400,000 federal grant, he’ll take what he’s learned and scale it up near the University of Minnesota campus.
“What we’re doing there is we’re building a facility that will turn woodchips into biochar,” Doten told Russo.
The goal is to complete the facility by the end of the year, with biochar production beginning in early 2025. It’s a timeline that puts Minnesota ahead of the curve. “Right now, no city has this type of operation,” Doten said. “It’s a great place to be a leader and an innovator.”
Once the facility is complete, Doten says the biochar it produces will be used in Minneapolis and across the entire state.
“To help other governments around the area achieve their climate plans, their climate goals,” Doten said. “Restoration is what I see.”
“It’s not the answer, but it’s part of the answer. It’s a tool in a tool belt,“ he concluded.
