Viral New HBO Max Crime Documentary Described as “Gut-wrenching”
Chad Collins
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If you’ve been on social media these past few weeks, you’ve like seen everyone talking about Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz’s searing new docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. And, if you’re like me, you’ve likely assessed whether it was something you really needed to watch or not. I tried, though it was regularly too upsetting for me to stomach.
Yet, while Quiet on Set does regularly regress into the worst impulses of the modern true crime boon, there is an urgent interrogation of power and abuse at its core. If you’re interested in knowing more, you can catch it on both Max and Discovery+ where it has topped the charts ahead of its fifth and final episode, set to release April 7.
Per Max: Witness the untold story of the toxic world behind 90s and 2000s kids’ TV.
At its best, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV gives abuse survivors a necessary platform to spotlight the kinds of systems and people that made that abuse possible. At its worst, it encourages salacious gossip, the interest shifting less toward an investigation and justice, more toward speculation about what isn’t being said.
It’s a weird phenomenon in true crime television, really, in that for as much as it does well, it encourages the inverse in our worst collective impulses. Abuse of this nature shouldn’t conceivably be treated as spicy nuggets to share online, though that’s regularly what’s been going on. That’s a Max docuseries for you, though.
Not all perspectives have been terrible, and broadly, viewers are still reacting to the shocking series weeks after its mid-March premiere where Quiet on Set has remained in the Top 10. Check out some social media reactions from the Max series below:
Recently, several high-profile former Nickelodeon stars, including Melissa Joan Hart and Kenan Thompson, have addressed the allegations from the docuseries. Whether Quiet on Set becomes nothing but a blip in the broader cultural zeitgeist or an urgent catalyst for change remains to be seen, though for the time being, count on it being the topic on everyone’s minds.
What do you think? Do you plan to check out Quiet on Set? If you have, how did it land for you? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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