Long, Sad Trip

 Apparently there are a bunch of folks up in arms about the way things went down around the turn of the century at Nickelodeon Studios. For those of you unfamiliar, Nickelodeon is a cable TV channel catering primarily to younger viewers. Maybe you watched some of these shows: Drake and Josh, All That, Boy Meets World, The Amanda Show. A new documentary has brought to light a great many unsettling behind the scenes experiences that would not fit in the category of "safe for kids." 

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, making those funs shows for a youth audience was anything but safe for the kids who were manipulated and preyed upon by producers and other adults left "in charge" of this group of young people. All manner of harassment and unsafe work environment accusations are coming to light as the victims, now adults, are coming forward to shed light on the pitfalls and struggles of young performers at the turn of the century. 

But it's not exactly news, is it? My mother told me stories of the horrible ways Judy Garland was treated when she was just a little girl. A little girl with a dream of someday flying over the rainbow. Instead she was put through a mill and ground up until she couldn't sing anymore. Her onscreen pal Mickey Rooney wasn't treated much better, given pills and shots to keep him up and working, then more drugs to get him to sleep at night. And then the cycle would start right back up again. 

Then there's the story of Michael Jackson, whose talents were wrung from him all while being kept in isolation without ever being given a chance at a real childhood. Who or what he might have become if he had been allowed to live life outside the bubble created for him by his parents and his handlers will never be known. And it takes a special kind of torment to turn a member of the Mickey Mouse Club into the freak show that would become Britney Spears. 

Toss in a little Tatum O'Neal and Drew Barrymore, and you've got a pretty compelling case against children ever being allowed anywhere near showbiz. Ironically, Patty Duke's "coming of age" was on the big screen in the form of Valley of the Dolls, and what would have been Judy Garland's last film appearance. From which Judy was fired because "she couldn't keep up with the pace." 

What a long, sad trip it's been.