Wil Wheaton's show 'The Wil Wheaton Project': Is it worth watching?
Actor Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation,听) is a nerd royal and recognizable TV personality with a congenial attitude and 2.6 million Twitter followers. It makes absolute sense that Syfy would try to align with him in some way, but as the host and namesake of a semi-late night comedy series that both echoes and has compared itself to E!鈥檚听The Soup,听Wheaton鈥檚 selection seems a bit off.听
A large part of the charm of听The Soup听comes from host Joel McHale鈥檚 outsider status as he skewers the world of unscripted TV and its most witless and ridiculous inhabitants with occasionally palpable disdain. 听
Wheaton is, on the other hand, very much a product of the 鈥渘erd鈥� world. He is not an outsider; in fact,听The Wil Wheaton Project听has been partially sold on its host鈥檚 status as a nerd insider, and insiders don鈥檛 often bite the hand that feeds them.
In an interview that Wheaton did with听听in advance of the series premiere, he said that on听The Wil Wheaton Project, they听鈥�will highlight the stuff that we love鈥� and 鈥�gently mock the things that need to be gently mocked鈥� while 鈥�celebrating nerd culture.鈥� But in the premiere episode, the 鈥済entle mocking鈥� felt mostly restricted to elbow nudges and inoffensive prattle about barely adored or remembered shows like听Dracula听补苍诲听Star-Crossed, rendering the self-authored comparisons to听The Soup听ill-fitting, save for the show鈥檚 green-screen backdrop.
Worse still,听The Wil Wheaton Project听really doesn鈥檛 shower its audience with insight or a 鈥渃elebration鈥� of nerd culture this time out, just a bland recitation of the week鈥檚 pop-culture news, a few bad puns, and uninspired comedy bits like an 鈥�80s sitcom-influenced theme song for the听听(How many mashup videos have their been over the last few years ofTheWalking Dead听and an 鈥�80s sitcom鈥檚 theme song?) and a slow-motion video of听Cosmos听host Neil DeGrasse Tyson months after similar slow-motion videos of Neil DeGrasse Tyson听. 听
The Wil Wheaton Project听comes closest to reaching its potential听when Wheaton briefly questions the central wisdom of the听听TV show during a segment called 鈥淲il鈥檚 Memos鈥� 鈥� but sadly, that ember burns out when the writers tack on some Batfleck mockery to an altered trailer before later running another slow-motion Neil DeGrasse Tyson video.
Mostly devoid of laugh out loud moments, bite, and depthy commentary on nerd-culture,听The Wil Wheaton Project听premieres as a听disappointment听with ample room for improvement over the course of these next 11 episodes. It鈥檚 also a poor style match for a host whose talents (as demonstrated onTableTop) might have been better served by a different format.
Jason Tabrys blogs at .
