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Wil Wheaton Announces New TV Show
An anonymous reader writes "Wil Wheaton just announced a new TV show he's hosting and producing. It'll air on SyFy this summer, starting May 27th. Here's how he describes it: 'The Wil Wheaton Project is a weekly roundup of the things I love on television and on the Internet, with commentary and jokes, and the occasional visit from interesting people who make those things happen. It's sort of like Talk Soup for geeks, with a heavy focus on those hilariously bad paranormal reality shows (in fact, that's where the whole thing started a year ago, but as we worked on the show more and more, we discovered that there were lots of scripted paranormal shows that provided a ton of comedic material. When we expanded to cover the scripted shows, we discovered that nobody was doing a show like this that was just focused on the genre shows that nerds like us love, and we decided that we'd make that show because of reasons.)' He adds, '... if I read correctly between the lines during our meetings with the Syfy executives, this is just the beginning of the network formerly known as Sci-Fi returning to its science fiction roots, which is awesome.'"
Then it's either wrestling or it will be cancelled before the end of the season.
As much as I would like to see WilW succeed with this, I just can't picture him doing this while wearing a luchador mask.
Exactly. Just another show recycling Internet clips!! zOMG the hilarity!
Seriously: WW must be stopped. By any means necessary.
I don't know if I'm a nerd like us any more. I mean, I have an obsessive knowledge of trilobite fossils, and given a random sentence from any of the Harry Potter books I can tell what book and chapter it is from, but I don't feel like I belong with these kinds of people. What's left for me? What am I? How did pop-culture steal my identity?
...but this is SyFy, it'll end up being some kind of wrestling show.
Granted, probably with a bad paranormal twist.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
An "anonymous reader" submitted this? Yeah right. You're not fooling anybody, CleverNickName.
An anonymous reader writes
We know it's you, Wil.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
First Episode: My struggle to remain a relevant nerd, by Wil Wheaton.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
this is just the beginning of the network formerly known as Sci-Fi returning to its science fiction roots
What he describes is not sci-fi . . . .
Tosh.0.1
Not quite Captain material, but perhaps a less sleazy Riker. Or more sleazy, depending on how he wants to play it. But unlike the 90s-early00s Star Trek, this one needs more humor in it (understated, mind you, like TOS), and a bit more world building. No longer hitting the reset button at the end of every show.
Hell, if it's better than the braindead JJ Abrams stuff, I'd be happy.
If you're content is not available via the Internet, it will be available via the Internet without your involvement or ability to make a profit from it. Anyone else enjoying Season 4 of Game of Thrones without a HBO subscription?
"The 'Shut Up, Wesley' Hour!"
The most significant common thread on daytime pop-culture discussion shows on television is that they talk about people. It's fairly easy to fill 22 minutes of content in a half-hour timeslot if one talks about this or that celebrity and their antics, as opposed to actually presenting us with significant content. Additionally those programs tend to tell you, during an early segment, what they'll tell you in-detail about in a later segment, eating up time. You end up with a TV show that if condensed down to the actual information could probably be watched in less than ten minutes.
Good luck to CleverNickName, but I don't see how he'll be able to fill enough time to keep the show running without resorting to these same tactics, or without the show being massively disjointed.
That's one of the reasons why several people that make Youtube content make several different, mostly-unrelated shows. That's why John and Hank Green, as examples, run at least four distinct Youtube channels, with significant and discreet subjects acting as sub-channels between them. It's a lot easier to run five, ten, or 15 minutes of content than it is to run 20+, or 45+ for a half-hour or hour-long TV spot. The Green brothers have already invested in the equipment and studio space to make their programs, now they can produce enough diverse content to justify the expenses, and the viewer can choose to watch only one type of production if they don't have interests in the other subjects.
We'll just have to see how it turns out.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Is he really stating that we actually *love* these ghost hunter shows? Other than the believers out there, how can anyone like these shows?
Shut up Wesley
No, he's saying his show will mock them. Hence why they were referred to as "hilariously bad".
Hmm. That might actually be entertaining. A show that just mocks other shows :D
Hwil Hwheaton seems like a nice guy.
Koans and fables for the software engineer
All of the above!
Wheaton's Star Trek character takes on the role of Rod Serling/The Crypt Keeper and presents ghostly stories from alien races across the galaxy.
Episode 1 - The Kowardly Klingon. A Klingon who hides from battle is tormented by the ghosts of those who died. Or is it just his conscience?
why all the hate? Give the guy a chance.
Yeah, I'd actually take a gander at a show that was mocking the ghost shows. I've joked about doing a parody ghost hunter called "Ghost Hunger" for years, but life keeps getting in the way. Those shows, while being ridiculous, have a certain creepy charm, best served with a stiff drink and a pile of sarcasm. Hopefully the other stuff includes "aliens in ancient ruins" shows, too.
Unrelated to anything I dreamed the other night I met Wil Wheaton (I think because I'd just watched an episode of The Guild that he's in). In my dream I told him how much I enjoyed his work on Silver Spoons and apologized for not immediately recognizing him because "didn't you used to be blond when you were a kid?" Apparently my subconscious thinks he's Rick Schroeder.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
He should do a Star Trek: Alternate Universe where the Federation is EVIL and Wesley has a goatee! It's so IN - goatees are in! He's a captain which he got by sobataging Picard's quest for a new mechanical heart - remember that episode of ST:NG?
But he's not quite evil; just unscrupulous - like a JR Ewing of Space!
It could work!
It's sort of like Talk Soup for geeks [...]
So like Web Soup or thousands of podcasts that already exist?
Wheaton Soup? Will.0?
Sounds great to me, but I really hope they figure out distribution other than just cable. I got sick of all the crap on the "discovery" and other cable networks and just let it die. Syfy seemed no better. I don't want to go crawling back at $30+/month for two shows... (Gold Rush is my guilty "reality" pleasure.)
How did pop-culture steal my identity?
Many people have bought into the cultural comodificiation of "nerd culture" or "geek culture" -- Which is a largely fabricated phenomena constructed by corporations to sell you a product, just like "hipster culture", "hippie culture", "thug culture", "punk culture", "rave culture", etc, have been appropriated reshaped normailzed and sold to the ignorant masses at a mall near you.
"Geek" and "nerd" wasn't initially desirable, much as "thug" wasn't a prestigious label for minority inner city youths, but it is arguably now desirable to be called "nigga", "thug", "geek" or "nerd" by peers. The rise of "geek" or "nerd" or "thug" or "punk" culture did not happen over night nor without the help of commercial interests. Contrast this with the similarities among hackers which emerged without the media's attention (whereafter their image was wrongly portrayed in the media). The thug, hippie, punk and other counter cultures began organically as well before they were appropriated and perverted by the corporate interests.
Pay attention to the media's portrayals of sympathetic "nerds" and "geeks". Do you remember Urkel? Screech? Revenge of the Nerds? Weird Science? During much of the 80's and 90's the token 'nerd' sidekick and his persecution in media created an artificial Poindexter to be the target of shame, exploited for laughs, and sympathy. This construction of the Poindexter identity and subsequent transformation into cool-ness as a "child geniuses" to sell parents on "intelligence boosting" toys and videos is responsible for what you now call "nerd" or "geek" culture: Doogie Howser MD, Dexter's Lab, Jimmy Neutron, etc. The construction of "nerd/geek culture" is primarily artificial. Now it's "cool" to be a "nerd" or "geek", but those terms are as meaningless now as the term "nigga".
Meanwhile, in reality, much as similarities among hackers appeared organically, commonalities among avid gamers and other passionate introverted hobbyists. Most of these similarities appeared without mimicry, and cross culturally esp. in the case of hackers, thus are not socially constructed by nature. I have a hard time reconciling the identity of "nerd" and "geek" culture as sold in media as representative of the hobbyist subcultures given that the "nerd" and "geek" identities do not match the prevalent traits of the subcultures they are attributed to:
The actual introverted hobbyist subcultures that are branded "nerd" or "geek" have nothing to do with the actual "nerd" or "geek" identity. Hackers had more in common with the hippie subculture than "nerd" or "geek". Gamers had more in common with the skater subculture. Science fiction and comic book fans have more in common with the otaku (anime enthusiast) subculture. But comparatively the subcultures are as different from each other as "jocks" are from "kickers", or "preps" are from "goths". Yes, even these once organic identities have been appropriated reshaped and sold. There is a country-western song, "I'm sexier on the Internet"... See? Normalized and easier to digest.
Congratulations. You are not a geek or nerd. Nigger, Nerd, and Geek are derogatory terms, which now have non-deragatory uses thanks to the commodification of culture. Though some are celebrating the mainstream interest and "coming out" of the enthusiast closet, I'd never call myself a "nerd" or "geek" except i
I'm sure they'll all feel silly when they look at the calender.....right?....guys?
The last time he showed up on the scifi channel. He got eureka canceled.
What's he going to drag down with him this time?
Penny Arcade would vouch for him, good enough for me.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I cringe when you're involved with TV these days. That network is shit, and everything it produces is shit.
...means someone needs to club you in the head with a brick repeatedly until you stop moving and making noises.
Does Wil have enough fanbois to make a show about what he likes? Guess we'll see.
This is probably the best post I've seen on slashdot in years.
Meh.
Passionately Indifferent
If I want to see nerds talk, there's YouTube.
Eau My!
First I played the bunny because you lied to me about your memaw, then you beat my Crushers by breaking up a relationship, but I robbed you of the lost 21 seconds. Bazinga!!!!
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
"...because of reasons."
http://imgur.com/zwrWwNz
He's very much into the science of brewing beer. Does that count?
I refuse to watch anything on that channel until they fix their name.
here's why: It's owned by the same people who own NBC, MSNBC, the USA Network, etc. They put their "best" stuff on NBC and go for the big audience share there, then they try to get other blocks of viewers with each of their lesser niche properties (like MSNBC, USA, etc) in a tiered structure. They're never going to put something more popular onto one of their smaller channels (with cheaper advertising rates) than what's on one of thier more popular channels at the same time (where they get higher ad rates). As a result, a low-priority channel like SyFy will never be allowed to become very successful THAT is why the channel was never going to get Trek, or Firefly, and why it had to choke-off the Stargate franchise. SyFy's parent will probably never allow the channel to do anything that really stands-out and draws a large audience (some of whom would be sapped from NBC sitcoms). When the channel started, I'd bet most people thought it would have lots of fresh new SciFi (perhaps with famous works like Azimov's Foundation series adapted to series TV) and its late-night re-runs would be classics like Trek, Space 1999, Dr, Who etc. Things were at least encouraging when it got SG1 from Showtime, but that series was probably at the upper limit of what NBC was willing to spend and they were NEVER going to make a marketing effort to draw more audience to it. SyFy has become NBC Universal's cheap dumping ground ("pro" wrestling *should* have been your clue). I'd be surprised if they were even permitted to make many successful cheap shows - Sharknado probably had the boys in the marketing dept in New York freaked-out over how they'd explain its combined ratings and ad rates compared to what was on NBC at the same time.
Want a REAL SciFi channel that actually TRIES to draw audiences and compete? Either you've gotta get the bought-and-paid-for politicians in BOTH parties to get the FCC to push the anti-monopoly laws so one company cannot own so many channels out of the total number on the air or you've goot get cheap universal highspeed net access. This MIGHT sort itself out if people abandon TV for webcasting (thereby creating unlimited channels and re-introducting actual competition) but that's not a true option until everybody can get cheap highspeed cable with no data caps
That's all you have to say Wesley Crusher produces Sharknado II....
Frankly SyFy is a network that should be avoided at all costs. When programs become overblown commercials, for example "Eureka" selling Degree antiperspirant in episodes a few years ago, it's time to move on. Sure, "Breaking Bad" was able to get away with it with Chrysler but still that show had a trifecta of writing, acting and overall plot line. SyFy produces drivel that's not even suitable for Hulu.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
SyFy is the reason I cut the cord. Paying for television with commercials and crappy shows and realidumb tv and talks shows is an exercise in pissing your retirement away.
I personally haven't seen any show that had WW as anything more than a bad actor. Who he might be and what he does outside of acting is as relevant to me as how Whoopi Goldberg spends her time (got no clue on her either).
So good luck to WW on joining the sinking SyFy - hopefully it lands him some gig that shows up on Netflix where he changes my mind on his acting.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Picard's endless shirt tugging was supposed to be symbolic of him putting his personal feelings aside so he could step up and be the Captain. "Okay, sensitive, feeling Jean Luc is going away now so Captain Picard can make the tough decision related to the moral dilemma of the day."
Wesley's character was just shit and shouldn't have been on the show, because Wil Wheaton sucks, can't act for shit, and is quite possibly the most worthless human being on the planet for ruining an entire Star Trek series.
Unless they change their name back to SciFi, I will have nothing to do with that channel.
Why is the German ghost talking to you in English?
Personally I can't sit through any of them, or those medium shows, makes me uncomfortable, but not because I am scared or amazed, but because they are so disturbingly bad.
Got it.
I'd watch that
You cheap dime store hood.
Is it just me, or has there been a huge number of things named "The Project" or "Project ." In TV and tech. "The Wil Wheaton Project," "The Mindy Project," "Project Runway," "Project Free TV," "Project Gutenberg", "Project Glass," "Project X," "ProjectEco" and all the other activities, prototypes, and programs companies attach "project" to. Is it just a really lazy approach to try and fit into maker culture? A surrender on creativity?