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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.
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?
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.
"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.
Neither was Mystery Science Theater 3000, but it was hella good.
Perception is the thin dividing line between reality and fiction.
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?
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
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
Coming soon to Syfy prime time: bad paranormal wrestling! Trash talk from beyond the grave! Face-ghost turns!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
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!