I took two chickens out of the smoker and carried them into the kitchen, where Anne was mixing up some potato salad and heating a couple cans of baked beans. Ryan and his girlfriend walked into the house, with Nolan shortly after them.
“Are you excited?” Anne asked me.
“I … guess? Not really.” I began to carve the chickens for our dinner.
“Why not?”
“The excited part is when I’m on the stage in front of the audience, everything else is various levels of anxiety while I wait.” My incredibly sharp knife slipped in my hand and cut my finger. “Ow! Shit!”
My finger began to bleed, and I wrapped a towel around it.
“Okay, so … this is going to take a few more minutes before it’s ready,” I said.
A few minutes later, we all sat down to eat dinner, while we waited for the first episode of The Wil Wheaton Project to come on.
As Heroes of Cosplay ended and little versions of me popped up on the screen reminding people to stay tuned for my stupid face, I turned to Anne. “Okay, I just got excited.”
I did a little dance when the show started, and enjoyed myself through the entire thing. My kids thought it was really funny, and my son’s girlfriend, who had never seen any of it at all, told me that she loved it. “It would have been very awkward if I hadn’t,” she told me.
We celebrated with some ice cream cones, the kids left, and Anne and I celebrated with some champagne.
Before I went to bed, I looked at Twitter, prepared for people to hate it, and me, but most everyone seemed to like the show, which made me feel good.
When I woke up this morning, I looked at the news for reviews, and found that most places liked it (we got a B from the AV Club, which is like an A+ anywhere else), some really didn’t, and some were sort of “meh” on the whole thing. It’s about what I expected, but I wasn’t expecting the reviewers who didn’t like it to complain that I wasn’t mean or snarky enough. It’s disheartening that people would tune into a show expecting and hoping for someone to be mean, but if that’s what they want, this isn’t the show for them.
Some of the feedback was really useful, and lined up with my own thoughts: My energy at the beginning of the show was way too high (I wanted to keep it lower and more like myself, but I was directed to be BIGGER BIGGER BIGGER, so I’m trusting my instincts and being more myself next week), and the audio was weird in places. Some people complained about a laugh track that doesn’t exist (we shoot in a small stage with a full audience that’s very loud, which is good), but overall, the feedback was generally positive.
The biggest disappointment for me is our ratings numbers. They were not as good as I’d hoped, and I don’t know why. Though we did better than anything that’s been in our time slot before, we lost about half the audience that was watching Heroes of Cosplay, which surprised me. People who understand that stuff better than I do told me not to worry, because shows like ours usually start out with a small audience that grows, as word of mouth spreads. I hope they’re right. There’s also something called “Live +3” which is the total ratings number that includes people who watch the show on their DVR in the three days after the show first airs, and we expect those numbers to grow.
This whole ratings thing seems outdated and irrelevant to me, because it doesn’t take into account cord-cutters, who I know are a significant part of the audience, and I guess the fact that two different topics associated with our show were trending on Twitter doesn’t count for anything, either. What this says to me is that the industry needs to rethink how it scores things, and networks especially need to find ways to get their programming to people the way those people want to see it, whether that’s on demand, on a site like Hulu +, on Apple TV, Google Play, or whatever else the damn kids today are into. There’s a very real chance that I won’t get to do more than 12 episodes of this show because so many people who want to watch it don’t subscribe to cable, and that makes me really sad.
Overall, though, the things that I had a hand in, and the things I could control from a creative point of view, seemed to land on the majority of the audience in a good way. People expecting me to be a dick.0 didn’t like it, and that’s totally fine with me. Now that I’ve had my brief moment of excitement (and it was genuinely awesome to watch the show with my family, and find out from thousands of people on Twitter that they liked it), I’m back to the focus and varying levels of anxiety that come with getting ready for the next one.
Where can someone watch it on the Internet. I don’t have cable. I can’t afford the hundred plus dollars a month so unless it’s on the Internet or I can get to it over digital rabbit ears I don’t get to watch it.
I subscribe to satellite and have a Hopper DVR. I recorded the show and will watch it when I get a half hour. Yes, ratings are obsolete. I doubt I’ll get counted as a viewer (male age 62)
Keep your chin up and a smile on your face. It’ll work out. I can write a letter/email. Just like I did for TOS.
Ugh! Sorry. I was excited about watching it and then I fell asleep before it started and didn’t wake up until it was almost over. I’ll set the alarm on my phone for the next episode.
Keep trying, man. I generally enjoyed it. Re: laugh track…talk to the sound folks because the way they cut the audience abruptly made it sound like one. Don’t try so damn hard…:-)
I had to watch the episode on Hulu since 1) I don’t have cable TV service (just internet), and 2) trying to view it directly on the Syfy website required a cable TV account. If they’re keeping track of views on Hulu, then please link the videos on Hulu as much as possible!
Looking forward to watching it soon (I can’t stay up late enough to watch it ‘live’…sigh). I only have experience with local ratings situations (used to work at a local TV station), but it has always been a ridiculous system and people just moosh the numbers around to say what they want.
I very much liked that it wasn’t as mean or nasty as it could have been. I don’t want similar shows for that reason. I tuned in on cable and in fact tuned in to specifically to see your show. I enjoyed it quite a bit! It felt more forced than Tabletop does, so I agree with your sense of being more yourself next week. The Cosmos bits and the Walking Dead theme song had me rolling. And I agree with you about Almost Human! Ugh! Thank you! Such a sad cancellation!
Thank you for giving us a genuine geektastic-nerdrant-weekly show. I don’t know this would be as amusing if it wasn’t presented by someone who wasn’t one of us, so to speak. I hope it gets picked up for more than 12 eps.
In Canada. Cannot watch it.
Well done in your first. Both my daughter and I laughed out loud.
It had some really great moments and overall I enjoyed it. I read the AV Club review and I largely agree with what was said there, but I want to add some thoughts.
First of all, I’m glad you weren’t dick.0. Not that I’m surprised since your damn motto is “Don’t be a dick”, but thank you anyway. A lot of the stuff us nerds like is frankly really corny and I’m glad that we have a show that lets us laugh at ourselves. (Sometimes we have zero sense of humor, especially when it comes to the super corny things we love.)
I definitely noticed the audio issues and it was rather distracting. It sounded like it was overcompressed or something.
I knew it was in front of a live audience when I watched, but it really did sound like a laugh track for some reason. I’m guessing it was the sound editing because lots of shows have live audiences but don’t have that laugh track feel. Maybe part of it’s because you never showed the audience at all during the show?
Highlights for me were the Ashmore You Know and the NDGT slow-mo bits.
I definitely felt like you were over-excited and hamming it up a bit too much. You already mentioned this, which makes me glad that it’s not just me. It made it feel a little forced and that made it difficult to enjoy what were otherwise really great jokes. I think your instinct to be yourself and tone it down a bit is absolutely correct. I’ve been reading your blog for a long time, watching Table Top since it’s been on, and I’ve even seen your Acquisitions Incorporated appearances so I know you have excellent comedic talent.
You’ve definitely got something special in this show and I know a lot of us nerds are excited about it and can’t wait to watch next week’s episode!
Ratings, as implemented by our friends at Neilson, are completely irrelevant to reality. There are much more accurate ratings systems.
We DVRd your show as well, but that was just backup in case one of us didn’t finish work in time to watch it in real time, which we did – which we almost NEVER do. We all enjoyed it. My husband laughed out loud, as did our houseguest. The dogs were more dubious, but did manage to stop begging for cheese while the show was on (except during commercials). So bravo. It’s good to see you on TV more.
Not a complaint but FYI the captions weren’t working for the first half of the show, at least through my provider. I expect they’ll be working next week.
My housemate and I would both have watched it live if we could, but we don’t have any access to live TV these days. We actually talked about going somewhere to try, but decided that was silly, We hope our online numbers count for you somewhere!
Well I’m an Old Yeller (opinionated/over 50) and I’m going to give you the same advice Peter Lasally gave Craig Ferguson which, like him or not, has kept him on the air for 10 years, ignore the suits and make it your own. I tuned in to see you. And yes, I love Chris and it was nice of him to be there, but you didn’t need him (no offense Chris, take over TLLS & I’m all yours). Likewise, you didn’t need BIGGER. You have the talent, the humor, and the personality I’m watching for. Bring on the distractions AFTER you’re established and your audience will wait patiently for the camera’s focus to return to you. For now, this is The Wil Wheaton Project. I want to see Wil Wheaton.
Very well said! Chris actually annoyed me greatly.
I have to be honest – I didn’t find the show that humorous. I think you’re an awesome, funny, extremely talented guy and I wanted to like it SO much more. But it was like listening to rehearsed, forced jokes with an audience who is told when to laugh..
I KNOW you’re better than that, and I will keep watching because, like the first hokey episode of ST:TNG, I’m sure you will find your stride and it will get better. 🙂
You looked great in a suit, but it really wasn’t you. 😉 I want to see geek t-shirts, damnit!
The Cosmos segments did make me giggle. 😉
We luv ya, Wil! This geek household is cheering for you and wants to see the show succeed!
If you read Nielsen’s press they supposedly have all the online/mobile stuff figured out. At some point it’s up to their clients (Content/Advertisers) to start caring.
I thought the tone was just right, and you seemed to get increasingly comfortable as the show went on. That bodes well for the future. Keep up the good work.
I did not get a chance to watch it last night I forgot I was looking unpopular torrent sites today and no one has posted it up yet until that happens you will probably continue to have low ratings.
The audio mic on your voice was a problem. Seemed like highs were EQed out, generally compressed? Muffled? Almost like a transistor radio under a pillow.
for audio mic read audio mix, sorry.
I have cable! And I DVR’d it and watched it today. Happy to help your ratings 🙂
Notes: Great show, especially as you got more confident even as the show went on. The sound was definitely an issue, but that’ll get better.
I can’t afford cable and I live in Canada but if you let me know how else I can support your show from up in the frozen north let me know!
I watched it on Hulu.
I DVR everything. I really liked it. The audio on your mic was a bit distracting, hope they get that fixed. It took M*A*S*H a whole season before it found its audience and climbed in the ratings. Too bad TV isn’t like that today. Lot of great shows got cut way too early, like Firefly and Pushing Daisies. Good luck!!
You probably have more “cord cutters” in your target audience as well, which could be problematic on that whole ratings garbage.
I’m a cord cutter, so couldn’t watch it live, which we’re always being told is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER TO KEEP A SHOW ON THE AIR. It’s ridiculous that in 2014, this is still the way networks are thinking (especially Syfy, considering its viewers are more tech-savvy than the average bear). I usually buy Syfy shows I like on Amazon VOD, but for some reason, yours isn’t available – WHICH IS BULLSHIT. I mean, I WANT TO GIVE YOU GUYS MY MONEY, TAKE IT! LOL
However, I did eventually catch the show on the Syfy website (the video quality sucked) and thought it was hilarious and fun. I love that you’re not doing mean-spirited humor: there’s already too much of that in the world, as it is.
Honestly, I was expecting it to be meaner too – not mean-SPIRITED, as such, but sharp-tongued, because you’ve talked before about how that’s where your comedic voice is.
I am one of those with a “cut cord”, so I will be hunting for it online. Sorry if that means the network doesn’t value my views, and doesn’t pick up your show, but PLEASE don’t take it personally. It really has nothing to do with you at all, and the success of crowd funding series (like Table Top) in other mediums is proof that networks are getting it all wrong. If they can’t support some quality now and then, and keep trying to force feed mindless pap, then I don’t miss them. I am a grown up and I eat grown up food. Loving what you’re doing, please continue!
I do agree about the nervous energy some mentioned. I also noticed the audio was weird in places. However, I really thought it was funny. I’m familiar with the Internet. I’m all over it. This was new stuff to me, and I got the jokes. Husband watches Tosh (I’m over it, he’s a dick) and I’m like… seen it, seen it… saw it on reddit. We watch the Soup. BORED. Joel is so bored.
This. This was funny. I genuinely laughed out loud several times and I’m sad about how nothing on tv is funny anymore.
Side note, I’m really enjoying Louis season 4. The garbage can scene had me peeing myself.
But I digress….
I laughed so hard at Neil Degrasse Tyson stoned.
Can you hear me?
Can you see me?
Why?
OMG.
I’m really looking forward to next week.
I think for me, the audience was indeed a turnoff. There was something really off-putting about it. They were very loud in the audio mix, which was a little distracting.
The bigger problem for me was that the audience seemed overly “primed,” in that they laughed harder, louder, and longer than seemed natural to me, giving it that “laugh track” feeling. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t find the show funny. Maybe it was just that the energy in the room was a little too “amped.” I just think something about the way the audience responded seemed a bit “fake” sounding.
I for one am glad you have this opportunity. It’s good to see people do things they are passionate about. Keep it up!
My family wanted to watch it, but we got rid of cable. *The* only way to watch it is with cable. Even with hulu, you need cable. With SyFy, you need cable. I’d happily buy just the syfy channel, but you’re stuck buying packages. So we got rid of cable.
I got the “what’s your provider” pop up from syfy.com also, but my “provider” wasn’t even on the full list (TimeWarner); just click the “not listed” link and you should be good to go.
Dang it. I totally missed that yesterday you said “tonight on the Wil Weaton Project” so I completely forgot to record it!!! I’m going to go and find a repeat of it and DVR it for next week. Seriously, does anyone really watch TV live anymore???
I worked the Phillies game and we had a rain delay so I didn’t get home till late but I got to see the second showing on Syfy. Do they count the rerun too? Looking forward to next week’s episode. Trust your instincts and be yourself.
I watched to day on syfy.com.
http://www.syfy.com/videos/The%20Wil%20Wheaton%20Project/vid:2784534
Yay! A totally legit way to watch for free that should hopefully help with your ratings!
Looking forward to the next episode!
That’s how the boyfriend and I watched today too. I was a little concerned he was going to laugh himself silly at the NDT bits.I loved it except for the Walking Dead segment but that’s just because I wish the whole zombie thing would just go away.
Anyway, we actually streamed it on syfy.com on purpose to do what we could to help with the ratings so hopefully if enough of us do the same it will make a difference.
There are a couple of Bit torrents out now for the rest of the world to see!
I’m in Canada. every legit online provider geolocks, and my local cable providers have Canada’s Space channel, but not SyFy. I have a few bucks on my PayPal account, if you provided some legit way I could purchase an episode from you directly, I’d totally do that (if iTunes is an option I’ll consider it a last resort, but I’d rather give you money, not iTunes).
This geolocking can eat a bag of dicks, it doesn’t benefit anyone in any real world way, and creates an idiotic barrier between you and a portion of your devoted fans, there’s no good reason that I still haven’t seen this episode, and I hope someone is able to fix this soon. for the record I’m not bitching at you directly, I know geolocking wasn’t your idea, you’re just as much a victim as me.
I’d like to point out that your show launched the same day as Watch_Dogs which more than likely had an impact on the ratings.
Huh. Anyone expecting you to be mean clearly doesn’t know you very well or understand The Law.
I can’t watch when it airs here in Wisconsin cuz I’m either driving or taking care of the kids but I caught it when it ran again at 10:30. I really enjoyed it. Initially it seemed like you were nervous and trying too hard but as you relaxed it got funnier. Standard first show stuff. I loved the Cosmos bits. I felt that the Chris Hardwick stuff was a little awkward, there was the friendship chemistry but it seemed a little too inside joke-ish.
I have my DVR set to record the series and expect big things. Fantastic job!
Think you really just commit to the geek community and stop trying to make it accessible to the mainstream. In other words be yourself.
I know I don’t count in the long run, but I’m proud of you. 🙂
I made hubby watch with me. He rolled his eyes at first but he laughed as hard as I did. We’ll be watching every week!
Ratings: If people outside the US would be able to see it maybe online the ratings would be much higher. It’s a whole market that is cut out.
Show: It has potential, for sure these things takes some time to grow up and find it’s rhythm.
Looking forward to watching future episodes!
I watched the show the day after on my DVR. Overall, I like the premise of going over weekly scifi/fantasy/horror news. I think you did a great job Wil. What I didn’t like was the whole green screen set. I understand they do that because it is cheap, but I think I’d rather see a real set with you at a desk or perhaps sitting behind a bar showcasing a weekly brew. Also, I definitely thought there was a laugh track and had no idea there was a real audience. Why not at least pan once to show the crowd with real time audio showing there is no laugh track.
I think the segment discussing what shows were cancelled could have been extended to make more snarky remarks of how badly those productions screwed up, like Revolution stagnating on evil US patriots instead of focusing in the actually interesting part which were the nanobots responsible for the power outage. Or bitch more about how good Almost Human was, but that Fox decided to air the episodes catty wumpus which royally screwed that show.
I am excited for you and look forward to the next episode.
Chris
Hello Wil
As I was watching I couldn’t stop laughing. You and Chris were amazing together (and in my mind I see this as SNL for nerds). Will be watching future episodes.
Forget the negative responses because it was the first episode and secondly I was laughing and enjoying it (and others share my view) out number the haters
Great job Wil! I watched it from syfy.com which is prob where I will be watching it from now on. i hope that helps your ratings. If I watch it more than once does that increase the internet ratings?
As for some of the critics thinking it wasn’t mean or snarky enough, quite honestly you are not mean. I can only speak for myself but I am sure most of us want to see a show that is you and whatever makes you feel comfortable. We wouldn’t want you to be anything other than yourself no matter what the network or critics or anyone else says. We love you for you.
Besides, the world could use a little less mean on TV.
The best part for me was watching you laugh and have fun with it (I hear Gotham has a thriving art scene ;O) ) . You are cute.
Looking forward to next week.
I watched from my desk at work on the SyFy channel (during lunch, of course) and I loved it. I laughed a lot and I’m sure my coworkers were wondering what the heck I was doing. I hope your show is picked up for more seasons.
Hi,
I downloaded it on bittorrent (sorry no other ways to watch it in the EU). I think the audience was too loud, I felt that I hear one guy laughing next to a microphone all the time. Maybe you could show the audience, this way many viewers wont think that the laughs are fake. The honest trailer style Salem trailer was good, you should do more of it. I was disappointed that you were not you. I expected more guests, like in a talkshow. I look forward to the next weeks episode.
Very funny show. I do agree that you seem a bit over-the-top in the beginning. I also think the show might benefit from a physical set. The whole CG set seems a bit, I don’t know, youtube-y to me. Maybe that’s what you were going for, but I feel like a physical set would help with a bit more freedom of movement and camera angles. Definitely looking forward to the next episode, though.
I really liked the show. I think the reason why people were expecting to be meaner because it looks so much like those shows due to the green screen studio (that was surprisingly generic and made strange things when Chris came on). BTW: I would love to see shots of the audience during the show. Anyways: Good work!
Any chance you can strong arm SyFy into putting it on hulu plus? Would love to watch it on the big screen but they are complete butt about putting anything onto other devices, and like most cord cutters I am using a nonPC to power my viewing.
At home we no longer listen to reviewers. Each person has a different idea of what is funny so expecting someone else to tell me what I like doesn’t seem right in my mind.
I am in the uk so I haven’t “seen” it cos ya know laws and stuff. But you should know if I had “seen” it I loved it (did that work) husband didn’t laugh out loud, had he “seen” it, but he did……would have……liked it. (Now I’m lost)
Anyway in short (I know, too late) you have worked hard on something that you love and people will love it too. (If you love it they will come) well I have completely lost my train of thought but I hope you get the gist of what I am saying. Yay show (not that I’ve seen it) boo critics