I remember seeing the first commercial for “Wendell and Vinnie” earlier this year and thinking, “My god, this looks painfully atrocious.” And maybe it was my lowered expectations that allowed me to kind of enjoy this show.
This is, as the title would suggest, just another sitcom. The genius child, Wendell, is mature beyond his age but has to go live with his man-boy uncle, Vinnie, who has never had to take on any responsibility. Helping to raise the child are Vinnie’s sister and his female nextdoor neighbor. And the madness ensues.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have trouble watching the episode. It was actually okay. The supporting characters were entertainingly weird, and the female le1ads didn’t fall as deeply into sitcom stereotypes as I expected.
The star of this show is Jerry Trainor, who plays Vinnie. He recently finished up playing Miranda Cosgrove’s brother/caretaker on “iCarly,” but college students will fondly remember him as Crazy Steve from “Drake and Josh.”
I have to say, I really appreciate him as an actor in his current role. He could have easily gone for the completely immature fool, but he is able to mix in just the right touch of maturity, sweetness and atypical humor to his character.
There is one major problem with the show: I have no idea who the hell this show is catered toward. This show is aired on Nickelodeon, and there are plenty of jokes for the kids.
Nick has been notorious for hiding some adult jokes into their shows (just take a look at any classic Spongebob episode). But I do believe this show goes a tad too far, making jokes about lingerie and some pretty obvious sex references like, “I have reservations for dinner and dessert ... and dessert.”
Overall, this show is okay to watch if you’re just mindlessly flipping channels.
But there are much better options on television, and unless this show really starts innovating itself, it will soon end up with the numerous other sitcom rejects that have come and failed throughout the years.=/j,hf,jhf,jyfryuj
