Wil Wheaton talks about Leverage, Star Trek, and being an action figure
You know we at CliqueClack are big fans of TNT’s Leverage. Did you know we really like Wil Wheaton, too? So when Wil landed a guest spot on this week’s Leverage (”The Two Live Crew Job,” airing Wednesday night at 9:00) we knew we’d have to talk to him about it, and I was the lucky interviewer.
I saw the episode already, and it was amazing — so amazing that I’m crossing my fingers for a reprisal of Wil’s role in a future episode (which Wil would completely welcome).
You’ve read my interview with producer Dean Devlin (right?), where I reported an exclusive on the Wil Wheaton hockey scandal of the early ’90s. When I talked to Devlin then, he hadn’t had any contact with Wil since the hockey incident, and now here they are working together after all these years. Coincidence? I think not. I couldn’t help but think I got the ball rolling on this partnership. What did Wil have to say about this?
Everything I need to know I learned from the Leverage special features
Its no secret that we all love Leverage around here. Scott likes Parker almost as much as I do. Bob has an unhealthy obsession with Christian Kane’s hair (I for the record, like the look). Deb has talked to producer Dean Devlin about the show. Season two is in full effect, and I’ve been going back and watching the first season via the recently released (and subject of a CliqueClack giveaway) DVD set. The extras on the set are outstanding, especially when you consider how quickly TNT churned out the set.
Leverage’s Star Trek reunion – a fun episode, but not very reunion-y
I’ve really been looking forward to Leverage’s “The Juror #6 Job,” since it’s been hyped as a big Star Trek Reunion. We were delivered a funny, entertaining episode as always, but I was a little disappointed by the reunion angle. I expected to tune in and see the jury box filled with stars from the Star Trek franchise. Wouldn’t that have been fun, to see them all interact as jurors?
Instead, we got an episode directed by Jonathan Frakes (a very, very good thing), a main guest starring role played brilliantly by Brent Spiner (Data from ST: TNG) and a small role as a witness played by Armin Shimerman (yep, Principal Snyder from Buffy) from Deep Space Nine (yep, the Ferengi) — not even the same show as Frakes and Spiner, although he made guest appearances in Voyager and TNG. Oh, and Kitty Swink, who was on a couple of episodes of Deep Space Nine and just happens to be Armin Shimerman’s wife.
Where was Michale Dorn? Marina Sirtis? Wil Wheaton? That would have been a reunion.
Leverage – Parker’s flight attendant vs. Hardison’s corporate Joe
(Season 1, Episode 8 – “The Mile High Job”)
Is it possible that Leverage is getting funnier? There was always smart banter and chemistry, but tonight I really laughed out loud, often. It’s a good thing, too, because it was one of the weakest cons of the season. But I’m not complaining, because as far as entertainment goes, this week’s Leverage really delivered.
My little gripe with this week’s episode is that there really wasn’t a con, per se; a big, get the bad guy con. Sure, he was gotten in the end, and the mini-cons were great: Hardison as an employee of the big corporation and the rest of the team infiltrating the plane in their individual roles. But none of the fun reveals at the end with the cleverness of the jobs the team puts into play. Again, not a complaint, because this episode was satisfying with the laughs.
Leverage’s episode flip-flop was a good choice
Leverage is my favorite new show this season. On December 30, I was very excited to curl up and watch “The Wedding Job,” 
which looked hilarious, with the team being undercover wedding planners for a mob wedding. Plus, the episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, so I figured we’d have a winner.
When I turned on TNT, though, they were airing “The Bank Shot Job” that night instead. I started to get nervous, thinking maybe they were shortening the season, or skipping “The Wedding Job” altogether. Whatever scenario I invented, it wasn’t a good one.
Then I talked to Dean Devlin, the creator and executive producer of Leverage, and he told me that switching the order of “The Wedding Job” and “The Bank Shot Job” was an intentional decision made by the show’s creative team, because some of the relationships evolved in a more natural way when the episodes were shown in this order. Now that I’ve seen them all in the re-arranged order, I have to agree that this was the right way to show them. Let’s take a look:
Week in Clack – Firsts, interviews and controversy
Week of January 4 to January 11
Clever, insolent, creative, irreverent; even a little twisted. I speak of the writers here at CliqueClack, and the unique posts they churn out day after day. How could we let seven days go by without highlighting some of the week’s gems?
TV’s back, baby, and so are we! Sure, we had some great content during the winter hiatus, but with actual new programming on this week, we were utter clack-a-holics.
It was a week of firsts, which I suppose is fitting with the new year and all.
- We broke the news first on the Internet, folks … the successful The Librarian mini-series franchise is coming to the big screen, hopefully to be shot later this year.
- Jason reviewed the first two back-to-back episodes of Scrubs on ABC, and had some good things to say about the transition. What did you think?
- Scott debuted his BBC Babble column, about all things British and on TV, of course. US shows have been greatly inspired by their British counterparts, to say the least….
- Annie debuted her Gossip Girl Virgin diary — OMG!
- Kona debuted Diary of a Weeds Virgin, shedding a whole new light on suburbia for her.
- Damages season premiere was splendidly reviewed by Jane; so glad this show is back and still intriguing!
- My Name is Earl came back, and Bill not only reviewed it, he illustrated his post. You don’t want to miss his take on Jason Lee (or The Odd Couple, for that matter).
- Psych’s first episode of the new year debuted to Brett’s favorable review.
Dean Devlin, creator of Leverage – CliqueClack Interview
Are you loving Leverage as much as I am? For me, Leverage burst onto the scene this season and stole my TV-viewing heart. I like to be entertained, and this show is pure fun: quirky humor, clever cons, creative flashbacks. Pure fun. Haven’t seen it? No more excuses, because Leverage is available in HD in iTunes. So catch up and read the CliqueClack reviews of Leverage already!
So when I had the chance to interview Dean Devlin, Leverage’s creator, I naturally jumped on it. Dean’s got a varied background in the industry, with acting roles in Real Genius, Misfits of Science and L.A. Law, writing and producing credits on the blockbuster film Independence Day, and executive producer of the three The Librarian TV movies, just to name a few. Ahem. Impressed? I was.
After the jump, I’ll share some juicy tidbits about how the amazing cast was chosen for Leverage, a taste of what we’ve got to look forward to by the end of the season, and what part Devlin played in the Wil Wheaton hockey scandal of the early ’90s. Oh, and Christian Kane’s hair.
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