Wil Wheaton Clips His Toenails;
Webheads are Mesmerized
Los Angeles, CA | The relatively new phenomenon of "blogging" on the World Wide Web has produced an unlikely superstar: former child actor Wil Wheaton.
Personal weblogs, shortened to simply "blogs," are essentially private journals meant for public consumption. And they have been quietly amassing a huge audience over the past few years.
Mr. Wheaton's site, one of the most popular destinations for young websurfers, might feature mundane topics such as his shopping list, or a story about some curious object he found while digging in the flower bed. An ever-present webcam frequently shows him clipping his toenails, sneezing, or counting change in a mayonnaise jar on his desk.
Most of his fans are too young to remember Richard William Wheaton III's first appearance as an infant in the short-lived 1966 "Baby Bob" television series. The original black and white version of this year's hit show was quickly pulled from the air by child labor officials. Long before today's technical advancements, investigators discovered the toddler was given chewing tobacco to force speech-like lip movements.
True fame eluded Wheaton until the 1980's, when he hosted "Star Search" using the name Wesley Crusher. But the program was canceled in its eighth season after executive producer Ed McMahon's imprisonment for mail fraud in connection with the Publishers Clearing House scandal.
The internet revolution has forever changed the definition of "entertainment." And most of the new players have found a way to bypass traditional roads to stardom. Wheaton's re-emergence as a cult figure is a major departure from the typical Hollywood "come back" story, and is a telling example of these changing times.
