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Nickelodeon is trying to capitalize on Trainor's following from "iCarly" by airing "Wendell & Vinnie" on the same night, Saturday, (with an encore Sunday). But it aims for a wider audience, with a high ratio of adult characters to children introduced in episode one, along with grown-up dating quandaries. "Jerry has had a huge following with our kid and family audience for many years," said Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon's president of content development and production. He predicted that viewers will connect with Vinnie's challenges in the "broad physical comedy." The series balances laughs with inherent sadness: Vinnie and Wendell are together because the boy's parents died. But that event happened three months before we meet the pair, and it's touched on carefully in the pilot. The shared tragedy -- Vinnie and Wilma lost a sibling, Wendell his mom and dad
-- provides emotional depth to the show, said Trainor: "We don't belabor it, but it's there." If "Wendell & Vinnie" scores with viewers, the actor could be comfortably employed for some time. But does he want to mix it up with weightier projects? Maybe someday, he said, singling Tom Hanks as a role model for his evolution from the comedy of "Bosom Buddies" and "Money Pit" to the drama of "Philadelphia" and beyond. "That's not part of me that I have to do something dark to prove to people that I'm an actor. The fuel for me is the laugh," Trainor said. "Maybe later I'll want to show people the darker side. ... But right now, I'm having too much fan making people laugh. And it really makes me feel good." ___ Online:
[Associated
Press;
Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at
lelber@ap.org and at
http://twitter.com/lynnelber.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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