“Wendell & Vinnie" 8 p.m. Saturday, Nickelodeon
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — When Buddy Handleson was 3, his parents tried to get him to do some modeling, but he hated it.
“I’d actually run from the cameras," he recalled.
Handleson, who grew up in Danville, Calif., isn’t running from them anymore. Now a savvy 13, he has landed a major role in “Wendell & Vinnie," a new live-action sitcom on Nickelodeon.
Handleson is Wendell, a young geek who is book smart, but socially inept. “iCarly" alum Jerry Trainor plays his uncle, Vinnie, a carefree bachelor who suddenly has been thrust into the role of legal guardian for his precocious nephew. Plenty of odd-couple shenanigans ensue.
Handleson took to the phone recently to field some questions about his latest showbiz adventure.
Q. So what’s the coolest thing about being a TV star?
A. Well, this is my dream. It’s my passion. I guess the coolest thing is that I actually have fans and have gotten to meet some of them. That’s unbelievable.
Q. What attracted you to the role of Wendell?
A. It’s a part that matches me almost perfectly. In “Shake It Up," I played an extremely smart guy — a little too smart for me. I had trouble pronouncing some of the words he said. Wendell’s intelligence is more in the middle, and that’s just right for me.
Q. In the first episode, we learn that Wendell isn’t into things that “typical" boys are. He loves homework. He enjoys Sondheim and scrapbooking, and the closest thing to a “sport" that he engages in is calligraphy. Are you anything like him?
A. I’m like him in that I enjoy reading a lot. But I like to play video games, too, when all he wants to do is homework. I do my homework, but I don’t prefer it.
