I liked SWL. Thought Sam was a guy doing the thing that he loved. Sure he seemed eccentric, but my take on it was that he was comfortable enough with who he is that his surroundings and appearance did not hang him up. Dude looked very relaxed to me and happy to be talking about stuff he loved.
Did the producers think it had a lot of entertainment value? Yup. Was Sam happy having an audience to talk to about all of his cool stuff? Yup. It seemed like a win/win to me. I was entertained both by his vast pin knowledge as well as his eccentricity.
It reminded me a little of the Southern Comfort commercials where the guys are very comfortable with who they are, even though the viewer is not.