You know what? Screw off, TBS. Nerd culture has come a long way since the 1980s and Revenge of the Nerds. Nerd culture is now the dominant one of Hollywood. Superhero movies rule the box office. Comic-Con is influencing mainstream pop culture. Nerd sites heavily populate the Internet, and THEY ARE THE MOST POPULAR SITES. Nerds run the world now, but for every advancement, there has to be a show like Big Bang Theory, a dumb show about smart people, that continues to propagate these crass stereotypes about nerds to make the rest of America feel good about themselves. “Oh sure, they run the world now, and everything we consume is thanks to Nerds! But they’re lisping, snorting dorks with no social skills! We win!”
Oh, screw off.
Anyway, TBS has decided that, hey! Let’s continue to foment these absurd stereotypes by making a show about nerds and, hey! Let’s bring back the stars of Revenge of the Nerds — Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong — to host! Wouldn’t that be great? Let’s call it King of the Nerds and hold a competition to see which Nerds can Out-Nerd each other?! We’ll hold challenges to measure their “intellect, ingenuity, skills and pop-culture prowess” with nerd debates and cosplay competitions, and then give the winner a $100,000 prize, or what a real nerd could make in about four hours by creating an app. Oh, and how do we make damn sure that these Nerd peons are appropriately put in their place? Let’s have George Takei be one of the guest judges to reinforce the nerdy Star Trek! And Kevin Smith as a guest judge to reinforce the fact that Nerds are often bearded fat guys! Way to go, TBS! I’m sure King of Nerds will be a very suitable complement to your endless Big Bang Theory reruns.
Seriously, screw off. And screw you, Kevin Smith, for agreeing to a show this blatantly reductive.
King of the Nerds will debut on January 17th.
(Source: TVLine)
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Mark my words, jock humor will make its comeback soon.
Cram it, poindexter.
But will there be a female version where a bunch of hot women sit around announcing that they love Star Wars? Fingers crossed!
Ugh.. Fuck Kevin Smith.
Agreed. Fuck’em.
Kevin Smith is so fat that he can’t wear a medium.
So im assuming your backing Britton Delizia’s book on kickstarter?
I just don’t understand what’s so hard about quitting eating. People do it all the time in Africa and The Sudan.
@LiveT Real talk: it’s not that hard. I lost 120 pounds in nine months by changing the way I ate and working out. Is it fun? Hell no! But all it requires is discipline and commitment and the ability to buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts and ground turkey.
I can’t believe you found a picture of Kevin Smith wearing something other than one of those huge orange and blue commercials for his website. He’s been living in those things lately.
Relevant: [stormofswansons.tumblr.com]
I’m okay with this show. It doesn’t sound overtly offensive, like there’s gonna be a pocket protector competition. It just sounds like trivia most of the internet prides itself on anyways. (Pop trivia! Movies! The name of that reptile bounty hunter in Star Wars that looked kind of cool but never had any lines so who cares?!)
There’s still downsides to mainstream nerd culture that shouldn’t be extolled, mostly female related (nerd girl shaming, hilarious comic books poses, blatant sexism), some tech related (the rise of Apple), and others just social related (the entire idea that being intelligent and/or a gamer automatically makes you a nerd, and therefore you should be watching superhero movies, reading comic books, going to comic con, cosplaying).
In some ways nerd culture has developed beyond the 80s. In many ways, its just the same ole story.
Its Bossk! What do I win?
Whatever this show offers the winner
Relax, man. Networks make shows stereotyping every discernable culture and profession. Hospital shows, cop shows, silly foreign
culture shows… Now nerds get the same treatment because it’s no longer a subcuture. I dont’t understand the incredible frustration.
Kevin Smith secretly masturbates to episodes of Entourage
How bout we find a better phrase to dismiss this move than ‘screw off’. Seriously, can’t think of a worse sounding diminutization of ‘fuck off’.
go on, beat it, scram
Superhero movies have always dominated the box office.
Honestly though, have you been to 4chan, like, ever? or Reddit or SA or etc? I’m pretty sure that nothing has changed for nerds. I’m pretty sure we’re all still a bunch of pasty basement dwellers, and those of you who think things are different just aren’t actual nerds.
I went to Berkeley and graduated as a computer science major and I…… agree. Obviously, not every ‘nerd’ is the socially awkward mess that shows like the Big Bang Theory paint us as, but I would say a large number of my classmates were that lacking in social skills. These kinds of shows are surely over exaggerated examples of nerd-dom, but (as embarrassing as it is) I actually enjoyed some episodes of the Big Bang Theory because some of the jokes hit pretty close to home.
I do want to emphasize the part where I say not everyone I knew from my major was socially awkward, because I feel that positive statement is going to get lost in the negative one I made.
And as an english professor working on a master’s degree, I can say that it’s relatively similar in the geek world as well. If I read one more story about someone finding a group of unicorns, I’m gonna start tying horns to horses and shooting them in front of the classroom.
I’m not pasty, I’m anemic, dammit!
I have to say that I feel like the stereotypical nerd rarely exists in reality*. I’ve known less than ten people who fit that mold in my life, and I got a degree in electrical and computer engineering. People can like things generally considered nerdy without descending being the one-man nerd minstrel show that movies and tv love so much.
*the internet doesn’t count because few people bother acting normal on the internet
Color me badd, but I still don’t understand why Big Bang Theory-ization is a bad thing. The Leonard character bangs Kaley Cuoco’s character. In the 80′s did the nerd character even get a girlfriend, nevermind a ridiculously attractive one?
Yes. By committing sexual assault.
Is there a minimum number for the chronic masturbation part of the competition?
how else is he going to pay for the bales of weed he smokes daily?
I think it’s ironic that Vince has changed his alias to Dustin Rowles. The nerdiest made up name I’ve ever heard.
It’ll all be alright.
Wormser.
Stereotypically speaking, isn’t there a difference between nerds and geeks? Like nerds are loser, neck bearded, basement dwellers while geeks are the overly smart, not cool at all, tech/trivia buffs? It sounds like the show is describing geeks, not nerds, assuming there is a difference.
Ever see Comic Book Men? Kevin Smith’s kid must need regular transfusions of gold dust and ivory to live or something.
Big Bang Theory is the worst. And trying to explain that to someone who loves the show is like trying to argue someone out of their religion. They just won’t hear it. But this video perfectly sums it up – [www.youtube.com]
Saying that a “nerd” can create a $100k app on a whim is arguably a bigger and less accurate “nerd” stereotype than anything in that show’s description.
Have you ever considered that the words nerd and geek actually carry no meaning anymore? They’ve been highjacked by the media like white suburban kids did the word “thug” back in the 90s. Being upset at tv or the movies for portraying an over the top stereotype is as fruitful as yelling at my dog for licking his junk. He just looks at me confused and goes back to it.
Being a nerd is cool now and self described nerds have become some of the most obnoxious voices online. Perhaps you could just be happy with your video games, comic books, Neil DeGrasse Tyson etc etc and stop worrying whether someone else who claims to be into those things is REALLY a nerd like you.
With that said, being nerdy as a fashion statement is ignorant. But so are most fashion statements.