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)
