The Fall Geek TV Lineup 318
An anonymous reader writes "Wired has an article looking at this Fall's bumper crop of geek TV. McG, who directed the pilot for the show Chuck, opines that the appearance of nerd culture on network television is a long-overdue reflection of real life. From the article: 'Hollywood, he said, is playing catch-up with IT culture. "The classic shape of the computer geek is over when Bill Gates became the (richest), most aspirational, coolest guy in the world," he said. "He is the original thick-glasses, pocket-protector guy. Now who doesn't want to be like Bill Gates?"' They have reviews of the lengthy list of shows, for clues as to what to watch and what to miss."
Related stories (Score:4, Insightful)
Who doesnt want to be a two legged stereotype? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:5, Insightful)
Most people (apart from the saintly) want money! However, most people have other aspirations as well.
The problem with the article is that is assumes that Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, therefore he represents other aspirations. Other aspirations do not count.
How pathetic to ONLY aspire to money. Why not aspire to be Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa or
Gates Didn't Change the Face of The Geek (Score:2, Insightful)
"Geek" as main character != geek TV (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why does the media still call tech folks nerds (Score:4, Insightful)
Hollywood Understands (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, I hate to be cynical, but as much as Battlestar Galactica is the coolest show I've seen in years, most of Hollywood's understanding of biological science seems to be some variation on Frankenstein, their physical science based on Looney Tunes, and their concept of computer science is best left unmentioned. I'll bet they're making the same mistakes they've always made: thinking good shows can be about some World's Fair technology show and the World of Tomorrow when they should be about the story and the people.
Not me... (Score:3, Insightful)
Redeeming features: None that I can see. Money is not a redeeming feature, since making a lot of it typically means taking it form others without giving back fair value back.
And he is not even cool. I have zero aspirations in his direction. In fact, I think he is the prototypical high-profile failed geek, that has not managed to use his skills for good.
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, but I think for those people who have thought about it carefully, they only want money in moderation.
It's nice to be able to afford only doing work you find meaningful, and not having to worry about affording food, health care, etc. But I've also heard that most lottery winners end up unhappy (and often broke).
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope, people want what they are told money can buy. It's the system at power that makes sure that the only way you can achieve your dreams is through money, and it did it in two ways. Hollywood on one side, communism on the other (and we fall for the non sequitur that the only alternative to the system at power is a system with no property at all)
In the process they stripped money of its core value: being something that makes wealth easily kept and converted. Inflation makes sure you have to trot all your life to accumulate paper. Or, you choose to be the kapo of the system, and accumulate more wealth subjugating your peers. The lucky ones who are good and smart enough to accumulate wealth in a honest way are shrinking.
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:3, Insightful)
You've probably mostly heard that from lottery losers. Though...I'd imagine someone who counts on the extremely unlikely combination of some bouncing plastic balls as their key to financial freedom already is unhappy because they have no goals or purpose in life, and is also rather bad at handling finances.
Sam (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:"Geek" as main character != geek TV (Score:3, Insightful)
The IT Crowd is hilarious, if you've ever worked tech support for any company, anywhere. Second season has drifted away from the geek jokes, but I have faith they'll come back. Oh, and their first question is -never- 'Are you sure it's plugged in?' That's the second one. The first is always 'Have you tried turning it off and back on again?' If they're going to review the show, they should probably actually watch it, instead of watching clips and pretending to have seen it all.
Chuck is okay, Journeyman looks interesting but probably cliche, Reaper and Pushing Daisies I had -never- heard of, but now want to check out the first ep, and the Sarah Connor Chronicles worries me... Will they REALLY do a good job of this, or will it be worse than the last couple movies? Series are usually worse, and I don't know if I could handle that. Also, Summer as 'genius' bothers me... I still see her as the not-all-there River from Firefly. (Oddly, wikipedia has a picture of her looking normal... I guess the producers didn't want that.)
Re:The IT Crowd (Score:1, Insightful)
Oh and Wired, no they can't drop the "laugh track". It's filmed in front of a live audience, you dolt.
The Fall Anti-Geek line-up (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that show in particular is quite anti-nerd, anti-IT, anti-intellectual, etc. I've certainly met people like Chuck - not very good at what they do, but they're damn sure extremely awkward, but the majority of IT folks I've met are insanely happy, always joking, and do stuff like ride their motorcycles or go mountain climbing on the weekends, they don't sit in their mother's basement playing DnD and fixing people's computers for almost no money.
I think it was already mentioned above, but if you want a truly great show for geeks/nerds/whatever you should check out House. The main character is a Doctor that is insanely intelligent and in a position of power. He's not socially awkward at all and quite funny even to a general audience. The only sense that he's "awkward" is just that he doesn't like dealing with morons and shows it every 10 seconds with hilarious insults by anyone's standards.
So who would you side with? The not-socially-awkward Doctor in a position of power or the "let's all point and laugh at the Nerd Herd!" show?
But speaking of house, the new season is on tomorrow night - check it out if you haven't already.
There it goes! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Is this a good thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
OK, then don't worry. Popular and geek are mutually exclusive. Even if something is popular, the geek approach to it will be
Now we must distinguish between shows for geeks, and shows about geeks. Any show with an elaborate fantasy component can be a show for a geek. Shows about geeks are necessarily comedies. Because geeks are supposed to be losers, it is natural to laugh at them.
This doesn't mean the show has to be stupid or offensive, it just means that a show with little ambition or talent can go for cheap laughs.
Frasier, was hands down the most artistically and economically successful show about geeks ever. The Crane brothers are not tech geeks, but they are undeniably geeks: they seek to boost their status and importance by their command of intellectual arcana. What's more, because they are geeks they are losers. Everything we see them attempt ends in frustration. However they are more than caricatures. There isn't a word I can think of for what they are: they are neither admirable nor really contemptible; they are neither unlikable nor truly likable. Somehow, you want them to win but you enjoy watching them lose.
I think the secret of that show is that while the writers give us very broad caricatures, they then proceed to write against the stereotype. The Crane brothers are arrogant and self important, but they also demonstrate an underlying sweetness and goodness in every episode. Although this always serves only to deepen their humiliation, they somehow manage to exceed expectations while they lose. They're the plucky team of losers that doesn't pull an offset against overwhelming odds (which we know in our hearts that movies that tell that story are lies), but surprises everyone by scoring at all.
What makes a show an enduring success are interesting characters, written about in a compelling way. Geeks, with their enthusiasms that often border on mania, their propensity to march to a different drummer, their tendency to be the proverbial square pegs in a round hole, are usually the most interesting people in any group. The trick is writing about them in a way that gets underneath the surface to something anybody can identify with.
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably because it's not a good thing to aspire to:
-Oppose condom usage in AIDS-stricken areas
-Take money from despotic regimes and spend only a small portion on its intended purpose
-Run a completely non-transparent operation
-Make your clinic painful to teach people the value of suffering
-Convince people that they should fake miracles in your name
Current shows too (Score:2, Insightful)
And there's always Doctor Who, reruns of old shows and the new shows are great.
and to think I can't even fscking stand the word (Score:3, Insightful)
would not be in the article.
These shows are going to continue portraying "geeks" as Dwayne Dibley types, because the mainstream view of a "geek" is still a dork in an ill-fitting short-sleeved buttondown with acne, buck teeth, and his glasses taped together. If you think the picture of "geek chic" in mainstream media is going to transcend that stereotype, you're in for a disappointment.
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, but I think this is what people with no money tell themselves to feel better about it.
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Nerd TV is not good TV (Score:3, Insightful)
It really helps that in Heroes the characters all appear to be living, breathing people who are reacting to the same situations any of us would find ourselves in if we woke up in the mundane world to find ourselves with superpowers.
Also, Hiro 4tw.
Re:I don't want to be like BIll Gates (Score:3, Insightful)
When your main problems come from lack of money, is it that strange that people put that up as their ideal? Money means a lot of things to different people. To one person it might mean a giant bathtub of money, but to a lot of folks it means being able to actually do something for charities that are struggling to survive, to get their family out of bad neighborhoods, to get their kids medical care they can't currently afford. Wanting money and altruism aren't always mutually exclusive. I'm positive Gates has already done far, far, more good for the world than Mother Teresa at least. I'm not fond of the mans products, I wouldn't want his social mannerisms, but his charity has really done some great work.
Pfft (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously. One of the greatest shows on TV.