Also, is it just me, or are they desperately trying to make these "geek hero" shows, while still being really insulting about using stereotypes and stuff? There are more than a few out there now, and it sounds like this is another one.
I mean, it's like they took the geek buttmonkey of the show that everyone abuses, insults, and dismisses, and made him the hero... but without actually removing any of the stereotypes or the buttmonkeyness. So he's still the butt of every joke, the sad laughable loser, only now he's the main character and we're supposed to empathize.
The funny thing is, you know that a lot of times, you can't even necessarily blame it on executive meddling, or snotty writers who beat up nerds and geeks in school... you can watch nerds to it to themselves, even without the draws of mass appeal or big check payoffs.
Just look at Real Life Comics (http://reallifecomics.com/archive/090921.html)... Greg used to be a nerd, among nerds. The character that is now his wife, and representative of the author's real wife, used to be quite the big nerd herself. But now Greg's the only truly nerdy one left, and he's an exaggerated, pathetic caricature of one, his obsessiveness and focus on every nerdy thing taken to heretofore unseen heights, while the wife-character has basically turned into the stereotypical closer-to-earth muggle woman who just doesn't get what's so fascinating about all this "scientific fiction" stuff. He obsesses over online games while she stands around and rolls his eyes, and all of his "friends" snicker behind his back at what a nerdy loser he is. It's just like one of these friggin' "nerd hero" sitcoms.
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Date: 2009-09-25 07:24 pm (UTC)I mean, it's like they took the geek buttmonkey of the show that everyone abuses, insults, and dismisses, and made him the hero... but without actually removing any of the stereotypes or the buttmonkeyness. So he's still the butt of every joke, the sad laughable loser, only now he's the main character and we're supposed to empathize.
The funny thing is, you know that a lot of times, you can't even necessarily blame it on executive meddling, or snotty writers who beat up nerds and geeks in school... you can watch nerds to it to themselves, even without the draws of mass appeal or big check payoffs.
Just look at Real Life Comics (http://reallifecomics.com/archive/090921.html)... Greg used to be a nerd, among nerds. The character that is now his wife, and representative of the author's real wife, used to be quite the big nerd herself. But now Greg's the only truly nerdy one left, and he's an exaggerated, pathetic caricature of one, his obsessiveness and focus on every nerdy thing taken to heretofore unseen heights, while the wife-character has basically turned into the stereotypical closer-to-earth muggle woman who just doesn't get what's so fascinating about all this "scientific fiction" stuff. He obsesses over online games while she stands around and rolls his eyes, and all of his "friends" snicker behind his back at what a nerdy loser he is. It's just like one of these friggin' "nerd hero" sitcoms.