Since I’ve always had such a vast knowledge of totally useless trivia, many people have told me I should have gone on the game show Beat the Geeks, but geek is not a label I’d permanently want on my epitaph.
Similarly, who would want to be known as King of the Nerds? Yet King of the Nerds is a new reality show that’s a spin off from one of the greatest comedies of the eighties, Revenge of the Nerds.
King of the Nerds is on the TBS network, and it’s hosted by Robert Carradine, who played Louis Skolnick in the film, and Curtis Armstrong who played Booger. The premise of the show? Eleven contestants who love comic books, science, math computers, and fantasy novels are brought together at Nerdvana, a house set up by the show, to compete and potentially win $100,000.
The show actually got good ratings in its debut. According to Broadcasting and Cable, the show brought in 1.2 million adults in the 18-49 demographic, which is considered “a decent start.” It also had the geek series Big Bang Theory as the lead in show to get things off to a good start.
There’s apparently still mad love for the original Nerds film, I still recall the belching contest very fondly after all these years, yet as Howard Stern accurately pointed out on his show, the nerds have indeed taken over the world. Just look at Harry Potter and Bill Gates as two prime examples. There’s truly no shame in having to wear glasses and be a little geeky these days, which is probably one reason the remake of Revenge of the Nerds never took off.
In fact, The Hollywood Reporter even wrote about TBS going after a “geek demo” with the show, but that it should appeal to “nerds and non-nerds alike.” The Reporter also pointed out, “Game of Thrones is a popular TV series, Doctor Who is getting its highest ratings in the U.S. ever, the White House has had to make an official statement about Death Stars – the geeks are inheriting the Earth.”
But again, the stigma of being a nerd should be a thing of the past these days. After all, there’s more of us nerds and geeks than anyone ever realized, it’s just easier to come out of the closest and get your geek on these days.
