» Breaking The Fourth Wall: Here Come The Nerds

- Breaking The Fourth Wall: Here Come The Nerds
  
  A post about Columns by yatesy on March 22nd, '08
  
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- The nerds are eclipsing the image of the big strong burley man being the hero of your TV show. Not just the nerds, but the geeks, the misfits, the people that were also the comic sidekick or peripheral character that popped up when needed and then floated away into the background. A good example of that would be Marshall from Alias. Marshall was the requisite geeky computer/gadget guy. Once n awhile he would get a major-ish storyline but usually just popped up, did his shtick, provided the comic relief and then left.
  
  Misfit-types were always fun to watch, going way back to Bob Denver playing beatnik Maynard G. Krebbs on The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis. He walked to the beat of not only his own drummer, but by the song of his own band. He also stole the show. Fast forward to now, and we get shows like Scrubs, where Sarah Chalke plays Elliot, a super nerd trying to figure out her life and Zack Braff, who is such a geek he lives half the time in his head.
  
  The Big Bang Theory takes nerds on TV and exposes them for the world to see: obsessed with the things they find enjoyable, no matter how ridiculous, and then turns the mirror around so we might see some of that nerdery in ourselves. Having passions that you share with your friends is not unusual, sometimes it is sports, movies, cars, cooking or collecting things. The possibilities are endless. I also think there is a little bit of social geekiness in us that mirror the nerds in this show, albeit their awkwardness is magnified.
  
  You also see this in Chuck. Chuck is a big nerd and knows it. He loves all things nerdy: sci-fi, electronics, etc. He’s also socially kind of maladjusted but is a sweet guy at heart. When he finds out he is important to the government, he has to become the hero, which, if this was any other show, would have been Captain Awesome, his sister’s boyfriend. Captain Awesome is buff, blonde and a doctor. He also hasn’t got a clue about what Chuck is all about.
  
  The nerds, or, the anti-heroes, are popping up more and more. Recently, ABC premiered Miss Guided, which follows Judy Greer as her character returns to her high school as the guidance counselor. The orthodontia might have come off and she might have gotten contacts but on the inside she is still a geeky teenager.
  
  You root for her when she talks to the handsome Spanish teacher. You root for Johnny Galecki’s Leonard on Big Bang Theory, when he tries to woo Penny, the beautiful next-door neighbor. When Chuck has to save the world and still deliver his sister’s engagement ring to Captain Awesome, again-you root for him.
  
  Somewhere along the line, writers started pitching shows that had characters that were less one dimensional and more human. The fact that writers tend to lean more towards Leonard then Capt. Awesome might help, but it’s always nice to know that audiences will go for characters more human then hunky, and that in the end, sometimes the smarter person will make it in the end. And really, isn’t that what we always hope for in the end for ourselves?
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