King of the Nerds

After hearing that this show was a successor of sorts to "The Big Brain Theory," I figured I had better check it out. Sure, "The Big Brain Theory" had the usual stupid reality TV components that will rot your brain and lower your IQ, but they counter balanced that with some really great challenges which got those neurons making plenty of new connections.

WELL, the "King of the Nerds" is basically just 100% brain rot. The winner did NOTHING the entire show other than sit in the corner. The runner-up was shockingly good at everything yet didn't win the final popularity contest due to simple revenge by the losers. My IQ went down quite a few points during this show's run. Fortunately, I've kept all my college textbooks and was able to recover in about 10 minutes of studying.

If you analyze this show carefully, you will realize the producers really don't have the proper background to make an "intelligent" program. They simply have a reality TV formula that they are regurgitating over and over. Our taste in entertainment these days IS quite a sad commentary on our culture and proof that there is little innovation but plenty of exploitation.

A final thought: of the participants that got enough screen time to get to know, I have to say Ivan really stood out. Not only did he make an impression in the challenges, but his commentary was shockingly intelligent and enlightened. If I were CEO of a large corporation, I'd hire him in an instant. This guy is an asset.

This is a must for me because I am a total nerd. King of the Nerds combines many internet celebrities with countless other brains to compete for the ultimate reward. I am especially surprised for their pick on nerds. I knew Jovenshire, or Joshua Ovenshire, one of the nerds on the show, as he was a host and producer over at Smosh Games. He was one of the most loved people ever for everything he did and how he would sacrifice himself countless times to be the one getting hurt on their hilarious...and somewhat humiliating games. But hey it's the internet. Joven was awesome and too see him on King of the Nerds was definitely one of the greatest highlights of this show for me. I was in the biggest state of shock in the history of the state of shocks when I saw himself, his face, on the show. I didn't move for at least 15 minutes. I think for people who are a part of the internet, this is one of the best, or the best show ever for them because there's a good chance for people to know the contestants for this show and the looks on their faces are priceless when they see for the first time Joven or Danielle or anyone else they "know" on that show. They are in a state of shock and the memory of it will last them a lifetime. This show is undoubtedly one of the greatest things TV directors have ever created.

I do not understand the point to these so-called "reality shows". The funny irony here is that "King of the Nerds" doesn't even have real-life nerds. I was actually expecting to see something having to do with computer people or something similar to TruTV's "World's Dummest..", but the so-called "nerds" in here make me think of stuff like Steve Urkel in the old sitcom "Family Matters", which used the most stereotypical definition of a nerd. I hate to tell you this, but a good majority of the actual people are a lot more like someone out of the sitcom "Becker" or "The Drew Carey Show" and they tend to have a lot of smart-mouth sarcasm built in to them along side their intelligence.

Give it up people, the reality shows are basically dead. One of the few reality shows that even had sense in the show was the stuff like "Cops". At least those shows were about real-life moments in reality, and not one of the silly little games that simply fool around with people's lives, like "King of the Nerds" does.

What bugs me about this show is it's so-called nerds. It seems nowadays that what passes as nerds are whiny little idiots that go out of their way to look and act weird and freaky then whine and cry about being socially rejected. If I had a chance I'd love to tell these brats a thing or two. Not long ago being a nerd wasn't something you'd ever brag about. It wasn't a title you'd willingly apply to yourself. And it had nothing to do with having pink hair or prattling on about useless comic book trivia. Not long ago being a nerd meant getting the hell beaten out of you because you preferred reading over playing ball. It meant getting the hell beaten out of you because you were deemed too skinny or too fat or too freckled or whatever else some jock douche decided was uncool at any particular point in time. To me, watching any of these twits being crowned king of the nerds would be a little like Rosa Parks watching Will Smith being crowned king of the civil rights movement. Maybe not the best analogy but you get my point. These are kids who go out of their way to not fit in then whine about not fitting in. In my day being a nerd meant doing whatever you could to avoid attention and fly under the radar to avoid someone noticing that Tolkien book in your hands and beating the crap out of you or doing some other humiliating thing to make you feel like you just want to die. These kids act like weirdos then cry when they're not voted prom queen. I guess it's nice to see nerds getting some positive attention these days, but for those of us who were nerds back when being a nerd meant facing serious abuse and humiliation, this show seems worthy of a major eye roll.

I was really looking forward to this show from the first time it was advertised. I have always fit very securely in the nerd demographic. The commercials made it look like it was going to be the new rave in reality television.

It has not lived up to those expectations. There are some interesting participants in the competition. Some of the guests are fun to see. But honestly, I am failing to see the point in the competition. The Throne of Games looks quite stupid and sitting on it seems to be the only prize the winner will get. None of the players really seem motivated to win it. In the episode tonight, Virgil's attitude is the correct one. He has lost all interest because there is no reason to have it. Alana was the only nerd who seemed motivated to win and she was the single most annoying reality show character since Puck in the third Real World.

The competitions are boring. Cosplay is not fun when you make up your own characters. The point of it is that you get to BECOME an actual character in media. If you are just making up costumes and playing, it's not Cosplay. The video game competition had the nerds piloting a hovering device rather than playing video games. The nerdoff sets are subparr compared to Ren Faire sets.

Nothing else about the show works either. Nerdvana as a nerd paradise leaves a lot to be desired. Curtis Armstrong and Robert Carradine's participation seems forced.

All I can say is that it seems like they threw this show together way too quickly. The idea was great, but they should have worked to get sponsors that would make the competition more interesting. They could work with Marvel or Tite Kubo to cosplay Marvel or Bleach. They could have had actual video games on consoles. It is just so unfortunate that such a great idea was so poorly executed.