TV Review: King Of The Nerds

By Nathan Young on January 24, 2013

Sadly, geeks and nerds have been placed into the rear-end of society ever since time began. Many of us hated school and we dreaded being picked last or being rejected for just about everything. I watched the first episode of the TBS show King of the Nerds. I was thinking this show would make fun of the geek and nerd stereotype. I was glad I was proven wrong!

At the beginning of the show, we got to know the 11 contestants who would be calling “Nerdvana” home! These are people who I would love to hang out with 24/7! These folks are your hardcore mathematicians, engineers, professional gamers, comic book and video game super nerds. Of course at the beginning they had to pick teams. There were 11 contestants and there would only be two teams of five people. So of course I thought the one not picked would be going home. After the picking was done, one person was standing all alone and she was thinking she was going home. And then the hosts talked about how tough it is to be picked last. Believe me, I have been picked last and rejected multiple times! The lady not picked got to be the winner of the competition. I really liked that!

Two people from the losing team has to compete in the “nerdoff” The loser in this competition goes home. And for the first “nerdoff” we get to see the two contestants compete in a game of chess. The competition was an actual game of chess with super-sized pieces. There was a sexy lady to move the pieces and a gladiator to destroy the chess pieces taken out of the game. I was glad to see the show do something like this!

What I am happy about King of the Nerds is this show is actually aimed at geek and nerd viewers. And this is not a show that will make fun of them, I hope. This is like the reality show version of The Big Bang Theory. The hosts, Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong from Revenge of the Nerds are really good hosts and I enjoyed seeing them on the show. The contestants will live in “Nerdvana” while they are on the show. This is a place I would love to stay in! It has everything geek and nerd you can think of!

Most reality shows on TV show people’s hopes being crushed, and sometimes they show people’s anti-social side coming out as well. I will be watching to see how the self-image of this cast of nerds holds out. And I really hope this show improves the image of nerd and geek in the rest of the world. That is something which is badly needed!

King of the Nerds airs Thursdays at 10/9 central on TBS. For the week 2 episode, Star Trek alum George Takei will be a guest judge!

Learn more about King of the Nerds at: http://www.tbs.com/shows/king-of-the-nerds/. Follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KingOfTheNerdsTBS and on Twitter @KingofNerdsTBS.