Big Bang

The New York Times reports on a new trend in movies and TV—the nerd as hero. Inspired by last night's premiere of Chuck (NBC) and The Big Bang Theory (CBS) the nation's newspaper of record notes that now it's the geek who is at the center of things and is held up for our admiration. I personally applaud this movement as a positive development. (Are you surprised that I, of all people, would value programs wherein the nerdy, geeky, super smart guy is the hero? I who am not in the least...super smart.) I have not yet seen the debut episode of Chuck (though I liked its lead, Zachary Levi, in a very different, non-nerdy role on the now-cancelled Less Than Perfect), but I saw and enjoyed The Big Bang Theory. It's (what else?) brainy, nerdy, geeky—and funny. Visit this New York Times page to read Alessandra Stanley's perceptive report. I particularly like how she implies Freaks and Geeks was ahead of its time, as most certainly was Undeclared—and let's face it, any writer who references Fred MacMurray in Walt Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor has a special place in my nerdy, geeky (but not-so-smart) heart