PhantomStranger

They struck television gold last year, finding a couple of nerdy but telegenic girls.

They found another seemingly likable group, though the eye candy is definitely down from last season. I was also a little disappointed they didn't include a comic book nerd this time.

mnementh

It was fun to see the elder nerds at the beginning of the episode.

Shinobi

I'm surprised they didn't sign up a hot cosplay chick. There are only a million of them out there. If "speaking Japanese" qualifies you as being a nerd, being a cosplayer should also get you in the door.

PhantomStranger

The positive this year was there didn't seem to be any uber-annoying cast members. It was fun seeing them flail away in the broom challenge and completely missing the baskets.

T-bone22

The blonde had such an annoying fucking voice.

fumanstan

Yeah, she had a weird southern drawl or something to her voice.

Paff

Not to mention her Japanese pronunciation was terrible. She was like those characters on Saturday Night Live.

madcougar

No shit. Not that last year's were all that, but this year's girls are NOT easy on the eyes.

Bill Needle

The nerds are nerdier, so no surprise the girls are less hot. The miniature dude made of hair cracks me up every time I see him. He's like an English speaking Ewok.

Coladar1

I definitely didn't feel the pull I did last year, although I don't think it's the girls looks as much as other things. My God, with the... girl, whatever her name was, who got picked last last season? If she'd been the hottest chick on the planet, personality/annoyance wise, you couldn't pay me enough to do *anything* with or to her. Most annoying person I've ever seen... egads. In spite of that fact, and her dragging the average hotness of last season's female cast far below this years, last year had something this one doesn't.

First and foremost, probably the lack of comic nerds as others mentioned. This year's cast is far more specialized, narrow focused, and seemingly with scientific degrees and careers but lacking generalized geekiness. Then you've got this guy who's apparently quite well known for Pokemon... demerits all around. He's already 'famous', and Pokemon isn't exactly something I consider to be a hallmark of Nerdiness. Might be 'nerdy', but not something I believe the 'average nerd' is into or even all that familiar with.

Maybe worst of all, these shows seem desperate to ensure diversity... but they pick a good looking African American guy who's about as Nerdy as someone on Big Brother. They made a huge deal he didn't even know what a Dungeon Master was. I've never played a second of D&D my entire life, but of course I know what that is by having immersed myself in the culture of the Nerd. Same deal with Fangasm, horrific show that it was, with a club-going ladies man who seemed the antithesis of a geek/nerd. There are *plenty* of folks of all shapes, sizes and colors who are devoted geeks or passionate nerds, but as always, the casting directors show their inflexibility by choosing someone who had never heard of a DM on a show named "King of the Nerds."

I consider a 'nerd' more like what one of them mentioned last night: a little knowledge on tons of subjects. I'm into technology and computers, AV, comics, games, sci-fi and fantasy, MMORPGs, horror... I'm hardcore into astronomy and space exploration. I consider myself far more of a nerd than 90% of this cast, except I'm not an inorganic chemist, insanely specific engineer or whatever else.

I enjoyed last year seeing people who were nerds, in many facets. This season, you've got ridiculously narrow focuses across the board with apparently little knowledge elsewhere - and worse, it's narrow in career/educational backgrounds, not so much hobbyists/fans/collectors. I'll stick with it, for now, but it's definitely gone downhill.

PhantomStranger

I don't know, this cast seemed fairly nerdy to me, almost to the show's detriment. I never got the feeling one of these people were L.A. actors putting on an act (which does happen on some "reality" shows) for the camera. The obsession on the show with breaking them down into categories like gaming or science does feel a little false.

Coladar1

I agree there, aside from... Chris, was it? The guy who'd never heard of DMs.

I don't think they're fake, as much as they just aren't 'true' nerds in the fullest sense of the word, living a nerd life with nerd hobbys and passions.

Seems to me, 90% were cast because the director saw what they felt to be an incredibly nerdy occupation on their submission forms. Then, on the other hand, somehow speaking a bunch of languages makes somebody a nerd, purely by interest in another culture. So Japanese people are inherently nerdy? That's almost offensive... where does it stop? Is being into Chinese culture nerdy? Korean? Thai? Indonesian?

Maybe more accurately put - I don't feel like one of these folks wait with bated breath for Wednesday to come... new comic book day! From general chatter, it sounded like they resoundingly dislike Star Wars. There was the Pokemon guy, but I got a feeling none of them were into video games all that much. That's the problem - they're so focused on their obsessions over their insanely specialized and complex careers that that seems to be pretty much all they care, or know, about.

Maybe we'll see my first reaction was wrong as we see more footage with them, but it doesn't seem too likely.

fumanstan

I disagree that a nerd has to have all these specific qualities or a broad range of knowledge about nerdy subjects. There might a specific idea on the internet about what a typical nerd should be, but thinking back to high school or college it's easy to see where these mechanical engineers or chemists fit in on the show. I think it would be boring if the majority of the people on the show had that broad geek knowledge, and I like the mix of people. While I certainly think it would be fun to have a show off comprised solely of the comic book and video game type nerd, this show just isn't going for that and isn't that much different from last season in that regard (aside from missing a few specializations, like the comic book nerd mentioned).

As far as the girl speaking other languages, there are people that I know that are ridiculously in to asian culture like that which I would definitely consider nerdy. Especially those that obsess over anime and manga. I don't see how it's offensive at all. In regards to video games, one guy was specifically a WoW player and a girl was wearing a StarCraft II hat Reading their profiles on the web site gives a nice idea on what each of them are in to.

Patman

I know of Mary Kate through her cosplays.

Coladar1

I completely agree in principle, which was why I put true in quotations in one post. The Interwebz is littered with fanbois ranting about whether someone is a "true fan" of this or that... So I agree, Nerdom comprises a huge range of interests and concepts - one of the most fundamental being an acceptance of all sorts, which I seem to be going against by saying these folks aren't 'true nerds' or the right kind of nerd.

My issue with this season is they are sorely lacking in far too many of those interests. Worse still, as I've repeatedly said, the majority if not outright entirety of this cast is waaay too narrowly focused in Nerdy Interests™ - and most problematic, the focus being in professional/career and educational subsets.

Let's face it, this entire show is desperately trying to shine under some of the Big Bang Theory's spotlight. I'm totally cool if, out of a cast of a dozen, they want to include three or four eggheads and rocket engineers who are borderline autistic. But the majority of the cast should better reflect a broader nerdiness; comics, gaming, scifi/fantasy and science. Because, as I initially said, to me the most idealized concept of a nerd is having a huge range of interests/"the master of none." It's simply a consequence of the inquisitiveness and curiosity I see a "true" nerd having, fascinated by so many different things in so many different areas that they can rarely settle on just one thing. This show, at least this season of it, seems obsessed with having nerds defined by one single nerdy subject to the detriment of all others.

Ultimately, my gripe is these nerds are nerds because of their careers, highly specialized science, mathematics or engineering jobs, and very few appear nerdy because of their hobby or passions done in their off-time, for free, and likewise what the general public sees as hallmarks of nerdiness. Bottom line, I've got a hard time swallowing a show named 'King of the Nerds' without at least one resident comic book geek - everything else is extrapolated from there.

mnementh

I'm still dtf any of the lady nerds.

fumanstan

Zack is pretty crazy. Was disappointed to see him continue on, but I guess that was to be expected for more drama in the show. Katie is pretty cute.

Paff

Everyone is so focused on Zach's craziness, but there's one other thing bugging me: Why is that one girl so secretive about being a chemist? Like, when it slipped out, it was some kind of state secret that doomed her. If anything, it would have helped especially in this first challenge.

I think she thinks that if it gets out, the other team will always vote her into the Nerd-off. As if being a chemist makes her the most dangerous member of the team and the biggest threat to the others (wouldn't surprise me to find she has an overinflated view of her ability). But that doesn't make a lot of sense, as there's very few chemistry-related challenges (this may have been the only one). So it's more likely her own team would select her for the Nerd-off. And by sand-bagging her skills, she's only ensuring that that indeed is what will happen.

So yes, they've truly found nerds for this season. Last season it was (fairly) normal, social people, who just happen to have an interest in science, science-fiction, fantasy, comics, games, etc. Now they've found self-absorbed, anti-social losers who have to resort to things like sci-fi and gaming because no one else wants to be around them.

PhantomStranger

It's a fairly common reality-show strategy when the cast's votes help decide its outcome. People hide their true professions all the time. Virtually no one admits to being a lawyer in reality land.

madcougar

AMEN!

I feel people tend to lie about this because they don't want other contestants thinking they don't REALLY need the prize money, not because lawyers are SO great.

The chemistry girl's fear of being discovered bordered on the bizarre, as if her knowledge of chemistry was the biggest threat ever.

One more note... unlike last year when there were several likable cast members, ALL of these losers annoy me.

PhantomStranger

I would have to concur, last year's cast was a lot more engaging than this season's cast. Probably the most likable character, the Pokemon guy, is already gone.

fumanstan

I know Zack adds drama, but I really wanted him to lose. He's such a douche

PhantomStranger

The producers likely knew that when casting him, reality shows always insert one or two extremely volatile personalities to up the drama. I'm probably going to stop watching, his antics are tough to stomach. A shame because this was one of my favorite shows last year.

TheKing

I like that the guy on the purple team pointed out that the asian guy shaving his head was kind of a waste as the judges would have no idea he had hair the night before.

Also, Pirates Dinner Theater is in Buena Park, not Anaheim. Sheesh. Well, at least they acknowledged it wasn't in Los Angeles, so that's a start.

Thrush

I for one am enjoying Jack's lunacy and his teams inability to get rid of him.