Poll: The worst offender of "geek" themed entertainment.

[ohnoitsabear]

For the most part, I would say that Big Bang Theory isn't all that offensive. I mean, I don't enjoy watching it very much, and the audience laughter is just horrendous, but it doesn't really go out of it's way to demean nerds.

But then there's the World of Warcraft episode. Not only does it make fun of characters for being nerdy and perpetuate terrible stereotypes, but it goes out of it's way and makes shit up just to do so. You cannot fucking have sex in World of Warcraft goddammit!

But this is nowhere near as bad as Revenge of the Nerds. Holy shit is that awful. For one, it tries to show how nerds are all weird and extremely socially awkward. And if it was just that, it wouldn't be so bad. But there are several parts of the movie that revolve around the characters being ridiculously perverted, and then goes on to actually encourage these behaviors. Seriously, there's a scene where the break into a sorority to steal their panties and set up cameras so they can spy on them naked. This movie is a complete fucking atrocity.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I went with "How could you forget the worst?" option because I didn't see it listed. I saw Attack of the Show listed, but not X-Play.

Oh man, when I discovered TechTV, I was in nerd Heaven. And then I watched Extended Play and I think I died a little from sheer joy. When they brought Morgan on, I was a bit worried because I was still young enough to fall into that "She's a girl!" train of thought, but that only lasted until she opened her mouth. I watched that show every single day, and if I was going to miss a new episode, I taped it. And then G4 bought TechTV, and I watched as the network was slowly gutted. Thunderbirds, the show where they did biographies about developers, the anime blocks, Cheat, that show where it was just videogame footage (Cine-something)...I watched as G4 canceled each series that I enjoyed. But X-Play was still around, and they were still true to themselves.

And then it started. I'm not sure when it started, but things changed. It slowly stopped being a show about nerds reviewing videogames. The reviews got shorter. The jokes became less witty, and eventually stopped all together. There were fewer reviews. The skits stopped. The recurring side characters vanished. The comfortable gamer-style set was replaced with hip, new lighting and displays. Only top Triple AAA games got any screen time. I watched as the corporate sector slowly corrupted the last line of defense on G4 for true nerds, replacing everything with what a clueless business person thinks nerds actually want. It broke my heart to see Adam and Morgan become those hollow shells of what they once were. That, that is the worst offender of geek themed entertainment to me. What G4 did to X-Play. When the show was finally canceled, I was actually sort of relieved. I no longer had any reason to go read the boring reviews (that suddenly had a 1 to 10 rating system, something Morgan and Adam swore would never happen!) on their website. I still miss that show to this day.

And then I found out that Adam now has his own program. I'm very happy that he's back, and it seems like he's trying to get the feel of X-Play back with these new people. I wish Morgan would make an appearance, but who knows.

 

[Trinab]

Uhh, massive mis-post. Ignore or delete this, please.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Big Bang Theory. I don't think it's offensive, it's just really, really lame at rubbing how pathetic and socially inept are the characters. I can't stand any of them. And not for a single second do I find any of the performances believable, beginning with the inexplicably hot (and characteristically stupid) chick that hangs around them. I find everything about it forceful and the opposite of fun.

 

[GrimTuesday]

I wouldn't say I find the Big Bang Theory offensive, but I would say that it definitely has a certain amount of disdain for nerd/geek culture. To me it feels like for the most part, it only has one joke, and that's "lol, look at these nerds and how nerdy and inept they are". Lenard is the worst of the bunch, because he is such a sniveling ***** all the time, and for the most part his entire character is built around getting his dick wet, while desperately trying to be "normal". Howard is pretty much the same except for the fact that at least he doesn't apologize for being a creep and he fills the lives with his mother trope, oh, and he is a jew (in the trope sense, I have no problem with jewish people). Raj is the token person of color who fills the nerds can't talk to women trope. Shelden is the only one I actually like because he is a dick, and I like watching him be a dick to the other characters who I hate. Not offensive, but it certainly is annoying.

What was offensive was Attack of the Show. Seriously, that show was all about the idea that you slap a pair of tits on something, nerds will watch it, especially if that pair of tits acts like they're into the same shit as the pathetic mouthbreathers producers think nerds are. Obviously there is a fair portion of said pathetic mouthbreathers considering the show was on for a while after it took that tack. That combined with the puerile humor combined for my pick for the worst offender.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Ooo Ooo, I've got one!

The Tester.

Just hours and hours of Sony's self-promotional bullshit shoved into a game show with the grand prize being a shit entry level testing gig.

Also, they kicked Egoraptor off for B.S. reasons, so there's that as well.

Actually, Arin later said that he was kicked off the show after the producers realized that he was only on their to troll the shit out of the whole affair, and had no real intentions of winning. He just wanted to cause trouble, so they came up with an excuse to kick him off. There's a video of it on youtube. Try looking up Egorapter watches The Tester,

 

[GrimTuesday]

I wouldn't say I find the Big Bang Theory offensive, but I would say that it definitely has a certain amount of disdain for nerd/geek culture.

I'm pretty sure you and i are not watching the same show. What disdain are they demonstrating for Geekdom exactly?

You mean besides the fact that many of the traits that the characters who are "nerdy" have are for the most part considered to be the most negative aspects of geek culture. I get that they're supposed to be overstated, but the fact that they are a large part of the main characters' personalities, as well as the fact that their "nerdy" interests are played for laughs, or are meant to make the audience go "that's so weird and nerdy" all, to me anyway, show a lack of re4spect for the nerd/geek subculture.

 

[Mistilteinn]

Every CSI-esque show where the victim or murderer was a gamer or geek makes me groan the instant that episode's theme is clear. These shows consistently feel like they were written about some preconceived notion of geeks and nerds formed in the 90's, somehow unaltered over the decades. Pretty much the entire show is spent spreading misinformation to the viewing audience, or simply patronizing the shit out of people deemed to be living 'childish fantasies'.

Shows like that are why I cut my cable TV a long time ago.

I've gotta agree with this. Crime procedurals have no idea how to handle any sort of gaming or tech scenario. Between NCIS and CSI constantly getting things wrong or misrepresenting their source material, and one scene from Castle that rather bothers me (it wasn't too bad until one guy said "I'm gonna totally school you in co-op" with regards to Assassin's Creed III), I honestly wonder if some of these writers have ever held a controller in their hands, or even done research on what they're writing about.

 

[OverlordSteve]

After looking at the remarks on the one episode return of IT Crowd (one of the few good examples of geek themed tv) I realize most geeks don't like geek themed entertainment. No surprise, most of it is stupid, vacuous, and sometimes even offensive.

What do you think is the worst offender?

And (be honest) don't you watch them sometimes anyway?

The escapist. where people who have enough for internet and 60 dollar games go to whine like there as stereotyped and underprivileged as people from mexico.

Except for the fact that nobody compared being misrepresented on these shows to anything people in Mexico have to go through.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

You cannot fucking have sex in World of Warcraft goddammit!

...yet.

but really, how many fucking servers are dedicated to people essentially doing written porn with their characters..i've played WoW for a week and occasionally watched a friend, and it was just insane how some people went into page length details (almost impressive) about sex and XXX rated shit in character with the atmosphere/setting of the world.

i think that was more what it was going for with that episode, otherwise i agree. I think that most people either are "okay" with things like this or are heavily annoyed by it, which is why there is such a love/hate relationship for BBT, yes they are extreme stereotypes, but they do exist (hell, look at the escapist for gods sakes, for how many wanna be sheldons you could point at on here..) and i think its honestly okay to laugh at yourself or people you might know every once in a while. hell jersey shore has been mocked for years, do you hear them going on record QQ'ing about all the hate? nope, not as far as i know at least.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I like Big Bang Theory. Yes there are times when I shake my head OK I am not that pathetic nor are people that mean. On the flip side though I had to beg my wife to watch Star Wars and summed up I pretty much said "But there are lightsabers." We have also gotten into heated arguments of "The best Star Trek Captain" and how God awful Iron Man 2 was.
So every now and then I see myself in the show and that's worth watching it every week. By the way did they ever mention finding the highs bosom? I don't think they did and I could defiantly get pissed at that.

I never got into Attack of the Show it felt like it a 12 who spent too much time on his Xbox.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The worst geek offense I've ever experienced was BBC 2's The Review Show discussing Modern Warfare 2. And for those of you who don't know, this is a program that generally reviews books and plays. So yeah, you can image how that went.

Is that on youtube? Sounds hilarious.

It's right here for your viewing pleasure.


You have to wonder why in hell they thought they had to review this, seeing as they haven't reviewed a game before or since. It just makes you fall to your knees and thank God for gaming journalism.

 

[Bertylicious]

The problem with TBBT is the same problem that befalls a lot of comedy programmes; it's not funny. The IT Crowd is funny because Graham Lineham is a good (if occaisionally somewhat clichéd) writer that just happens to be set in an IT office. Most of the jokes are farce about social faux pas and observational humour. Like when they go to watch that play and they all end up lying about various different things and end up in absurd situations.

 

[Quaxar]

Out of the poll options I have only seen The Big Bang Theory so I kind of had to pick it. No worries though, I actually do find it painful to watch, there is about one joke per episode that makes me laugh. And it has gotten worse since season one, I find with every new season they bother less to actually try and include something scientific and just go for the cheapest laughs.

I love how the people who picked TBBT are by and large the same people who will shout praise for "THE COMMUNITY."

Now thats a show that i cannot stand.

Well Community has some pretty genious parody episodes. I don't know how much you've seen of it but take for example season 2's Basic Lupine Urology, which is a brilliant spoof of the classic Law & Order TV series set in a community college with none of the characters actually having any jurisdiction, investigating the murder of a yam project.
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Not all episodes are good naturally, season 1 especially started off rather meh but a few selected episodes are fantasticly good fun.

The escapist. where people who have enough for internet and 60 dollar games go to whine like there as stereotyped and underprivileged as people from mexico.

So what are you doing complaining about that here? You could use your valuable Escapist time for protesting against the latest US war or spend it working for a charity instead of wasting it!
A bit hypocritical, don't you think?

 

[Scarim Coral]

To me that would be the Hacker movie. It's so inaccurate as hell but in saying so there are many offender when it come to inaccuracy (mainly CSI).

 

[Angie7F]

Chuck?
I can tolerate Big bang Theory but I just dont buy into Chuck at all.

 

[an annoyed writer]

Big-bang Theory. When I saw last summer that my dude-bro 16-year old cousin watched the show regularly and enjoyed it, I sensed a disturbance.

Gamer, that terrible, disgusting film, is worth mentioning. Its gaming, not just general geekiness, but most geeks are gamers, so it almost goes hand-in-hand with this I suppose.

I love BBT. I usually hear about the laughing with them vs. laughing at them test to judge whether or not it's offensive or exploitative, but what sitcom exists where you're not laughing at the expense of at least one character? I find the characters, their behaviors and problems and so forth, very relatable.

You laugh at how their personality gets them into dilemnas, not laughing at them because they're a stereotype. There's a difference between laughing at George from Seinfeld because he's a cheap bastard, no social grace, and no conscience, and laughing at George from Seinfeld because he's the cheap Jew stereotype.

I'm with you on Big Bang Theory and Gamer. I find both of those to be so off-target that it's unbelievable. I can't stand to be in a Gamestop for very long because of it, and that's a shame since I'm kinda chummy with some of the employees at a couple stores around here. To be honest it's one of the things that makes me want to avoid those stores for employment.

 

[Remus]

I remember this episode of Law & Order where a murderer was caught because he simulated the act in a knockoff of Second Life. I'd have to count that as probably the worst representation of geek culture I've seen on TV.