By CHRIS MOORE Scene Writer on Mar 13, 2013, at 6:00 AM Updated on 3/13 at 3:08 AM
PRAIRIE NERDS
J.J. Abrams’ latest adventure in the Star Trek universe is out in theaters and some of the Prairie Nerds here really enjoyed ...
You know what’s both funny and educational? Puppets. Think of all the good puppets have done for society. They got people ...
Space...It is filled with aliens and junk. Some may look furry. Others may look quite sleek and futuristic, but it seems ...
CONTACT THE BLOGGER
918-732-8113
Email
Eleven nerds vyed for the title of King of the Nerds, but only was was crowned as ruler of them all. TBS
When the reality competition
King of the Nerds was announced, a few of us Prairie Nerds were interested in the show, but as the competition kept going it seems I was the only one among the Nerds that kept watching the show each week and I must say after the King of the Nerds was crowned: this show definitely needed some work.
The GoodThere was indeed some good that came from this show. The competitions created by show hosts Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong (Skolnick and Booger from Revenge of the Nerds fame) were fun to watch and I can imagine they were fun to partake in as well. Perhaps my favorite ones from Season 1 were flying Quadcopters through obstacles and the Comic Heroes Debate moderated by Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and USC debate director Gordon Stables. These two competitions seemed like enjoyable pastimes for nerds. The Quadcopters definitely brought me back to my childhood playing with RC cars and the debate episode is a pretty regular pastime among comic book nerds. It really made me want to join in on the conversation if I could. Also, after every victory, the winning team got to partake in an enjoyable activity such as play in a flight simulator or receive weapons training from a sword mistress.
The BadIt seemed after 8 episodes, the show just lost steam. The ideas apparently dried up in the end and the audience and contestants were treated to lackluster competitions; the worst definitely being the final episode. It started off quite dull when the first competition had the final four nerds going through a “Maze of Terror” which was just the nerds traveling through a maze a few inches high off the ground on segways. The only terrifying thing about that was that the competition was just flat out boring. But the worst THE...WORST…thing that came from this episode was the finale where the winner was crowned. There was really no competition to speak of in this final face-off. All it entailed was that each eliminated nerd came back and voted on who the winner should be. That’s how the show ended. Not by some thrilling climatic challenge that involved shooting laser guns at each other or fighting with lightsabers on a volcanic planet (Competitor Ivan was really hoping for that one), but by a simple popularity contest; something nerds really don’t excel at. What was really sad about that was that the seat of the winner; the Throne of Games; an obvious spoof on the Iron Throne, was adorned with gaming weapons and accessories hopefully signifying the final challenge would be gaming related in some sort, but in the end the audience was met with disappointment.
The Water WorksIf there was one thing that really made the show hard to watch, it had to be that nearly every week one of the contestants was in tears complaining about how things didn’t go their way. Whether it was Genevieve crying into her pillow that she thought Kevin Smith was a jerk for not voting for her argument in the comic book debate or Alana crying in the VERY FIRST EPISODE for being picked last; the tears flowed freely.
Danielle But the downright worst offender of this habit had to go to video gamer and internet star Danielle who cried every time things went wrong for her. She cried when team member Joshua voted for her to go to elimination after he said he would vote for himself. (In secret she was actually playing Joshua, but was upset that her plan didn’t work.) She cried when she missed the question of who invented Pong (Side Nerd Rant: How do you call yourself a gamer and NOT know Nolan Bushnell co-created Pong?! Any gamer over the age of 20 should know that. The man was one of the founders of Atari and Pong was one of THE FIRST video games ever created. Pro tip: If Bushnell is one of the choices in that question, that’s probably the correct answer!), she cried when she had to do a hip maneuver when dancing for the geek anthem competition and she even cried during the final vote pouting that she should be the one up there. Not only did that make her look like a crybaby, but it made gamers all-around look bad. We already have the stereotype of homophobic racist looming over us, but to go out on national TV and cry about any and all things that don’t favor you does not make us look any better.
The VerdictKing of the Nerds was a fun idea. A competition reality show geared towards geeks and nerds had promise at the beginning, but if the trend of crying and a lackluster finale that comes down to a simple vote keeps, the second season is going to be even harder to keep watching.
Do you have a topic you would like the Prairie Nerds to address? Let us know at PrairieNerds@tulsaworld.com
Only active print or digital subscribers of the Tulsa World are allowed to post comments on stories posted to Tulsaworld.com. After you fill out the form below and click submit, your comment will be published instantly online along with your screen name.
By clicking "Submit" you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
