How-To Geek
What You Said: Favorite Geek TV Show
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite geek TV show and now we’re back to highlight some of the most popular nominations.
While we fully expected a few of the nominations, we were surprised by the range of shows that, deservedly so, scored your votes for best geeky TV shows. The following are three of the most popular nominations:
Mythbusters
When we posed the question, we were mostly chatting about sci-fi offerings. You guys surprised us with your extensive love for Mythbusters–and at the same time reminded us that “geeky” has a much broader range than just memorizing Star Trek trivia. Every week Adam and Jamie bring us new and interesting myths to test (and potentially bust). The show features explosions, implosions, cannons, simulated lightening strikes, and everything in between. For science!
Doctor Who
What can we say about Dr. Who in a scant paragraph? It’s a Sci-Fi tour de force that spans almost 5 decades, 784 episodes, radio shows, and a encompasses fans of all sorts in nations around the world. In a nutshell, it’s a series about a time-traveling alien known as The Doctor that buzzes around the universe in a sweet sentient and telepathic time machine that has been permanently stuck in the shape of a Police Call Box since the 1960s. Out of the nutshell, it might just be the greatest sci-fi show ever created and we can’t possibly do it justice here.
Big Bang Theory
If there was ever a sitcom for geeks, this is it. The show centers on the exploits of three physicists, their quirky actress neighbor, and an aerospace engineer. It’s like a bizzaro-world version of Friends rich with geek-culture in jokes and awkwardness–check out the video above for a condensed version of the first episode.
Have a show you want to add to the conversation? Sound off in the comments and give you favorite show some love.
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Comments (43)
Jason Fitzpatrick is warranty-voiding DIYer and all around geek. When he's not documenting mods and hacks he's doing his best to make sure a generation of college students graduate knowing they should put their pants on one leg at a time and go on to greatness, just like Bruce Dickinson. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 08/3/12
Big Bang Theory is blackface for geeks.
I like Eureka TV and Weakest Link.
So I’m not a geek isn’t?
What no IT Crowd?
@Pffft – Hahahahaa thats funny!
@Paul – That’s what I was thinkin
LAAAAAME Red Dwarf > all
Hey Lowell, why do you always refer to yourself in the plural?
Also, perfect Big Bang Theory clip.
Fringe has it all. Also Through the Wormhole is great.
you know. I don’t think the TARDIS is stuck as a Police Box…
after the Doctor’s Wife… I think she likes the shape!
I think Family Matters can get a nod in the “classics” category. Steve Urkel put geeks on the map in primetime.
Wrong!!!
The correct answer to greatest sci if show is of course Firefly.
Red Dwarf = Funny, Smart, Funny, CAT(!!!), and did I mention Funny? :) ” Wilma Flintstone”, need I say more?
I was also missin IT Crowd and Outsourced :) but these are maybe to IT specific
There’s a trailer out for the new season of Doctor Who. But I must say, watching the 2011 season trailer again… the 2011 trailer beats the crap outta the 2012 trailer.
It really is the ultimate sci-fi show. It’s about a curious and quirky (nerdy) time traveler who picks up hot Earth women and takes them on a tour of space and time, saving the world in nearly every other episode, but also saving alien worlds as well. It’s got more humor than it needs, but that’s part of the charm.
Also, the old Doctor Who (1963-1980s) is a whole different animal. Much lower budget, and different design/production goals. Fans of the old series have grown to like the new (2005) series, but not all of the fans who started with the new series can successfully go back. To account for the lead role changing actors, the Doctor “dies and regenerates” in a new form. He keeps his memories, but has a new body and voice. The 2005 series starts with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), who only had one year. That year’s Companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) got two years. Her second year was with the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, who got three years. After Rose, he had Martha and then Donna. The Eleventh Doctor, seen in that video, is now on his third year, and he’s had the same companion each time, Amy Pond. Some Eleven fans will say you can start with Eleven, but the whole exploding-ship thing at the beginning of his first episode kind of needs to be explained, although that whole season is great, and has a sort of arc that covers the whole season.
I just remembered “Space: Above and Beyond.” It had the greatest (perhaps only) Surround Sound!
Sesame Street
Stargate SG-1 Enjoyed it then; still do.
There is nothing better than the Whiz Kids. Please let us order DVDs! …or better yet, RERUNS!
I love Primeval on BBC America and of course all the Stargate series (SG1, Atlantis, Universe).
I miss Tech TV and the screen savers
@Pffft “Big Bang Theory is blackface for geeks.” I agree, and god, oh god, how I despise that canned laughter. Definitely not on my “to watch” list.
Bay Watch
For the older set, how about Watch Mr. Wizard. Don Herbert’s Saturday morning fare was a “must watch” for those of us that were geeks before geeks had a name.
Big Bang Theory for sure :D
The Love Boat
Sliders, Fringe, X-Files and Chuck.
Big Bang Theory = Proof that excessive use of LSD25 by your grand parents will cause genetic damage. Apparently the entire staff and network has been affected.
Falling Skies is a pretty good show.
anyone know what TARDIS stands for ?? ;)
I don’t understand — what self-respecting geek watches TV?
Big bang theory to Friends is an apt comparison; both shows suck
Firefly was great, enjoyed Dollhouse too.
X-files
Anyone remember the Lone Gunmen?
Fringe is starting to lose me but the first few seasons were good
Surely Tomorrow’s World – or am I just showing my age?
@Khai
It’s camouflaged. It’s disguised as a police telephone box from 1963. Every time the TARDIS materialises in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyses its surroundings, calculates a twelve-dimensional data map of everything within a thousand-mile radius and then determines which outer shell would best blend in with the environment…. and then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963.
@Paul – Hey, YEAH!!
Tardis= time and relative dimension in space.
My favorite 3 are Fox cancellations
Dark Angel
John Doe
Firefly
And then there is the much beloved Jericho, although perhaps not quite so geeky.
No one agrees with Star Trek being on the list except a minor few, when you can actually see what it has given us such as ipad’s and cellphones (Razors and smart phones) I am ashamed of you all! XD
Bad Influance!! that was awesome for gamers…
The Gadget Show!! just awesome TV and full of tech, and their give aways are massive not to mention they have a live show… and Pollyanna… nuff said!
Battlestar Galactica!!
@Paul – geeks dont ‘watch TV’ we stream to our devices! my Virgin Media box hasnt been switched on in months but the PC next to it that hooks up to the bedroom TV is always on for some bed time netflix and Spotify
@ Paul (#3):
I was going to say exactly the same thing…
IT Crowd
IT CROWD!!!!!
Star Trek (original)
and
Star Trek: Voyager
Lots more great sci-fi, but those are my favorites. No doubt, there are many in my age group who would agree.
uhh.. how is Big Bang Theory “blackface”??