Revenge of the nerds
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- September
- 21
Mondays this fall is certainly shaping up to be a big night for geeks and those who love them.
CBS has “The Big Bang Theory,” which should prove an effective lead-in to its reliably funny “Two and a Half Men” at 8:30 p.m. (It’s sort of “Two and a Half Men” meets “Beauty and the Geek.”)
Meanwhile, NBC counters with the dramedy “Chuck” (8 p.m.), starring Zachary Levi as a computer technician at a chain store who inadvertently downloads government secrets straight to his brain and gets mixed up with a whole alphabet soup of spies in the process.
Of the two, “Chuck” has the tougher assignment, not just because it’s an hour-long drama and the lead-in to “Heroes,” but because it plays against type and in playing against type, it exposes the truth of our relationship with beauty and brains.
The cast of “The Big Bang Theory” tweaks our notions of beauties and geeks but not enough to make us uncomfortable. Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons  two fine character actors  make the socially inept, quantam physics-spouting roomies Leonard and Sheldon believable and lovable. While they’re clearly playing roles, neither is ever going to make you forget Johnny Depp’s cheekbones. As Penny, the kindly aspiring actress who moves in next door, Kaley Cuoco (the fast daughter on “8 Simple Rules…”) is clearly no dumb blonde. But she’s so pretty you may not notice.
So we can take in this “Big Bang Theory,” safely ensconced in our Jungian archetypes, as Sheldon and Leonard might say.
No such luck with “Chuck,” because, let’s face it, Zachary Levi is a babe. Indeed, on the late, lamented “Less Than Perfect,” he was the sleek, snooty “Secretary” to Patrick Warburton’s cluelessly pompous anchorman, the kind of guy who regularly demeaned the “Chucks” of the world. He even sang in one episode, nicely riffing on Sinatra. There’s a certain coolness factor here.
On “Chuck,” he’s saddled with a boxy wardrobe and a bad haircut for his curly brown locks. (That’s Hollywood’s idea of ugly  a bad hair month.) But there’s no disguising that the sweet “Chuckles” is something of a stretch for him. It’s a tribute to Levi’s talent and charisma that we buy his nerd-turn at all. (That the show has a sense of humor about the cloak-and-dagger stuff as well as the sturm-und-drang of retail also helps.)
But I wonder: Would the Chucks of the world ever stand a chance with a ninja-loving CIA agent like Sarah Walker (Aussie newcomer Yvonne Strahovski)? What about Sheldon or Leonard with Penny? It’s like all those movies in which the bookworm who longs only to be a great writer gets the fabulous boyfriend, too. Yeah, that happens.
Actually, it probably does. It certainly could.
Our children will be beautiful and smart, Leonard says, yearning after Penny.
Not to mention imaginary, quips Sheldon.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 5:14 pm by Georgette Gouveia.
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