# Iconic live-action TV nerds before TBBT **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780 "2015-05-11T15:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/1 "2015-05-11T15:42:48Z")
You know the stereotype: horn-rimmed glasses, whiny voice, button-down shirt, pocket protector/calculator/sliderule (depending on the generation) in his shirt pocket. Before _The Big Bang Theory_, what iconic television characters represented the stereotype? Steve Urkel from _Family Matters_ springs to mind immediately. Somewhat less iconic were Arvid from _Head of the Class_ and Boz from _Riptide_. Potsie and Ralph were often called nerds on _Happy Days_, but neither of them fits the image usually associated with the name. I can think of several more if we include animation and/or movies, but I’d like to stick to live-action television. Who were the best-known nerds on television before _TBBT_ came along? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/2 "2015-05-11T15:47:25Z")
Do you want actual nerds, or characters who met the common stereotype of nerds? The former were quite rare before _BBT_. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/3 "2015-05-11T15:56:59Z")
I’m thinking about the stereotype, but I’ll take either. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/4 "2015-05-11T16:01:23Z")
There was [Mr. Wizard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4sqjcGUYo) and [Bill Nye the Science Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoliZ-4S8sg). On the sitcom side of TV, it goes back at least to [Mr. Peepers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Ut9bgnqx4) in 1952. (And,[Mr. Peepers actually got the girl.](http://greghowelldesign.com/iconservation/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/14549peepers3.jpg)) On the radio version of _Our Miss Brooks_, Mr. Boynton was definitely a nerd. He was written that way in the TV version, but they cast an actor who was way too good looking to carry it off. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/5 "2015-05-11T16:03:01Z")
Engineer Brains, from _ **Thunderbirds** _!!! Or Roy Hinkley (AKA the Professor) from\*\*\* Gilligan’s Island.\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![alted315](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@alted315](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alted315)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/6 "2015-05-11T16:08:54Z")
Both of the main characters from The IT Crowd ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/7 "2015-05-11T16:12:53Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Engineer Brains, from _ **Thunderbirds** _!!! Live action??? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/8 "2015-05-11T16:17:03Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Engineer Brains, from _ **Thunderbirds** _!!! Even before that, there was Dr Beaker on _ **Supercar** _. Wasn’t Walter Denton, Richard Crenna’s character on the TV version of _ **Our Miss Brooks** _, kind of a nerd as well? After the guy on _ **Riptide** _ (who was more a computer geek than a full-blown nerd, I believe), this is the first character I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/9 "2015-05-11T16:19:54Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Live action??? Supermarionation! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/10 "2015-05-11T16:23:53Z")
Many of Tim Kazurinsky’s characters on _Saturday Night Live_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/11 "2015-05-11T16:24:18Z")
Stereotypical nerds: Wasn’t there one on _Friends_? Real nerds: Abby on _NCIS_. Probably a bunch of other cop/detective shows, too, but I haven’t watched many of those. MacGyver. Who is also a great counterexample to the notion that nerds can’t be cool. Tried to hit “real nerd”, but didn’t do a very good job of it: At least one or two characters from every iteration of _Star Trek_. Spock, Scotty, Data, Wesley, Dax, etc. And I don’t remember the show well enough to say which category they’d fall into, but most of the cast of _Head of the Class_. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/12 "2015-05-11T16:29:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Even before that, there was Dr Beaker on _ **Supercar** _. > > Wasn’t Walter Denton, Richard Crenna’s character on the TV version of _ **Our Miss Brooks** _, kind of a nerd as well? After the guy on _ **Riptide** _ (who was more a computer geek than a full-blown nerd, I believe), this is the first character I thought of. Riptide came first to my mind also. The character was Murray ‘Boz’ Bozinsky played by Thom Bray. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/13 "2015-05-11T16:46:40Z")
Radar O’Reilly. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/14 "2015-05-11T16:48:17Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Live action??? Well, he wasn’t a cartoon! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/15 "2015-05-11T16:50:17Z")
Does “Q” from the James Bond movies count as a nerd? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/16 "2015-05-11T16:54:29Z")
There have been a few fairly short lived TV shows set in dotcom startups that had many nerds, usually with one hot female who was their connection to reality. Ross Geller from \*Friends \*fits most of the stereotypes. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/17 "2015-05-11T16:58:45Z")
Judge Harry Stone from Night Court. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/18 "2015-05-11T17:44:59Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Judge Harry Stone from Night Court. You just say that because he did magic and wore a bow tie. Didn’t you get the Doctor’s memo? Bow ties are cool! ---
**Author:** ![RiCu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@RiCu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiCu)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/19 "2015-05-11T17:47:06Z")
Moss and Roy from The IT Crowd. (Excellent UK sitcom. Remade for a awful pilot for the US. Dr Ross Geller? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780/20 "2015-05-11T17:51:52Z")
They kept trying to make Willow be a nerd in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Alyson Hannigan was just too darned good-lookin’… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-live-action-tv-nerds-before-tbbt/719780.md?page=2)