I haven’t seen that show in forever, but that was also the first character I thought of.
I think Les is a good example.
A thought: Can we include nonfiction TV? There are plenty of nerds there.
Barney Collier - Mission: Impossible
Already mentioned was the proto-nerd Professor on Gilligan’s Island. Perhaps Miss Jane on the Beverly Hillbillies. Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific were nerds turned superhero. Professor Pepperwinkle and other characters on the Adventures of Superman. Urkel on something I think was called the Urkel Show. There was a children’s show my kids watched about detectives using math to solve crimes but I can’t recall the name.
Plus Cliff could probably have more of a conversation about sports than Les “Chy-Chy Rod-a-gwize” Nessman.
The smooth con artist who threw knockout punches like he’d boxed in the Navy?
His character got upgraded as the series went on. At the start of the series he was more like Q, in James Bond.
Sounds like Mathnet, which was a segment of the Children’s Television Workshop show Square One TV. It was, perhaps obviously, a parody of Dragnet, and even though I was way outside its target demographic age, I got a kick out of watching it while I was in college. It was actually pretty clever, and the female detective was reasonably hot. The male half of the team, George, probably qualified as a nerd, though.
Noel Shemsky, also from Frasier, comes to mind, too. If we’re looking at them as kids, Frasier probably qualifies, too…
What about Brian Krakow from My So Called Life?
That was it.
Yes, but the James Bond movies don’t count as a TV show.
Hmmm… Matthew was just awkward. He wasn’t smart iirc
He wasn’t but Smatthew was. And both Dave and Lisa were nerds.
Also, currently on Modern Family is the younger daughter, Alex I think.
And her ex-boyfriend Kevin Lynch definitely fits the bill, but was added after TBBT.
Frohike and Langly (but not Byers), of the Lone Gunmen.
Even in season one, he was a relaxed and confident guy who knew how to handle a gun and kept getting tapped for undercover assignments – which ran the whole gamut from convicingly passing himself off as a male model to replacing a secret agent trained to pass himself off as a relaxed and confident American, which is getting downright meta – and when he wasn’t conning someone while playing a part, he wasn’t shown being at all awkward with people or otherwise socially inept; he’s just, y’know, smoking a cigarette and playing cards with his teammates, or roughing up an enemy operative, or whatever.
Just so it’s clear: You guys are talking about Barney Collier, the electronics/mechanical/engineering genius played by Greg Morris (the black guy)? :dubious:
Good call. But I’d have said Langly and Byers but not Frohicke.
Sergeant Carter (Larry Hovis, later of “Laugh-In”), the radio wizard on “Hogan’s Heroes”, was as geeky as the show’s premise could let him be.
Sam Fujiyama and Dr Quincy might be considered semi-nerds. Maybe Sgt Dietrich on Barney Miller.