The Evolution of Nerds on TV

THE EVOLUTION oF NERDS ON T.V. nerd: /nərd/ Noun: 1. A foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious: "one of those nerds who never asked a girl to dance". 2. An intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession. POTSIE WEBER Happy Days 1974 - 1984 WILLIE GILLIGAN Gilligan's Island 1964 - 1967 ALEX P. KEATON DWIGHT KURT Family Ties SCHRUTE III Potsie was so bad at basketball, that the phrase "a potsie weber" was a popular term for a really, really bad shot. 1982-1989 The Office 2005 - ? Dustin Diamond wound up being type-cast and went on to star in an "adult" video and write a book exposing the behind-the-scene shenanigans "Behind the Bell." Bitter, maybe? CARLTON BANKS SAMUEL "SCREECH" POWERS Fresh Prince of Bel Air 1990-1996 Saved by the Bell 1989-1993 SHELDON COOPER Big Bang Theory 2007 - ? Nicknamed "C","Boogaloo Shrimp","Stumpy," "Squidget", "Snigglet", Carlton was very fond of dancing to "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones. MILHOUSE VAN HOUTEN The Simpsons 1989 - ? Degrees: B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. Sheldon is a senior theoretical particle physicist who conducts string theory research at Caltech and suffers from OCD and Asperger's Syndrome. STEVE URKEL Family Matters 1989-1997 ALAN HARPER 2 and a Half Men JOHN MICHAEL 2003 - ? "J.D."DORIAN, M.D. ADAM & Steve invented a serum "Cool Juice" that Scrubs turned him into "Stefan" - smooth with the 2001 - 2010 JAMIE Mythbusters 2003 - ? ladies and a more casual dresser, but kind of a jerk. He improved the formula to cut down the side efects - and renamed it "Boss Sauce." Adam and Jamie were movie special effects artists prior to their television careers. Their job is to blow stuff up in interesting ways, play with toys and electronics and essentially screw around all day. Not bad for a couple of geeks. NEAL SCHWIEBER Freaks and Geeks MORGAN & CHUCK 1999 - 2000 Chuck 2007 - ? BETTY SUAREZ Ugly Betty ABID 2006 - 2010 NADIR Community 2009 - ?