I did watch the entire season and found it to be interesting overall. But what started out as a very interesting idea was left flat in implementation.
The first show started out with 11 contestants and a popularity contest. The promise of the series started out with this show as, in a true acknowledgement of nerds, the one that wasn't picked was recognized as being in the typical nerd situation of picked last and was given elevated power. It would have been a wonderful touch if it wasn't for the fact that the "winner" of that episode was one of two clearly "not nerds".
The season ended with the same popularity contest, but the opposite result...the most popular was given the crown. In this case, it was handed to the other "not nerd" (in the few events that she should have shined with her core skills, she demonstrated a surprising lack of skill which leads me to wonder if she just wasn't an actress in the end...she never even spoke like anything resembling a nerd during the entire season). Just this simple example demonstrates the lack of focus this show ultimately exhibited.
The episodes typically involved a group contest with the losing group forced to pick one of their own in a "nerd off" and the winning group allowed to pick someone of the losing group. The "nerd off" was a contest very similar to the group challenge. A result of the approach used is that the strongest (and perhaps more interesting contestants) were taken out early in the season.
The contests themselves ranged from something that you would expect nerds to undertake (e.g. comic book knowledge) to events that just seemed silly and not really that nerdy (e.g. maze challenge on Segways). It really seemed like some producers did a google search on "nerd games" and threw a bunch of things together.
From an episode perspective, there was a consistent pattern of showcasing a nerd as having (or/and bragging about) a strong skill set which they ultimately failed at. This would have been an interesting thing for a couple of episodes, but it was done so consistently that you could tell who was going to lose early in the episode.
The finale also seemed like something that was just thrown together quickly to finish the season off. With 4 contestants remaining, there were 3 quick contests to just eliminate them quickly...leading up to the aforementioned popularity contest at the end. It was like the producers just finally gave up rather than figure out an ultimate nerd contest at the end. And, ultimately, I will likely not watch any following seasons as a result...
The first show started out with 11 contestants and a popularity contest. The promise of the series started out with this show as, in a true acknowledgement of nerds, the one that wasn't picked was recognized as being in the typical nerd situation of picked last and was given elevated power. It would have been a wonderful touch if it wasn't for the fact that the "winner" of that episode was one of two clearly "not nerds".
The season ended with the same popularity contest, but the opposite result...the most popular was given the crown. In this case, it was handed to the other "not nerd" (in the few events that she should have shined with her core skills, she demonstrated a surprising lack of skill which leads me to wonder if she just wasn't an actress in the end...she never even spoke like anything resembling a nerd during the entire season). Just this simple example demonstrates the lack of focus this show ultimately exhibited.
The episodes typically involved a group contest with the losing group forced to pick one of their own in a "nerd off" and the winning group allowed to pick someone of the losing group. The "nerd off" was a contest very similar to the group challenge. A result of the approach used is that the strongest (and perhaps more interesting contestants) were taken out early in the season.
The contests themselves ranged from something that you would expect nerds to undertake (e.g. comic book knowledge) to events that just seemed silly and not really that nerdy (e.g. maze challenge on Segways). It really seemed like some producers did a google search on "nerd games" and threw a bunch of things together.
From an episode perspective, there was a consistent pattern of showcasing a nerd as having (or/and bragging about) a strong skill set which they ultimately failed at. This would have been an interesting thing for a couple of episodes, but it was done so consistently that you could tell who was going to lose early in the episode.
The finale also seemed like something that was just thrown together quickly to finish the season off. With 4 contestants remaining, there were 3 quick contests to just eliminate them quickly...leading up to the aforementioned popularity contest at the end. It was like the producers just finally gave up rather than figure out an ultimate nerd contest at the end. And, ultimately, I will likely not watch any following seasons as a result...