TV Nerds: From Brian Krakow to Tina Fey
Posted by Dan
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:24am
In All Things TV Charts Vintage
I was reading this article that Juliana Hatfield wrote about her song Make It Home — better known as “that song she played when she starred as the homeless teenager/dead girl/angel on My So-Called Life way back when.” It’s an interesting article, not only because it talks about the origin of the song and the way she approached her first-time acting role, but also because she gives a little insight on famed singer/actor/punching bag-for-hipsters Jared Leto.
Even though he isn’t mentioned at all in the article, thinking of My So-Called Life got me thinking about one of its most unnerving characters (to me, at least): Brian Krakow. Krakow was an all-too-real depiction of a high school nerd — one that doesn’t come around that often. Watching him with his blond ‘fro and awkward interactions is a painful reminder of being 14 and just praying you’ll be able to get through gym class without being humiliated.
Then there are nerds like Tina Fey — people who are smart and wear glasses and are, as a matter of fact, cooler than you’ll ever be. These days, nerds are fetishized to a degree where it’s harder and harder to try to be unironically cool. Keep in mind that “nerdiness” doesn’t necessarily imply the stereotypical Urkel-ian norms. Nerdiness can be defined by a general beta mentality — folks who did stage tech in theater or spent hours upon hours teaching themselves to juggle.
Conversely, there are also folks who are supposed to be cool, but aren’t. If you walked into a restaurant dressed like The Fonz, most people would beat you up upon entry. And not a jury in the world would convict them.
On that note, here’s a chart comparing the cool nerdery and nerdy coolness. Feel free to tell me who I’m missing.
I think I related to Brian Krakow more than anyone in that show (except Angela, natch), and probably more than I was supposed to — I knew my people, even though I wasn’t actually in high school yet.
Rusty on Greek is firmly in the Brian Krakow corner of the board. I might put Barney from HIMYM in the upper left corner — he has a blog, after all. Starbuck and Jack Bauer should occupy the same general space, I think.
Here some folks I’d add along with suggested placement
George Castanza: an inch below brian krakow. Above George Michael slightly but way to the left
John Cusack (the character in movies not the actor): Tina Fey territory for SURE
Michael Scott: This is a tough one. I think to accurately place Michael Scott on this conceptual graph you would need to add a 3rd Dimension. What that dimension is I have no idea. Barring a 3rd dimension I’d place him very high on the Y-Axis, but just slightly to the right of center.
Yeah, I related to Brian Krakow more than the other characters, too (I actually WAS in high school when the show was on). Nowadays whenever My So-Called Life comes up in conversation, someone always chimes in to say how much they hate Brian. It’s certainly painful to watch Brian because he reminds me how lonely I was in high school, how uncomfortable in my own skin. But when people say they HATE him? Ouch. That stings doubly.
ETA: Thought of another good TV nerd to include - Willow Rosenberg! Though I suppose her place on the graph changes depending on which season you’re talking about.
I’ve been trying to think of some but I think you’ve done an excellent job already, but just wanted to say that!
[...] Nerd alert! Dan surveyed TV nerds from My So-Called Life’s Brian Krakow to 30 Rock’s Tina Fey to see who’s a nerd and who is actually cooler than you are. (TiFaux) [...]
The best and biggest actual nerd I can think of to grace the small screen was Martin Starr’s Bill Haverchuck on “Freaks and Geeks,” although he may be off the chart.
[...] last but not least, TiFaux offers this humorous and helpful guide to identifying TV nerds in the era of the nerd fetish. It’s a helpful guide for those who are still baffled that we live in a decade where [...]
The best and biggest actual nerd I can think of to grace the small screen was Martin Starr’s Bill Haverchuck on “Freaks and Geeks,” although he may be off the chart.
Actually, I’d put Bill high on alleged nerd, but lower on actual nerd; as low as George Michael, but as far right as Brian Krakow. (He made out with the head cheerleader!) Now Neal, while he may be marginally lower as an alleged nerd, I’d say he out-nerds Bill actually. (Ventriloquism!) And Sam may be an alleged nerd by association with Bill and Neal, but I’d say he’s below the line on actual nerdiness.
For the Freaks, I’d put Daniel, Nick, and Lindsay in decreasing order of alleged coolness, but they’re all pretty close to the line of actual nerdiness. (D&D! Drum geekery! Mathletes!) I’d say Kim and Ken are the only ones in the bunch that are solidly in the Bauer-Sayid quadrant.
I’m a little disappointed to not see Seth Cohen of The O.C. on your chart–I think he’s part of the Tina Fey nerd chic trend. If I had to chart him, he’d probably be close to (but a little actual nerdier than) Chuck, another Josh Schwartz character.