Stay tuned: Prime-time geeks coming to TV

Computerworld - Look out, Dr. McDreamy -- computer nerds could become the next heartthrobs on prime-time television.

Two new IT-themed TV series -- The IT Crowd, a comedy, and Chuck, a drama -- were announced this week by NBC Universal Inc. as part of its primetime lineup for this fall, adding casts of IT workers to the usual mix of doctors, lawyers, cops and parents found on network programming.

"It's the 'IT chic' season," said Robert J. Thompson, a trustee professor of television and popular culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y. "We could have probably seen this coming for a long time. We've rediscovered the office as a viable place for comedy with [NBC's ongoing hit show] The Office," which has been a boon for the network and garnered critical acclaim for its humor and themes.

It was only a matter of time, then, that a show like The Office would morph into an IT-focused sort of spinoff like The IT Crowd, Thompson said. "Virtually everyone who works in an office now -- sooner or later -- has to work with IT people," he said. "No matter what job you do, you need IT people. So here is a universe that everyone can get.

"The idea that the geeks shall inherit the earth is beginning to become clear," said Thompson, who is also the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse.

For years, there have been stereotypes of geeky characters in TV shows and movies -- the smart, plastic pocket-protector-equipped, socially-inept dweeb with funny clothes and thick glasses. But until now, they haven't been at the center of stories on TV.

"Clearly, we've now got a whole new genre of [TV] programming about a profession that didn't even exist a generation ago," Thompson said.

In Chuck, the main character is Chuck Bartowski, described by NBC as "just your average computer-whiz-next-door." Chuck works at the Buy-More retail electronics chain alongside "his band of nerdy cohorts, longing to find a woman who can appreciate him." Then one day, a mysterious encoded e-mail message is sent to him by an old friend who is a CIA agent, and the secrets in the message are subliminally embedded into Chuck's brain, according to NBC. Suddenly, he becomes a target for international terrorists and assassins.

The concept behind Chuck is interesting, Thompson said. "Here you turn him into a superhero, like the bionic tech-support guy."

The one-hour comedy/drama/spy thriller debuts at 9 p.m. EDT on Sept. 25.

The IT Crowd is slated as a midseason comedy, but no starting date has yet been announced.