(Richard trying to look non-geeky with Mindi)
(via wb.com)
One of the summer’s more popular reality shows is "Beauty and the Geek." Women seem to love it, because women love to change a man, whether it’s a geek to a hunk, or a jerk to a nice guy. Television executives seem to instinctively understand this. What’s more fun for a woman viewer than watching these geeky eggheads become cool dudes (with a little help from some women, of course)?
As a board member of JAGS (Jewish American Geek Society), my biggest problem with "Beauty and the Geek" is the unrealistic portrayal of a geek. You non-geeks of the world would love to think that deep down, all geeks want to be just like you ordinary mortals. Put a little hair gel in our hair and we’re like every other guy on the corner, salivating over the bikini blond at the beach.
Hogwash. Geeks do not like the beach, especially without SPF 100.
The whole idea of geekiness is that you sublimate your sexual interests into something obscure, like physics or comic book collecting. A real geek would easily trade one of these silly girls for a mint condition edition of Batman #5: Batman meets the Joker. There have been known instances where the libido of a male geek is brought into the open — after much assistance and therapy — but I doubt any red-blooded geek would be salivating over these dumb, poor-spelling girls for very long.
Geekiness is something ingrained, like homosexuality, and cannot be changed with a "makeover." A real geek would be bored very quickly. Adam Mesh from "Average Joe" is average, but not a real geek. Richard of "Beauty and the Geek" is closer to being a real geek, but someone as annoying as him would not be allowed to vote at one of our board meetings.
