1) Unapologetically nerdy - Nature specials, History channel specials. You know the type. I'm the kind of person who could watch "Planet Earth" in HD for HOURS, and I have. I want to know about all the little intricacies of the squid life cycle, or the exact crushing power of a lion's jaws as compared with an eagle. Nerdy.
2) Orgasmically geeky - The type of show which has no problem referencing a slew of pop culture icons in under 5 minutes. I think a lot of people are attracted to shows like this, which accounts for the unprecedented success (and verbal speed) of Gilmore Girls.
Lorelei and Lorelei have average speaking speed of ~145wpm.
Liza Weil thinks that's pretty slow.
It's easy to categorize the latter type of shows into something you can dismiss because they're so pop-culture lite, but according to Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You, these kinds of shows encourage us to think on our feet and develop faster cognitive skills.
So it's no wonder that I was enthralled by summer 2008 new-comer "The Middleman", which was originally based off of a comic book of the same name. Writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach created a witty fast-paced dialogue that draws on ennumerable areas of pop-culture. Not to mention that all the main characters are hot.
Sexy AND Smart: Natalie Morales and Matt Keeslar
are here to protect you from amazonian fish-eating zombies.
According to all the current news sources for the undeniably dorky, "The Middleman" is not currently on track to be released to DVD. And ABC Family which hosted the original run of the show has neglected to put up whole episodes for viewing. So there is currently no legal recourse for those who want to access this show and see what I'm talking about. However, I will certainly be offering up the contents of my wallet for anything else Grillo-Marxuach produces (as evidenced by my gleeful joy when I ordered a copy of the comic off of Amazon.com).
If you have a chance to see any episodes of Middleman, jump on the opportunity. I promise that it's worth it.
