Revenge of the nerds

Panda!!!! is totes enjoying the new fall television season, with new shows like Gossip Girl and the return of old faves like Heroes. But in the past few days, I've gotten excited for two shows that seem eerily familiar.

Chuck is an hour-long comedy that I already knew I'd like, thanks to its central storyline about a twenty-something geek surrounded by loser but lovable sidekicks who works in a dead-end job in a big box chain store, then suddenly finds himself destined for something greater when fate suddenly intervenes on his birthday.

Last night, I watched the premiere of Reaper, an hour-long comedy about a twenty-something geek surrounded by loser but lovable sidekicks who works in a dead-end job in a big box chain store, then suddenly finds himself destined for something greater when fate suddenly intervenes on his birthday.

While Chuck's destiny is changed due to some computer/national security snafu, Reaper's Sam becomes a soulless bounty hunter for the devil. What is it about the down-and-out nerd who's plucked for greatness that television audiences identify with? Why do we want the dorky kid to overcome impossible obstacles and save the world/get with the hottie? Does this all-too-familiar trope somehow give us hope that we too can catapult beyond our quotidian existence to a higher purpose?

It's too early to claim one show as better than the other (I really liked both) and I think they can evolve in different directions, but I'm really glad to see Ray Wise (the devil in Reaper, and formerly Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks) and Missy Peregrym (the impossibly beautiful store clerk in Reaper and formerly that gymnast girl in the movie Stick It - "Who died and made you Nadia?") on my Tuesday night television slate.