2017 TV Series Nerdcast

From Seth McFarlane, comes a show that we are both excited to see. If you are a fan of the Star Trek spoof Galaxy Quest, or Star Trek, or really, any sci-fi comedy, this looks like a great choice. The only scary thing is that it’s on Fox, which cancelled Firefly.

Barely qualifying for our Fall Season preview, this latest Star Trek show is headed for CBS: All Access, where you’ll have to pay to view. This is not the Star Trek you remember, however, appearing dark and bleak, and pushing the envelope for family viewing with “a little more than a hard PG-13”.

Many nerds are considered to be on the autism spectrum.  This doctor is also on the autism spectrum and that’s part of the allure to this interesting series that could go well, or could become very predictable far too fast.

Are you a fan of The Big Bang Theory? The tall skinny guy is Sheldon, and this story is about his very akward childhood. The magic behind the original show is legendary, and the promise of continuing some of the same humor is exciting a number of people.

The story of a genius inventor, at three points in his life… roughly as a child, a middle-aged man, and a senior citizen. The trailer reflects the problems of not knowing how one’s life will turn out, how things from childhood affect today and tomorrow, and being in between, before, during, after and all…

A race of superhumans in what looks like space, or the moon, and they are ruled by Black Bolt, who remains mute because his voice can cause serious destruction. This is initially viewable on your local IMAX screen on September 1st, and then moves to the small screen. It has an odd mix of sparse interiors mixed with a colorful series of locations on earth… and oh yeah, a cute dog.

Straight out of Facebook, Google, and more, the idea of a social network that will solve crimes has arrived again, and Wisdom of the Crowd capitalizes on this. Jeremy Piven plays a tech leader that decides to build exactly that. Initial concerns are the similarity to the flop of a movie “The Circle”, and the TV show “APB”, which both fared far more poorly than expected.

X-Men fans may really like this series that extends the idea of mutants being chased by Sentinels. The series has a bit of a dark thriller / horror look to it, and that may concern some viewers.  Bryan Singer has done some good work, which brings some hope.

One of the first major African American superheroes in DC comics is coming to the CW, which already has Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, and the Legends of Tomorrow. It almost looks like a superhero series will be available every night. Unfortunately, we’ll likely see a really poorly done crossover week, where everyone will work together, and that storyline idea failed miserably this past year.

Small town, where 47 survivors wash up on the shore… but they were born 150 years from now.  Billed as a sci-fi thriller, there’s distinct tension behind this.  Downside, it’s ABC, who hasn’t delivered good sci-fi since the first few seasons of Lost.

The opening lines to the trailer are “Welcome to the Nerd Factory”.  How can we resist?  Venture capitalists, backing the Cadillac of podcast companies.  It’s filled with humor that frankly pokes fun at even the two of us.  ABC handles sitcoms well, and this is distinctly aiming at that happy medium of just enough nerd and just enough comedy to possibly work.

Some nerds are magicians.  Almost all magicians are nerds.  I say this as a former member of the Magic Castle.  Cameron Black is an illusionist… fancy name for a magician.  He joins up with the FBI to pull off what looks like “Mission: Impossible” type stunts to catch criminals from around the world.

Sarah Shahi from Person of Interest joins some other starts with nerd cred like Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) and Dennis Haysbert (The President from 24), and is being used to rescue people who have become lost in a VR program.

But wait, for all the promise, it’s midseason and has no trailer, so how can we even look forward to this?