One thing I hate about Hollywood’s portrayal of nerds has been the usual focus on laughing at the nerds as opposed to accepting them for who they are and celebrating what makes them unique. This horrific history made me rather nervous at TBS‘s announcement of their new reality show King of the Nerds. After sitting down with hosts Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong at New York Comic Con, I was a bit more at ease, but I had to see the show for myself.

I went into last week’s debut episode expecting the usual exploitative, skewed story driven reality game show we’ve seen on other channels. Instead, what I found shocked me. A show that focus’ on it’s players, all of their eccentricities and the aspects of geek and nerdom. The cast is all over, from stereotypical video game players to numerous players with impressive master degrees. Not only are their backgrounds varied and interesting, but so are their social skills. Some show leadership skills while others struggle with basic social and interpersonal interaction.

But, would the show be the usual lame contests we see elsewhere? Well, if the first two episodes are any indication, we’re in for something quite different.

The first episode was all about meeting the contests and for them to meet each other and form teams. The brilliance of this forces the players to interact (the kryptonite for so many nerds and geeks) but one had to be left out and picked last. This as Armstrong points out, is the story of so many of us, and it sucks. A horrible feeling, that poor individual could be looked at as the low of the lowest nerds. But, would this show devolve into the elitism that so many of us geeks and nerds have raged against? Nope! There was a great twist at the end turning the tables and turning a game show into a learning lesson about acceptance and inclusion. Something I wasn’t expecting, but having been in that position could relate.

The second episode involves a Cosplay competition, challenging creativity and imagination and skills to put those costumes together. With some special guests it didn’t at any time look down on this popular past time, but instead cheered it on bringing us into the fun.

Each competition ends with a Nerd Off, putting two contestants into various battles, the loser going home.

What’s great about the series is it’s focus on nerds and nerdom. With each contestant being a character unto their own already, there seems to be no need for editors to drive a story and create characters. Instead, we get a focus on what it is to be a geek and nerd, social awkwardness and all.

I went into the show cringing at the idea, but as Carradine and Armstrong promised me, their goal was to celebrate nerdom, not make fun. And, in two episodes, they seem to be succeeding in that.