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It seems like TV is, for the most part, being programmed for tween girls with horrible tastes in music and an equally astonishing acceptance of bad acting and faux-dating. While shows like Gossip Girl, 90210, The Hills and One Tree Hill get the kids (and some of the Mac|Life staff) excited. It's the science fiction shows and shows based on blowing stuff up in the name of science that have us tuning in every week.
Using the latest in TV watching technology we determined the shows below deserve to be included in our list. These are the cream of the crop, the shows that succeed where shows like Automan and Misfits of Science failed. If you're a fan of just one of the shows below, you should check out the others.
As with any list, we're sure we missed something. If your favorite show isn't on here, or you think a show on here doesn't belong, tell us in the comments.
Summary - The Doctor travels through time and space with a female companion in a craft called the TARDIS that's disguised as a blue 1950s British police box. The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords and travels to different time periods and planets to right wrongs with a female companion that usually ends up being the source of many a nerd's time-traveling fantasies. The current show is a reboot of the long running Doctor Who series that ran from 1963 until 1989.
Resurrected in 2005, the Doctor Who franchise could have been a train wreck. A guy that travels through space and time in a blue police booth. Did we mention he's a bit of an eccentric and the main character was recast after the first season? On paper it sounds like a one-way ticket to Crapville, instead the show's mix of science, time travel and great writing have made the new Doctor Who a geek's delight. With any franchise with deep roots, the new Doctor Who will probably never measure up the old series in some viewers minds. Our sympathies go out to those viewers, they are missing a truly great show.
Where to watch:
BBC America
iTunes - Seasons 1 - 4 of the current series are available as well as seasons from the original show.
Netflix - Seasons 1 - 3 available on instant Queue, Season 4 Available as DVD rental. DVDs of the original series are also available.
Summary - Three IT employees do their best to become socially accepted while helping the company's technically inept staff with their ludicrous computer issues from the confines of of their filthy basement office. The computer geeks or "standard nerds" as identified by the companies president, fit every geek stereotype and are lead by their manager Jen, who knows absolutely nothing about computers.
If the above sounds like your job, you need to be watching this show. The IT Crowd (pronounced it) should be required watching of every nerd that's ever dreamed of being an IT admin. This show will surely crush those dreams with hilarity. Bonus geekiness, the UK release of season one had 1337 subtitles.
Where to watch:
iTunes - Seasons 1-3 are avialable for download
IFC - The basic cable network is airing the series in the United States. 
Fringe
Summary - An FBI division, known as the Fringe Division, investigates a series of unexplainable events known as "the Pattern." FBI agent Olivia spends her time with a father son team of scientists as they explore issues related to dark matter, reanimation and suspended animation. If it's an outrageous theory, it'll probably end up on Fringe.
Created by J.J. Abrams, Fringe is the X-Files for the new millennium. The show is part part science, part scare-fest, and all nerd. If you're afraid J.J. Abrams will infuse the show with Lost-like plot elements, don't. Abrams has stated that he won't create confusing plot elements into the show like he has with Lost.
Where to watch:
Fox- Fringe has been picked up for a second season and is available for viewing on Fox's site.
Hulu - Episodes 4-14 are available
iTunes - Season one is available for download
Summary - Former special effects wizards, Jaime Hyneman and Adam Savage test out various myths and urban legends with often explosive results. The guys along with their build team test out myths about exploding pants and how far a rocket car can actually go.
Jaime and Adam have what is possibly the greatest job ever. We've watched them fill sunken ships with ping pong balls, shoot their dummy Buster out of a cannon and test myths about ninjas. Oh, and they build robots all the time. Everyday we think about how we can get on this show. If you have an idea, drop it in the comments.
Where to watch:
Discovery Channel - Airs Wednesdays at 9pm
iTunes - Seasons 1-5 are available for download
Netflix - Various episodes are avialable for instant viewing
Summary - The survivors of an Oceanic Airlines plane crash end up on a mysterious island complete with hostile natives, a mysterious set of numbers, a smoke monster, time travel, resurrection of the dead and a four toed statue. It's just another day in paradise.
After a stellar first season, Lost got side-tracked with new characters and Kate's inability to not to get held hostage in every episode. The last two seasons the writers have really hunkered down and brought life back to the series. Few shows have their own Wiki and ARG, The Lost Experience. With only one season after this one left in the series, it's a good time to get Lost.
ABC - Wednesdays at 9pm
ABC.com - All five seasons are available online
iTunes - Seasons 1-5 are available for download
atalay22
May 15, 2009 at 2:56pm
zukum Thank you
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imajoebob
April 13, 2009 at 9:41pm
And also would have known that part of the Dr. Who lore os the occasional "rebirth" of the Doctor as a different person. I gotta agree that this blurs sci-fi and geek. Galactica is a great show, but not geeky. The lack of techno-gobbledygook makes it almost anti-geek.
My biggest disappointment is NUMB3RS. It started out a serious geek show. With a background in higher-level maths I really loved the first season. Schroedinger's Cat was probably the least esoteric reference they made. I knew it was getting problematic when they fumbled using the "Prisoner's Dilemma" in the second year. Now it's just (good) cops and robbers, while Charlie babbles about different theories he can use to solve crime, while Don just does it through standard police work.
And I'm getting tired of waiting for Eureka! We were promised a February return, but now they say mid-summer. It better be damn good if we've waited that long.
jdbaum
March 18, 2009 at 7:50pm
Vegas, of course.
-Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to
grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after
all.
JasperDyne
March 17, 2009 at 9:05am
A true Geek's laugh riot.Look Around You on The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim takes those science and futurism shows of the 70's and 80's, like Beyond 2000 and turns them on their heads.The shows all have that retro look from the faded video, to the clothes, to the cheesy computer titles and effects. It's all taken very seriously by the hosts and announcers even when they get their science horribly wrong.It is laugh-out-loud funny.
privateice
March 16, 2009 at 8:16pm
Who writes this stuff anyway? I see a lot of conspiracy theory, sci fi nonsense and not much real science. Don't you have to love, y'know, actual science to be a geek anymore? For the best geek shows, my money is on:
1) Bones (Fox): There's some actual science on this who-done-it based on the Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reich. Lots of bells and whistles--an artist who programs complex computer simulations, puh-lease--but it's better than the fantasy that is science presented by most of the shows on this list. David Boreanaz taking his shirt off on a regular basis is a special plus for girl-geeks.
2) Good Eats (Food Channel): If you're a food science geek, or just a cooking geek, there is nothing remotely close to the kind of sound basic information you get from the venerable Good Eats. And no, the new pretender Food Detectives really doesn't measure up. Good Eats tells you why the process of making a particular food works and how it works as well as that it works. What could be more geeky?
3) Okay, okay, I'll spot you Mythbusters. They blow shit up. What more could a geek ask? Okay, okay, we could demand decent science. Mythbusters science is not always spot on, but they're entertaining.
-- A freelancer is someone who is paid per hour, per piece or perhaps.
TBone19
March 14, 2009 at 12:16pm
I have to agree with the above comment that "Chuck" should definately be on the list. Great show.
ilikeimac
March 12, 2009 at 1:01pm
Maybe you didn't care for it or just forgot, but The Big Bang Theory (Mondays on CBS) is hilarious. The title was off-putting to me but it's really just a sitcom about the culture clash between 4 nerds and the blond waitress/wanna-be-actress that lives across the hall from two of them. Diatribes about how Superman cleans his uniform and debugging a "friendship algorithm" make this show priceless.
P.S. You failed to convince me that 30 Rock is geeky. Funny, yeah; geeky, no.
BigLebowski
March 12, 2009 at 7:34am
I think it's inaccurate to call Dr. Who a reboot. Nothing about the basic premise of the show has been changed...the show was originally canceled by the BBC in 1989 and revived in 2003. While BBC had sought independent production companies to take over making the show, they were unsuccessful.
