King of the Nerds

As questionable as the setup sounds, it actually strikes the right tone by neither making fun of nor blindly praising the competitors for their quirks (of which they have many).

The mix of appealing nerds and lack of truly grating nerds is calculated for viewers' comfort, but the first episode is decidedly bland, too. Viewers looking for a new take on the reality competition genre won't find it here.

The competitors may not be all that amusing, but some of the show's gimmicks are.

This energetically produced, brightly colored concoction hits the guilty pleasure spot more often than not.

Former "Revenge of the Nerds" stars Carradine and Armstrong (who helped develop the concept) do appear to have fun, but after the opening kick of seeing them reunited in this fashion, even that begins to yield diminishing returns.

It's a cute concept but producers don't seem to have a knack for proper execution, filling time with terribly padded segments--picking teams takes an eternity--and challenges (watching people play chess in the premiere) that, try as they might, don't make for compelling TV.

There is one clever gimmick--the winner gets to sit upon a "Throne of Games"--but the very-long-hour opener is a tedious affair.