International brotherhood of nerds

Today's column looks at the CW's "Aliens in America":

In this, the TV Year of the Nerd, I can't help but wonder how giddy Toby Radloff's feeling.

If you're among the select handful who saw the great movie "American Splendor" - or the even more select group who read the Harvey Pekar comic books that inspired it - you know Toby as Pekar's geeky co-worker. And you know that Toby (both the real guy and the version played in the movie by Judah Friedlander) drove 260 miles round- trip - not once, but multiple times - to see "Revenge of the Nerds" because, as he memorably explained, "I consider myself a nerd. And this movie has uplifted me."

There's a lot of nerd uplift going on this season. We've got nerds working as spies ("Chuck"), nerds tracking down escapees from Hell ("Reaper"), nerds befriending the hot girl across the hall ("The Big Bang Theory") and, with tonight's premiere of the comedy "Aliens in America," nerds from two different continents and cultures discovering that nerd-hood transcends all races and creeds.

To read the full thing, click here, and feel free to use this post tonight to comment if you happen to watch the premiere.