10 of the Greatest Black TV Nerds of All Time

TV Blerds

TV Blerds

Steve Urkel

Steve Urkel, played by Jaleel White, was one of TV’s most popular Black nerds and a surprising crowd favorite from the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters. While Urkel was only supposed to make an occasional appearance on the show, audiences fell in love with the lovable nerd, and producers were inclined to make him the new staple of the show. Urkel was one of TV’s first Black nerds to figure out how to use science to turn himself into a ladies’ man. The young nerd built a successful “transformation chamber” that turned him into the charming Stefan Urquelle. In another episode, he even used the chamber to transform himself into a martial arts master with the help of Bruce Lee’s DNA.

Black nerds on TV

Lt. Geordi La Forge

The Star Trek: The Next Generation engineering genius played by LeVar Burton is one of the most praised TV Blerds there has ever been. It helps that he was a main character on the very show that most nerds consider sacred, but his ingenuity and sheer intelligence on the show earned him admiration from a wide spectrum of fans. Media critic Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times even deemed him the “saint of Blerds” and pointed out the fact that he was “chasing warp core breaches before Urkel slapped on his first pair of rainbow-colored suspenders.” While his dating life wasn’t explored much throughout the series, his few romantic encounters proved he was yet another nerdy guy who seemed inept around women.