I'm new here. Hello. Part of the Great Reddit Migration.

Fall in love with someone and assimilate their interests.

I would say that the exploitation comes from a basic skimming of "nerd culture." 'Nerdism' is not so much about taking a subject and learning about it as profusely and intensely as you can, the main stream culture sees 'nerdism' as a vapid interest in sci fi, fantasy, math, and comics—or something along those lines.

Currently, it is more a fashion than anything—with the glasses and the plaid. I'm not going to be pulling rank on peoples' nerd levels either, that would be as repudiating as the culture the 'nerds' have always moved away from.

What bothers me is the caricature-like pastiche it all has become. Taking this show as an example and another that comes to mind is The Big Bang Theory, where 'nerds' are all follow the same quirky oddball stereotype that loves to speak in movie quotes and references.