| Genre: | Interview Show |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 13 |
| Producer: | PBS |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Network: | PBS |
NerdTV was a technology TV show from PBS. NerdTV was not aired, instead each episode was released as a MPEG-4 video file, freely downloadable and licensed under a Creative Commons license.[1] Transcripts and audio-only versions of the released episodes were available as well.
The show features Robert X. Cringely interviewing famous and influential nerds. Each episode was about one hour and features a single guest from the world of technology. From September 6, 2005 to November 29, 2005, thirteen episodes comprising Season One were released on the Internet.[2] Another thirteen episodes were promised for Season Two, in which the show was renamed SuperNerds, along with a more consistent release schedule and better quality video files. Season Two was never created.
| Date | Guest | Most remembered as | Archive.org Link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-09-06 | Macintosh operating system programmer | Watch | ||
| 2005-09-13 | PayPal co-founder | Watch | ||
| 2005-09-20 | Sun Microsystems co-founder | Watch | ||
| 2005-09-27 | Internet Archive founder | Watch | ||
| 2005-10-04 | Internet publisher | Watch | ||
| 2005-10-11 | Watch | |||
| 2005-10-18 | Autodesk co-founder | Watch | ||
| 2005-10-25 | Intel Capital co-founder | Watch | ||
| 2005-11-01 | Mobile-oriented model | Watch | ||
| 2005-11-08 | Spreadsheet inventor | Watch | ||
| 2005-11-15 | Computer mouse inventor | Watch | ||
| 2005-11-22 | TCP/IP inventor | Watch | ||
| 2005-11-29 | Internet entrepreneur | Watch |
This episode is one of the first where the subject (Avram Miller) is not an entrepreneur, which is to say he didn't create a company that was successful, though he did facilitate many successful startup companies through his investment portfolio while at Intel. The show chronologically follows his career, including:
Chin Wong of Manila Standard Today wrote, "An hour with a technology guru may be too much for nontechies, but for those with an abiding interest in the industry, NerdTV is must-see TV."[3] In a mixed review, Wireds Jason Silverman stated, "Cringely will surely refine the show as the season progresses. One lesson from episode one: Turn off your cell phone. But without additional resources -- a second camera and an editor? a shiny round table? -- NerdTV is not likely to be an important moment in web TV history. Episode one will be of great interest to Mac cultists. But one imagines that PBS would prefer that the series reach beyond the small clique of hard-core geeks."[4]