Fellow Annenberg student Moira alerts me that Spike TV’s Guys Choice awards include a category for “Coolest Geek.” The category comes alongside other arguably geeky categories, such as “Naughtiest Cybervixen” and “Most Viral Video,” and of course more expected results such as “Most Unstoppable Jock,” “Biggest Ass Kicker,” and “Cockiest Crew.”

Incidentally, I first tried to access Spike TV’s site using Camino (my default web browser), and got greeted by one of the scantily-clad cybervixens alluded to above. (My friends tell me that this is not really a cybervixen, but just a very airbrushed photo of a woman. This has instilled me with self-doubt. Either way, vixen-like.)

I wonder if the title above should have actually read “Men Now Officially Acceptably Geeky.” I’ll get back to you on that one.

Update: Kotaku alerts me that Heroes star Masi Oka won the “coolest geek” award. I’m impressed that they did pick a pretty genuine geek: according to a recent Wired interview, Oka is constantly trying to sneak comic book and anime references into his lines, and he also programmed visual effects software for Industrial Light and Magic.

Tellingly, though, “Game With the Most Game” went to Madden NFL ’07. As Kotaku points out, “The only other contender was World of Warcraft (which, don’t get me wrong, is a popular game, but most of the award categories were geared towards the FHM genre, so I’m not sure it had a fighting chance).”

For the social and cultural researchers out there, also feel free to check out what Kotaku readers have to say about Spike TV and the encroachment of “jocks” in their arena.

As you’ve probably heard, Lost has an end date (see articles here, here, and here). There was some back-and-forth about whether Battlestar Galactica would be announcing something similar or continuing as “an open-ended adventure,” but it’s apparently been confirmed that it’s going to end next season.

I find it fascinating that fans would want shows to end, considering how vocal fans are about making sure their favorite shows stay on the air. In the last link above, a statement from the producers of Battlestar notes that “we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming,” but I actually doubt that this is the case, for the most part.

TV shows are often made to just continue on as long as they are profitable. While fans have often rallied to prevent their premature cancellation, a really story-driven serial like Battlestar or Lost can get pretty dull when it deviates from actually progressing the narrative. Lost is designed to be a narrative with secrets that get revealed. Having an end makes us feel more like we’re watching a story and less like we’re strung along like customers/dupes. It’s impressive to see shows ending when it’s time for them to end, without (too much) regard for that usual economic model.

I wonder if another reason people want to see these kinds of shows end is that the longer shows like Lost or Battlestar continue, the less people are able to speculate and fill in the blanks (or take it where they like with fan fic, for that matter). Keeping it contained gives people more freedom to work with it, perhaps, though I wonder how able fans will be to expand upon it once it’s all tied up in a bow. The creators of Lost say that you’ll eventually understand why spin-offs and sequels aren’t really an option, so does that preclude fan fic as well?