hmm ... strange. I just speak from my personal experience. I work in computer science research and consider myself a nerd/geek. I got already several statements when meeting new people, like "Oh ... you consider yourself nerd, no that cannot be, you are not weird or awkward like these guys at TBBT. I mean you can talk to women and do sports ...".

How TBBT portrays nerds seems to have an impact on how a larger part of society (at least in my vicinity) sees nerds and I believe it's the wrong picture they are advertising.