Waving the nerd flag high for "The Guild"

If you’re not already a fan of “The Guild,” the web series about a bunch of online gamers penned by and starring Felicia Day of “Dr. Horrible” and “Buffy” fame, then please stop whatever you’re doing and watch it right now. In fact, much like the proverbial drug dealer/Mary Kay saleswoman offering the first one free, I’m pasting in episode one below. It’s only five minutes long. That’s less time than it takes to think about Robert Downey Jr., so why not take a moment, watch it and then we’ll chat:



Okay, now wasn’t that just a tiny taste of geek heaven? And honestly, it was like looking in the mirror except it’s a mirror that actually makes me way hotter and younger and also friends with Joss Whedon.

For anyone who spends too much time on the internet, whether gaming or on message boards or a combination of the two, “The Guild” totally hits home but in a way that makes you feel in on the joke rather than the butt of it. It’s an affectionate take on the utter weirdness of what living parallel on- and off-line lives is like yet it also takes into account that sense of community that can be so welcoming…until, of course, a guy screen-named Zaboo shows up on your door step.

I love these characters, especially Amy Okuda’s Tinkerballa who is like half the friends I had and was afraid of (in a good way!) in high school. And Robin Thorsen’s Clara is awesome as the game-addicted stay-at-home mom – “nursing makes me stupid” -- who would make Supernanny weep…right before being carted off by social workers. Just wait until you see the episode where Tinkerballa babysits. And Felicia Day’s Cyd Sherman is wonderful, too, with just the right amount of neuroses to make her charming, like if Pam Beasley and every character Michael Cera ever played had a love child.

The jokes are first-rate as well. I loved Cyd’s response to her therapist asking if she’d ever met her gaming friends face to face: “I hear them. It’s good enough for the blind.” And I nearly choked with glee a few episodes later when Day joke-checked “Ghostbusters” with the classic “Listen, do you smell something?” line. I’m a fan-girl slave to any show that not only has stellar characters but seeds its dialogue with so many wonderfully quirky lines, like Zaboo’s later revelation that he’s a “Hin-Jew.”

I’m completely smitten with “The Guild,” but after allowing myself to tear through season one like a trophy wife through a Neiman-Marcus shoe sale, I’ve decided to save season two for another time. Like maybe tomorrow morning. Or tonight. Maybe later this afternoon.

No, I’m not addicted. Not. At. All. Not a tiny bit.

Maybe a little. And I’m okay with that.

To see more of "The Guild," check out the website at watchtheguild.com.