The Mythbusters Man

The Discovery Channel show Mythbusters is a weekly staple for viewers looking for some urban legend debunking or verification. Right? Perhaps on the surface, but in reality, the main purpose of the show is entertainment for nerds. While some of the myths have practical applications, I doubt that anyone who was washing their clothes in fermented urine stopped after the Mythbusters disproved its efficacy (Ironically, anyone doing that in the first place was probably living in either prison or a Unibomber-style shack in the woods, so they probably missed that episode). What does the format and subject matter of the show say about it viewers, intently watching and laughing along with the semi-science that captivates the biggest audience of any Discovery Channel show?
The target demographic, first of all, is pretty obvious: men. The show features 'science' which is field traditionally, tragically, devoid of women. Fires, explosions, and guns are all staples of the program, even more than they are staples of movies featuring Sylvester Stallone. It certainly isn't true that women don't ever appreciate a big bang, but just that men do so much more. And almost every show ends with a bang, quite literally, including a cement truck that was totally obliterated, a dummy shot hundreds of feet out of a sewer pipe, various household items left in the microwave too long, and a car, dropped from a crane simply because the owner didn't want it anymore. Car myths are huge on Mythbusters, another reason it would appeal to men more than women. To men, women are seen as complements to cars, or the perks of having really nice cars. The female psyche does not seem to be wired in this fashion, for reasons beyond any science the Discovery Channel is willing to tackle.
Of the men watching TV, why aren't all of them watching Mythbusters? Because the good people at the Discovery Channel aren't just targeting the men in America, they're going for the nerdy men in America. By being on the Discovery Channel, first of all, the men who flunked out of high school physics know to stay clear, figuring that the Discovery Channel just plays a loop of a cheetah bringing down an antelope in slow-motion all day. Occasionally, the show will run into a concept that they feel needs explaining, scientifically, and inserts a “WARNING: SCIENCE CONTENT” portion to clarify. Nerds like to chuckle when these screens appear and go to fix themselves some more herbal tea, since they already know Bernoulli's Principle, thank you very much. While these nerds are scientifically literate, they also have to be culturally literate. These myths are usually perpetuated orally, so someone who is hermetically sealed in their bedroom with their glowing computer screen probably wouldn't be interested in whether the hundreds of urban legends and old wives' tales they have heard are true.
So, the perfect Mythbusters watcher? It may be the essential 21^st Century man, after all. Technologically educated, masculine, culturally aware, and a bit nerdy. A man who likes to spend couch time, traditionally a time to sit vegetative and let colorful images wash over oneself, by becoming a little more informed, or maybe picking up little trivia to use in conversation some day. While the hosts of the show, Adam Savage and Jaime Hieneman, hardly have the 'nerdy chic' style that is so pervasive in 21^st Century America, the viewer of the show almost definitely does. They wear glasses, and do so proudly.