There are a lot of smart people on television, but there are some that are pure geniuses.
They can be an expert crime solver, a techno geek, or someone who just likes to talk Klingon.
People with IQs above our own aren’t meant to be feared but admired. They may seem a little odd at times, but that doesn’t make them any less lovable.
Here’s a list of 24 TV characters who we think are absolutely brilliant.
Do you agree? Disagree? Who did we forget?
Take a look and chime in below!
Spencer Reid – Criminal Minds
Everything about Spencer Reid oozes genius. He has three Ph.D.’s, a super high IQ, and can read 20,000 words per minute. He also has an eidetic memory. It’s enough to make our heads hurt.
The Riddler – Gotham
Before he became The Riddler, Edward Nygma was a brilliant forensic scientist who often spoke in riddles. Now riddles define him. Don’t answer them correctly and you could lose your life!
Temperence Brennan – Bones
Temperence is a forensic anthropologist who helps solve the most complex of crimes. Her mind is unlike any other. If she seems cold and distant at times, it’s only because she’s working something out in that brilliant mind of hers.
Lucius Fox – Gotham
Lucius can solve the most difficult and complex problems the GCPD faces. Whether it’s figuring out the disease afflicting Captain Barnes or keeping The Riddler at bay, Lucius is the man you want on your side.
Scorsese – Lethal Weapon
Multi-talented Scorsese not only has a brilliant mind, he’s also witty as hell. If it weren’t for him, Riggs and Murtaugh wouldn’t solve nearly as many cases as they do. He’s an asset to the LAPD and asset to our television screens!
Abby – NCIS
A forensic scientist with expertise in everything that’s needed to help solve crimes, Abby is one-of-a-kind.
Cisco – The Flash
A man of many skills, Cisco is one of Team Flash’s most important members. He’s a mechanical engineering genius, an expert computer hacker and so much more. His mind is an abyss of knowledge that we can only begin to understand.
Felicity – Arrow
Beauty and brains define Felicity. She’s one of the smartest women on television and understands the complexities of saving the world from dark forces. We can’t imagine a world without her.
Charlie Eppes – Numb3rs
Charlie is a mathematical genius who, at the age of three, could multiply four-digit numbers in his head. He works with his FBI-agent brother, Dan, to solve some of the FBI’s most perplexing cases.
Harold Finch – Person of Interest
A brilliant and reclusive billionaire, Harold Finch built a machine that can predict future crimes. The machine is able to predict either the perpetrator or the victim by his or her social security number. Finch can’t prevent the crimes by himself, so he hires former CIA operative and Green Beret, John Reese to help. The two of them work together to make the world a better place.
House – House
Despite being a cranky and egotistical type of guy, House is a medical genius who can solve the most difficult of medical problems. Just when it appears there is no hope, House comes through with a solution saving the day and, more importantly, saving someone’s life.
Lex Luthor – Smallville
Aren’t all bad guys super-geniuses in some form or another? Lex Luthor is a brilliant scientist who has no problems creating weapons to bring the good guys down. He’s also a shrewd businessman with an encyclopedic knowledge of history and culture. In other words, Lex Luthor has it all.
MacGyver – MacGyver
As an operative secret government organization, MacGyver uses his incredible intellect to get himself and others out of sticky situations. Problem-solving and science go hand in hand in MacGyver’s world.
Scully – The X-Files
She wanted to be a medical doctor, but her parents pushed her to become a forensic pathologist and work for the FBI. Lucky for us she pursued that path, otherwise who would work with Mulder to seek the truth?
Mike Ross – Suits
Anyone who can fake his way into getting a job as a lawyer in a prestigious law firm is certainly a genius. Sure he got busted for practicing law without a degree, but he was able to practice for five years and did a damn good job. You gotta love this smooth talker with a photographic memory.
Mr. Kaplan – The Blacklist
If you need to clean up a bloody mess then Mr. Kaplan is the person you need to call. She is an expert at disposing of bodies and leaving no trace for the police or any crime unit to find.
Sheldon Cooper – The Big Bang Theory
The biggest nerd in the universe is also a physicist with an eidetic memory. He started college at the age of 11 and got his first Ph.D. at 16. He has no problems letting people know about his intellectual superiority but he also likes to have fun by pranking people and speaking Klingon.
Sherlock Holmes – Elementary
Sherlock Holmes is one of the most brilliant minds ever. In Elementary, he works as a consultant for the NYPD and uses his great powers of observation and deduction to help solve crimes.He speaks many languages and is an expert at psychological manipulation.
Sylvester Dodd – Scorpion
Just call him the Human Calculator. This bird expert is a mathematical genius and a chess grandmaster. Even though he suffers from a severe case of obsessive compulsive disorder, it doesn’t stop him from helping the team.
Patrick Jane – The Mentalist
He could have gone a different route being raised by a con artist father who taught him how to be a fake psychic. Instead, he uses his incredible knowledge of social engineering for good, lending his talent to the California Bureau of Investigation to help fight crime.
Amy – The Big Bang Theory
A graduate of Harvard University, Amy has a doctorate in neurobiology. She not only matches Sheldon’s brainpower but his wit as well.
Walter Bishop – Fringe
He claims to know what KFC’s 11 secret herbs and spices are, but while that might a little odd, it doesn’t take away from the fact he is an expert on fringe science. Though he spent 17 years in a mental institution, he is recruited by the FBI to work in their fringe division to help solve what simple science can’t.
Cosima – Orphan Black
Driven and focused, Cosima is a Ph.D. student who has a brilliant mind and truly understands how the world works. She is passionate about what she does and though she is a super smart, she is humble and down-to-earth.
Michael Scofield – Prison Break
A brilliant structural engineer who creates an elaborate plan to break him and his brother out of a supposedly unbreakable prison. What a guy to sacrifice so much for family.
