The entirety of "Free Guy" with Ryan Reynolds is the opposite of this.

The protagonist is a female programmer, and the male programmer involved becomes a hero and "gets the girl".

As an aside: It's one of the best movies I've seen in the past 2 years. Watch it if you like Ryan Reynolds and are looking for a movie to watch.

Now imagine House M.D. rehashed to a brilliant but callous software guru trying to diagnose various misbehaviours/misuse of tech all around town. I'm not sure if that's a promising pitch or straight up garbage!

I'm holding out for a Breaking Bad style show about a software consultant who realizes how much money they can make by pivoting to running a malware ransom ring

As others have suggested, Mr. Robot isn't quite this but it's close, and extremely well made. One of the best TV shows ever in my opinion.

I'd argue it lays "evil corporations are evil" a bit too thick, and the ending IMHO is way too overwrought, but it's a pretty well made show.

Love Mr. Robot, but Elliot is a social/political actor.

I’m looking for a Walter White money fiend

Its not exactly that, but Mr. Robot is excellent if you haven't seen it.

I never watched Mr. Roboto, but that sounds like what I heard it was about... I think the issue may be social status, software gurus aren't viewed the way doctors or lawyers are. They're paid well, but they aren't respected the same way for some reason.

It's probably also an issue of writing - walking the line between realism and cool isn't easy, doubly so if the writers aren't themselves technical people. People are still referencing Mcguyver, but nobody's had the hubris to try and reboot that classic.

> People are still referencing Mcguyver, but nobody's had the hubris to try and reboot that classic.

They did. And it probably got the same treatment mentioned in the article. It survived 5 seasons despite receiving abysmal reviews.

"Young Angus "Mac" MacGyver works for a clandestine organization within the U.S. government, relying on his unconventional problem-solving skills to save lives." [0]

[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399045/

Wake me up when they try to do "Walker, Texas Ranger" with Ryan Reynolds.

A reboot started airing last year. Sadly no Ryan Reynolds.

Oh dear. I don't know whether to feel silly or vindicated for not knowing that.

Mr. Robot is less House M.D. and more Paper Trail, only with a definite protagonist and a whole lot of mental issues. At least as far as first season (of Mr.Robot) is concerned.

I don't know if "our online store is down" has as much potential drama as someone bleeding out their eyes.

Paging Dr Susan Calvin...

> (male) IT guy in a movie

Who is tony stark?

Tony Stark is a "next level" rich scientist, engineer/inventor, and ladies man. His IT related sides are incidental at best.

The only recent and decent "IT guy" series was Mr. Robot and the differences from any other field are obvious. The main "IT guy"-character is presented as socially dysfunctional. The supporting IT-people are tiny little gears turning in their cubicles.

Military - always fighting in the harshest condition, against the toughest enemies, saving the world.

Lawyers - good looking people, living a lavish lifestyle in corner offices of New York skyscrapers, having the cool monologues that wow the courtroom.

Doctors - brilliant but otherwise normal people facing very difficult decisions every day, making brilliant decisions to save life after life, and dealing with loss.

Spies - absolutely superhuman skills and knowledge, constantly capable of turning the tide of any way with a single person concentrated effort. (The more you go towards the "military/spy" side of things, the more likely it becomes about superhumans.)

IT focused movies/characters are probably just not attractive to the wider audience. Or at least nobody really proved that they can be. So even in Mr. Robot didn't focus on the hacking as much as on the larger plot. It simply made a very realistic point of that hacking.

Ok you have a point. Anyway, check out Halt & Catch Fire if you haven't.

On NCIS everyone is a superhuman at whatever they do. In addition to the traditional super-cop there's the super-forensics genius and the super-hacker from MIT. I think it's just the kind of show more than the kind of character. And people who watch (and write) hero shows are probably older generations and far less aware of modern job roles beyond the old professions.

But TV always veers off into personal drama, presumably to chase ratings, whether it's doctors or cops or anyone else.

Well I kind of assume that the team is an Elite one - though the two people typing at the same time makes me cringe

You mean because the show is about them? In the scheme of things they seem to be basically rank-and-file detectives.

All the science/tech stuff they do tends to make me cringe. A hair from a nearly-extinct field mouse found in just one park? whatever. I guess that beats big "revelations" you can see coming a mile away.

There's more than one grade of Special Agent and Gibbs deputised for the Director at one point.

So it's a stretch but as the team was designated Major Case Team i could see it working

Mysterio et al from "Spider-Man: Far From Home" is closer to lionizing IT folk while lambasting Tony Stark.

Jack Ryan would be a counterexample.

That must have changed - in the novels he was a former Marine who had made a bit of money in finance and then gone into academia.

He's depicted as more of a nerdy relatable "analyst". Truly the common man's CIA operative.

Ex marine who was invalided out I seem to recall