First it was Indiana Jones: a slightly geeky archaeology professor as hero. Then it was Jet Li as a seriously ass-kicking librarian. Now it’s Noah Wyle, geeky yet ass-kicking librarian. I have to admit to being absurdly excited about this, TNT’s new show The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, premiering this Sunday, conveniently at the end of the semester.

There are a few movies out there with librarians as protagonists: Party Girl, the aforementioned Black Mask. Ok, ok, there’s The Music Man. But I don’t even like to talk about that… I mean, how long will the profession have to live with the whole Marian thing? Actually the IMDb lists way more plot descriptions containing the word “librarian” than I would have expected.

But I digress. As far as I know this is the first TV show with a librarian as the protagonist. Well, there’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the librarian isn’t the protagonist. Of course, I say this like I know what I’m talking about, though I don’t think I’ve ever once seen Buffy. I love the 1992 movie though.

Anyway, I totally plan to tune in to see The Librarian. I expect it to be unrelentingly stupid, but it’s got a decent cast, so I live in hope. Besides, it’s a great excuse for procrastinating grading. But I mean, come on, what librarian doesn’t harbor this fantasy? What could be better than kicking ass and taking names, in the interest of research?