Welcome to our forum for CBS's Numb3rs TV show!

[Lesa]

As a very logical person (at least I'd like to think I am), I love the concept behind this show. The whole world is dictated by numbers, and it's just a matter of finding the formula to answer any question.

David Krumholtz plays the genius mathemetician Charlie Eppes. You might know him from Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, The Santa Clause 1 & 2, or Addams Family Values.

Rob Morrow plays Charlie's brother, FBI agent Don Eppes. Rob is best known for his role as Dr. Joel Fleischman in Northern Exposure.

Judd Hirsch plays their father, Alan. I'm sure anyone who's old enough remembers him from the 1970's series Taxi. He also played the lead role in 1988's Dear John and was in Independence Day and A Beautiful Mind.

Peter MacNicol (sometimes credited as MacNichol) as Charlie's colleague, physicist Dr. Larry Fleinhardt. — Known for his role as the eccentric John 'The Biscuit' Cage in Ally McBeal. He's also played in Chicago Hope, Roswell, Ghost Busters II, Addams Family Values, and Sophie's Choice.

With a little help from his colleague, Larry, it seems that Charlie could solve just about any case. If you like an intellectual show that makes you think, this is definitely one to watch!

Welcome to our Numb3rs forum!

[MrEMahon]

Yeah I like this one for the same reason, it's smart, sometimes a little too smart, I mean, they have a habit of pushing the envelope a bit, concerning what Charlie is able to figure out solely by the use of mathematics, which results in him being unbelievably smart at times. But at the same time it's original, they're trying to do things that we haven't seen before, and for the most part, they're accomplishing it. You can compare this show to the likes of Law and Order or CSI, and it's originality is pretty evident.

Not that I don't like L&O or CSI, but they're more typical crime dramas, usually making the case due to the blood evidence, or inconsistancies in the perps story, for instance. Numb3rs is imaginative, like in last weeks ep, some counterfeiters have taken an artist hostage to help them make their fake money. Don and Charlie and the gang know that if they don't find out where the counterfeiters are holding her, before she is done doing this "job" for them, that she'll most likely be dead, because they'll probably kill her when it's finished. But instead of the main character having some revelation and solving the case in some clever manner, which is usually the case, the victim actually saves herself.

She prints "messages" on the counterfeit money, in the hopes that when the authorities discover it being distributed, and study it for clues as to who the counterfeiter is, they'll discover them. Her "messages", are in the form of minute printing flaws, that are arranged in a pattern, but you can't make out the pattern and read them by just looking at a bill straight on. The pattern is made so that when you look at a bill when it's tipped at an angle, you can make out the message. Of course, Charlie, with some help from a colleague, figures this out. So it's obvious that they're going to unusual sources to find ideas for the show, the premise for this ep is like something you'd find on a Mensa test.

Mr E

[Lesa]

I missed that ep. If a message can be made out by tipping a bill on an angle, wouldn't there be a good chance of the counterfeiters finding it? I mean, don't they check the quality of the counterfeits and look for the watermarks? Or were they past the magnifying glass stage and just cranking them out? Why did Charlie need help from a colleague (Larry, I presume?) to find that message? Was it just that tiny or something?

[MrEMahon]

Hmm, well, that's a good question. If a message can be made out by tipping a bill on an angle, chances are that the counterfieters wouldn't see it because they are just looking for innacuracies in the print, and doing so doesn't require you to turn the bill on it's side. As for charlies colleuge, I think they are introducing a love interest because Charlie got help from some female colleuge who we haven't seen before.

Mr E

[Lesa]

O, I C...

Well, it's nice to see that Charlie isn't so engrossed
in his work that he doesn't stop and smell the roses.

[Joxcenia]

Actully, she's been in a couple of episodes... and she told Charlie's father she was seeing someone when he kept trying to get Charlie to ask her out.

[MrEMahon]

Now, we're talking about the same girl right Jox? Because I'm confused, the girl I'm talking about is a blonde, but apparently an Indian girl is supposed to be charlies love interest, if that's the case, then who is this girl that was on the other night? Or is he just playing the field? Do you think they going with that whole ""geek" makes good" concept, and now because of it, he's getting the attention of all these pretty girls, and they're going to explore how he deals with his newfound popularity? I heard that he's (Krumholtz) the new sex symbol in hollywood, I don't know if that's true, but if it's so, then maybe they're trying to make a statement, you know, that "geeks" can be sexy too, heh.

I wouldn't really call that controversial or anything, I mean, it's not like the whole "you can be smart, and play video games, like that game (what's it called?) that Mcnicol's (is that right?) character was playing in the first ep, and you can be cool too" thing hasn't been done before, but still, maybe that's what they're doing. Speaking of controversy, I know one thing that is controversial, I heard that some "professional journalist" wrote a review of the show, that was basically a personal attack on David Krumholtz's ethnicity, anyone know about it? Something else that's controversial is that apparently there is supposed to be, (Jox, maybe you can help me out with this one) what would you call it, shipper or subber, fanfic about an incestous relationship between Don and Charlie.

Is that true or is that just a sick hoax? I got another question or two, or a few, heh, about this show, because I'm not exactly what you would call Mathematically inclined, heh. You all know how they make the math look visually exciting on the show. Does anybody know if the math is realistic? Because they flash it so fast that it's hard to follow. What about the logic of it, I mean, is it really possible to figure out what Charlie figuers out by using math? If so, has anyone tried to to work out any of the problems that they've portrayed on the show? Anyone around here have a degree in mathematics? And last thing, I think they're coming back with new ep's in april right? So I'm guessing that re-runs will happen in what, a few months? I wished I hadn't missed alot of the ep's, can anyone bring me up to speed with a short run down on each one? heh.

Mr E

[Joxcenia]

Mr said:

Now, we're talking about the same girl right Jox? Because I'm confused, the girl I'm talking about is a blonde, but apparently an Indian girl is supposed to be charlies love interest, if that's the case, then who is this girl that was on the other night? Or is he just playing the field?

I don't remember the blonde girl... I remember the dark headed woman told Charlie about looking at the bill from an angle. I think I taped over this ep... so I may have to wait for the repeat.

Speaking of controversy, I know one thing that is controversial, I heard that some "professional journalist" wrote a review of the show, that was basically a personal attack on David Krumholtz's ethnicity, anyone know about it? Something else that's controversial is that apparently there is supposed to be, (Jox, maybe you can help me out with this one) what would you call it, shipper or subber, fanfic about an incestous relationship between Don and Charlie.

Is that true or is that just a sick hoax?

I've no idea... I haven't heard or read anything.

And last thing, I think they're coming back with new ep's in april right? So I'm guessing that re-runs will happen in what, a few months? I wished I hadn't missed alot of the ep's, can anyone bring me up to speed with a short run down on each one? heh.

Mr E

TV Tome: Numb3rs - Episode Guide

It appears there are only going to be 12 or 13 episodes for its first season.

[MrEMahon]

Thanks for the link to the ep guide Jox, I hang out over there once in a while, but I didn't realize they had ep guides. 12 or 13 episodes for the first season huh? Well, I think it'll be enough to draw enough interest that it'll be picked up for another season, from what I'm hearing, it's becoming a pretty hot show.

Mr E

[Joxcenia]

You're very welcome...

[blogmeistermark]

If you're interested in learning more about the math that is featured on NUMB3RS, you might like our site:

www.atsweb.neu.edu/math/cp/blog/

Members of the Math Department at Northeastern University in Boston explain some of the math and its history. We try to keep it pretty non-technical, and we give links to other sites for people who want to follow up on the info we post. If you like math, give it a try!

[Joxcenia]

Welcome To Whoosh!

BlogmeisterMark!!!

[arp1701]

All the math on the show is real, and based on real equations. Some of it I can follow, like a couple of shows ago when Charlie was talking about chaos theory, and how when a body is being observed it changes it's behavior, which goes against why it was being observed in the first place.

Did anyone find last week's show to be too coincendental? Like too many coindences?

arp1701

[Lesa]

I know I act differently when I'm being observed.

What coincidences are you talking about, Tony? You mean how two different guys had the same rare type of fingerprint? Yep, that would probably be too coincidental.

[arp1701]

That, plus the witness identifying the wrong suspect.

arp1701

[Joxcenia]

This is the first time I've ever heard that a fingerprint match could be wrong. If it isn't any more reliable than DNA... then perhaps OJ was framed.

[MrEMahon]

Yeah, they made a good argument for fingerprint technology not being 100 percent accurate, what did Charlie say, that about 3 percent of the time they might be wrong?

~Mr E

[Lesa]

Yes, but there's a difference between being the same type of fingerprint and having the fingerprint match exactly. Which was the case here? Did they not look closely enough, just because it was same type of rare fingerprint and they didn't feel the need to examine it more closely?

I need a new VCR that I can record stuff on.