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The legacy of Albert Einstein cannot be overstated — even when we take the scientist’s accomplishments for granted, he’s one of our planet’s most famous pop culture figures, recognizable across generations. The way he’s been depicted on screen has ranged from well-researched takes on the man’s life, such as Nat Geo Channel’s new anthology series “Genius,” premiering today, to, shall we say, somewhat more out-there fare.

Read More: ‘Genius’: Albert Einstein Undergoes a Heated Interrogation in Exclusive Sneak Peek — Watch

Below are some of the most notable examples we found featuring the great scientist depicted in a less-than-serious state. What’s interesting about looking at all of these examples together is how on the one hand, Einstein as an icon has been utilized for the sake of comedy for decades now. But when film or TV choose to engage with the reality of the man himself,...

24's Dennis Haysbert will become the public face of the wrongly-imprisoned in a new BBC One series.

Undercover casts Haysbert as a 20-year prison inmate on death row for a false murder conviction.

As Rudy Jones's execution looms, he urges his lawyer and close friend Maya (Doctor Who's Sophie Okonedo) to challenge accepted truths.

The six-part drama series also includes Hustle's Adrian Lester in its ensemble cast as Maya's husband Nick, an undercover police officer with a terrible secret.

Undercover is the latest drama from Peter Moffat, screenwriter of The Village, Silk and Einstein and Eddington.

BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the Us will premiere Undercover next year.

When one thinks of the word “genius,” the first image that pops into most people’s heads is that of scientist Albert Einstein and his unique hair style. Considered a pioneer of human knowledge, Einstein quickly became one of the most recognizable figures of the 20th century. No major film autobiography has ever been made of him, but Walt Disney Pictures almost did make one in the 1980s, starring Richard Dreyfuss as the famous physicist. However, Dreyfuss was more interested in playing another famous figure of the 20th century. As Disney insider Jim Hill says,

“This was a film that was supposed to be done right after Tron. Richard Dreyfuss came in and signed a deal with Disney…. They were going to do the film autobiography of Albert Einstein…. They were actually going to use the CG graphics that were done for Tron to explain Albert Einstein’s revolutionary theories.

He's been Casanova, Romeo and the Doctor. Just don't call David Tennant a pin-up

There's a moment in the current production of Much Ado About Nothing that I particularly love. It's not when David Tennant's Benedick makes his entrance as a sun-bronzed prat in a golf buggy, nor his Cary Grant-style rat-a-tat-tat delivery of lines such as, "I would my horse had the speed of your tongue", not even when he finally gets to kiss Catherine Tate's Beatrice. It's the encore when Tennant skips across the stage, grinning from ear to ear, and you just know there's nothing on earth he'd rather be doing. I've never seen an actor so happy in his job.

Today, Tennant, 40, looks like a teenager posing as an adult. Here he is in his skinny jeans and Beatles T-shirt, bubbling with enthusiasm, and absurdly boyish. He's obsessed with hacking, can't stop reading about it.

An Aardman Production For Sony Pictures Animation Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, Brian Blessed, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen Also On Board

Culver City, Calif. – Hugh Grant will voice the lead role alongside an all-star cast in The Pirates! Band Of Misfits, the new stop-motion, 3D, animated film produced by Aardman Animations for Sony Pictures Animation. The film, which will be distributed by Columbia Pictures, will be released March 30, 2012 in North America.

Hugh Grant, starring in his first animated role, is the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to...

Okay, listen guys, I searched high and low and I can't figure out why chameleonic actor Andy Serkis decided to style himself as Wolverine's Uncle Scruffyface McPointyhair in that header photo. Maybe this is just what he looks like in his down time. Mayhap he wanders the streets of London with butter knives jammed between his fingers. That's fine, bub, whatever lights your cigar.

But I'm not here today to speak to you of X-Men. What nerdy trifle, amirite? So let's talk Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson has hired the lovely and talented Andy Serkis as the second unit director on his Hobbit films. If my highly expert knowledge gleaned from listening to all the commentary on the Lotr DVDs is correct, this is sort of a big deal. To celebrate Andy's directorial debut (in 3D, because of course it is), let's have a look-see at his various roles.

Here's who I predict will score bids when Emmy Awards nominations are unveiled Thursday morning: Best Drama Series

"Breaking Bad"

"Damages"

"Dexter"

"Mad Men"

"The Good Wife"

"Lost" Alternates: "Big Love," "Friday Night Lights," "House M.D.," "Sons of Anarchy," "Treme"

Best Comedy Series

"The Big Bang Theory"

"Curb Your Enthusiasm"

"Family Guy"

"Glee"

"Modern Family"

"30 Rock" Alternates: "Community," "How I Met Your Mother," "Entourage," "Nurse Jackie," "The Office," "Parks and Recreation," "Weeds"

Best Drama Actor

Simon Baker ("The Mentalist")

Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad")

Michael C. Hall ("Dexter")

Jon Hamm ("Mad Men")

Hugh Laurie ("House")

Timothy Olyphant ("Justified") Alternates: Matt Bomer ("White Collar"), Kyle Chandler ("Friday Night Lights"), Matthew Fox ("Lost"), Peter Krause ("Parenthood"), Denis Leary ("Rescue Me"), Bill Paxton ("Big Love"), Wendell Pierce ("Treme"), Kiefer Sutherland ("24")

Best Drama Actress

Glenn Close ("Damages")

Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: Svu")

January Jones ("Mad Men")

Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife")

Katey Sagal ("Sons of Anarchy...

Rebecca Hall is used to people always wanting to talk about her dad, but now the Bafta-winning actor is having to get used to another line of questioning: her role in the break-up of a Hollywood golden couple. She talks gossip, girls' schools and growing up

Rebecca Hall is a fine actor who starred in the best Woody Allen film in years, but she's better known now for her role in a recent tabloid splash, after she was cast as the femme fatale, or deadly English rose, who could, possibly, have destroyed the marriage of Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet. After all, she had worked with Mendes, they were friends, and apparently she was his type of girl (brainy, arty, good-looking).

We meet in a Manhattan cafe. She arrives on foot, alone, long, black dress, no make-up, flat sandals, sore ankles from where high heels have been rubbing. I look...

Not sure what this is from

Doctor Who returns to American television screens this weekend on BBC America, bringing with it a new Doctor, a new Tardis, and a new companion. I admit to being on the fence about boyish Matt Smith playing a 900-year-old Time Lord, but having watched the first two episodes, I think he nails it.

As part of the promotional blitz for the show, Matt's been doing a lot of interviews, and in one, he mentions he's using the hiatus to do another role.

It's really different. I can tell you that he's a gay man, the man that I'm going to play. It's really different, and I can't wait to start. But I mostly want to get back into playing Doctor again.

It's hardly the first time a Time Lord has played gay. David Tennant did it in Einstein and Eddington. And of course we...

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)

Q: One of my friends has recently turned me on to country music (I am not sure whether to thank him yet or not). Are there any who are out, or who are known to have a positive relationship with the Lgbt community? -- Megan, Canton, Ohio

A: No out mainstream acts, but some country acts have been open, vocal supporters of us – most notably, Dolly Parton, The Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill and her husband Tim McGraw, and even Marie Osmond (who, as we all know, is both “a little bit country” and the mother of a lesbian). And, of course, most of the cool alt-country acts that I personally adore are on record as supporting us: Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Roseanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, etc.

But can I just say?...

BBC One announced their fall line up of programs today, which includes the third (and likely final season) of the award-winning comedy series Gavin & Stacey and the latest Doctor Who special starring David Tennant (entitled "The Waters of Mars"). Also on tap for UK viewers this autumn: a slew of other programming that includes a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, starring Romola Garai (Atonement), Jonny Lee Miller (Endgame, Melinda And Melinda), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Cranford), Tamsin Greig (Black Books, Green Wing), Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet), and Jodhi May (Einstein And Eddington, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard); the return of Peter Moffat's BAFTA-award winning thriller Criminal Justice, starring Maxine Peake, Matthew Macfadyen, Denis Lawson, Steven Mackintosh, Eddie Marsan, and Sophia Okonedo. Also announced: family drama Framed starring Waking the Dead's Trevor Eve and Torchwood's Eve Myles; period legal drama Garrow's Law; fashion drama Material Girl, starring Being Human's Leonora Crichlow,...

Einstein and Eddington is a story about the pursuit of truth against a background of war, violence, nationalism, subterfuge, and prejudice during World War I.

David Tennant, widely known as the latest incarnation of Doctor Who, admirably plays Arthur Eddington, hailed as the “best measuring man in England.” Appointed as the Director of the Cambridge Observatory, the ninth since Sir Isaac Newton held the position, he is charge with maintaining the truth of Newtonian physics against all comers. Sir Oliver Lodge, another keeper of the Newtonian faith, is portrayed by the wonderful Jim Broadbent and assigns Eddington to investigate an up and coming German scientist, Albert Einstein whose work appears to question certain aspects of currently accepted physics. Lodge wants Eddington to prove Einstein wrong, demonstrating the superiority of “British science” over “German science.”

Andy Serkis’s portrayal of Albert Einstein is heartwarming, funny, and frustrating, all at the same time.