After bumper ratings for its premiere last year, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been bleeding viewers over the first half of its season, so the producers have started pulling out the big guns for the back-nine episodes, with Stan Lee set to cameo, J. August Richards’ Mike Peterson turning into Deathlok, Jaimie Alexander reprising the role of Lady Sif to battle Lorelei (Elena Satine), and Bill Paxton joning for a guest role as Agent John Garrett in an upcoming story arc. And, with the midseason premiere approaching, Clark Gregg has adopted a rather odd approach to convincing the six million or so fans who’ve turned off to give the show another shot.

“Those aren’t geeks. Those are losers,” Gregg tells The Salt Lake City Tribune, referring to fans who’ve given up on the series. “You start to have people like Deathlok showing up; You start to understand that a bunch of these different episodes were connected. A lot of the geeks that I respect most… are very excited about where we’re going. So I’m going to choose to work for them.” Gregg then went on to backtrack a little, stating that, “I guess I don’t mean to say that people who have been frustrated by that discovery period are necessarily losers. I just think they should be, perhaps, a little more patient.”

So, are you a geek, or are you a loser? How patient should you be with a 22 episode season before you decide to call it a day? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below….