Let me make myself clear from the get go: Watch Chuck this fall. I have seen the first two episodes and I am in love. You can read the rest of this spoiler-free early look if you want a little bit more about the show, but I just had to get that off my chest before I started.
Chuck follows the recent trend in television and film of Beta-male leads. What do I mean by that term, one that was obviously developed by some social anthropology professor with too much time on his hands?
Nerds are hot right now.
From Seth Rogen in Knocked Up to Jim from The Office, everybody loves their main characters to be nerds. They are relatable, they are non-intimidating, they don't have those six pack abs that make you want to buy the Ab-iscizer. They let the audience think, "Hey! If they can make it, so can we."
And Chuck Bartowski is the most lovable of the bunch.
The premise behind Chuck features a simple computer consultant for the Nerd Herd -- a clone of Best Buy's Geek Squad -- who is sent an email full of images encoded with secret government data. This gives our poor dork the ability to randomly access state secrets, usually triggered by some picture or sound.
Well, it seems like the big wigs want their secrets back and the CIA and the NSA send their individual agents to claim the files for themselves. And now you have poor Chuck trying to live a normal life with some not so normal circumstances.
Now if you are looking for reasons to watch Chuck beyond its complicated log line, you have come to the right place. Just looking behind the scenes you can see that this show is vetted for success. The show is written by Josh Schwartz, who created The O.C. and also has the upcoming drama Gossip Girls. I was never a huge O.C. fan, but I have to admit that Schwartz writes really realistic and smart dialogue. The pilot was directed by the mono-monikered McG (Charlie's Angels). The former music video director has style and a hip attitude that can breath life and legitimacy into any project, no matter how ridiculous it is (Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle).
The action sequences are also essential to making Chuck so full of .... Chuckocity. In the first two episodes alone there were car chases, explosions, helicopters, gun fights and some stuff that I just can't share with you. It would ruin the fun.
But Schwartz at the end of the day is a character writer and this show is full of good ones. Zachary Levi (who I spoke to recently, watch for that interview soon), is the perfect hesitant hero. His ability to telegraph his insecurities and anxieties simply forces audiences to sympathize with him. You just can't resist it. Levi transitions well into a lead role from his previous spot as a supporting character on the Sarah Rue-vehicle Less Than Perfect. As we say in the biz he's got screen presence and marketability. Or that is what WE would say in the biz if WE were actually in the biz. For the love of God, why am I calling it the biz?
The supporting characters are also significantly solid. Dark-haired-Seth Green-look-a-like Joshua Gomez is hilarious as Morgan. Annoying, clueless, random, Morgan constantly pesters Chuck's sister Dr. Ellie Bartowski (Sarah Lancaster) and her dumb as a rock boyfriend Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin).
Playing NSA agent Major John Casey is Adam Baldwin, and no, he is not the missing Baldwin brother. You might remember Mr. Baldwin from a little phenomenal show known as Firefly. I loved Baldwin as the loose cannon Jayne and it is great to see he has the range to play the uptight, straight-laced Major Casey. If Chuck is successful, I think he should get his own spin-off. On the CIA side we have Australian superhottie Yvonne Strzechowski as Sarah Walker (was Sarah Strzechowski too complicated?). I am not saying that she adds the TV executive's requisite sex factor, but the bra and panties scene in the pilot sure does.
So between Chuck (8 p.m. EST) and Heroes (9 p.m. EST), which both premiere Sept. 24, NBC will own my Monday nights.
I just received the third episode. I am so excited to see it, I may end this early look with out a proper concl ...
Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-23-2007 @ 11:52AM
Matt said...
Thank you for acknowledging the best Baldwin (no relation) in Hollywood for the sake of we Firefly fans. Hopefully the mere mention of his name will get some Browncoats to tune in. :)
I caught the first episode of Chuck last month, and I'm right there with you. It'll definitely be one of the better shows to premiere this year, right up there with Pushing Daisies and Reaper. I anxiously await the premiere of NBC's Monday night lineup. If Journeyman is half as good as Heroes, NBC should dominate Monday night, even with WWE and NFL to compete against.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 12:28PM
fred said...
Dear God, everyone seems to love that show, and I hated it. I saw the pilot and really didn't liked it.
It was dull and made to look good, and it sure does, it was explosions and hot girls on panties, but really the plot sucks, I didn't find it that funny, and some scenes were so bad it hurts.
Like the whole scene where Check's old buddy is stealing the secret material & escaping the building... omg.
http://88.191.26.34/i_watch_tv/2007/07/26/chuck-its-not-what-it-looks-like/
I don't know, but it didn't seems appealing to me. But apparently it'll work, bah.
Monday at 8pm, I recommend to watch CBS's How I Met Your Mother instead.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 12:52PM
theConundrumm said...
yeah, i have to agree with #2... seemed to be all glitz and glamour and nothing underneath... but sometimes that's not entirely a bad thing, is it? or is it? needless to say, i won't be watching this one...
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 1:27PM
Nate said...
I second #2, its god awful but its going to succeed.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 1:33PM
Freezer said...
I liked this show better the first time I saw it: when it was called "Jake 2.0"
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 2:57PM
Oreo said...
Damn! Freezer stole my comment!
All this is is a bad Jake 2.0 ripoff. I have watched it, I rather watch Jake 2.0, the lead charter is a much better actor and even the show overall was better.
Everyone in the TV bizz seems to love this show, and all the regular people seem to hate it.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 3:42PM
C. Hernandez said...
I'll tune in for Adam Baldwin, who I didn't realize was in this series, but I've been kind of 'meh' about the preview bits that I've seen. This post raised a semi-related question in my mind about the nature of "nerds" in TV and movies. Maybe it really is just semantics and preference, but when I think of Seth Rogen's character in Knocked Up, 'nerd' does not even enter my mind. Slacker does. And nerds and slackers are so not the same thing.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 3:44PM
Eligio J Rosa said...
Man This season is getting mixed reviews, especially Chuck.
I liked the pilot. I love the humor and the super cool parkour action sequence at the begging. The cast is great especially Adam Baldwin (which I remember from My Bodyguard) as the NSA with a dark sense of humor. And the ending was enough for me to see the 2nd episode.
And yes Journeyman is also good.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 3:57PM
JT said...
@#5, Jake 2.0 had a totally different story line.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 5:21PM
Bart Smith said...
I'm not sure how anyone would classify Seth Rogen in KNOCKED UP and Jim from THE OFFICE as nerds. Slackers, definitely. Geeks, even that's stretching. But nerds? Not even close.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 5:37PM
Rob Stevens said...
"Like the whole scene where Check's old buddy is stealing the secret material & escaping the building... omg."
The show is a COMEDY. It was supposed to be funny. The fact that he's stealing government secrets from a Mac Classic is hilarious. The fact that the computer was all by itself in a white room was an homage to James Bond-style spy movies.
Seriously, I just have to assume that you didn't get the joke, because it was great. I loved the first episode and I can't wait to see more.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 5:50PM
Jeff said...
#2-4: You do realise the plot isn't meant to be taken seriously, right?
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 6:05PM
Freezer said...
@#9: Tech geek gets accidentally embedded with secret government project. Is drafted into Government service until they can figure out how to get the stuff out of him.
Swap Chuck's government secrets for Jake's Super Soldier Nanites and The hot blonde secret agent for a no-nonsene black guy and I defy you to tell me this isn't the same show.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 6:17PM
fred said...
"The show is a COMEDY. It was supposed to be funny. The fact that he's stealing government secrets from a Mac Classic is hilarious. The fact that the computer was all by itself in a white room was an homage to James Bond-style spy movies."
No, actually I got the "jokes", but I don't think they're funny. To me it looked like they were taken themselves way too seriously with the whole thing.
Just like the homage to JB, if there had been a joke somewhere, if they'd made fun of such an incredible plot, it would have been great, but they did not. Thank God in Austin Powers they did not just do the same as James Bond movies, but made fun of it while never taking themselves seriously. Cause that's how you make funny things, and those movies were great. But this show lacked (some) derision!
I know the ninja scene was meant to be funny as well, but it felt out of place with the rest of it, and the so-called "jokes" were not funny. Even the way they end up together in the end was way too forced to be remotely funny, is you ask me.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 6:39PM
Eligio J Rosa said...
"Swap Chuck's government secrets for Jake's Super Soldier Nanites and The hot blonde secret agent for a no-nonsene black guy and I defy you to tell me this isn't the same show."
It isn't the same show. OMG I'm gonna get it.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 7:18PM
Bash said...
This show sucks balls. I chose it to be canceled first in the TV Squad extravaganza or whatever it is called.
It's really really bad. It might live longer than Cavemen but it really sucks. It's as good as "Drive" was. God awful.
I don't want to give any reasons because people tend to just find out "wait that's totally biased".
Well duh!
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 8:19PM
Jonny Rice said...
Maybe Chuck is a ripoff of Jake 2.0, but no more than Jake 2.0 was a ripoff of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man (sans the spandex). I liked Jake 2.0, and yet I'm still eagerly forward to Chuck. Good TV is good TV. I'll take it when I can get it.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 8:34PM
Eligio J Rosa said...
Bash:
Totally biased? No.
You are a Flamer?: Hell Yes
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 9:03PM
Scott K said...
Yeah, the government knew about Spider-Man and made him work for them.
Regardless of whether or not this is like Jake 2.0, it still sucks. Chuck has none of the authentic geek/slacker/whatever feeling that makes the other popular 'geek is cool' stuff work.
Reply
9-23-2007 @ 10:25PM
KayDee said...
I don't mind preposterous concepts on TV - many of my favorite shows are creatively elastic - but the notion that all the secrets of the nation could be downloaded into someone's brain is just ludicrous! Chuck is likeable enough, but completely without drive or ambition, and his friend Morgan is a cliched mix of interfering friend and incompetant nerd who has no boundaries whatsoever. And Adam Baldwin's fine talents are wasted as a one-liner thug. While I found the pilot somewhat entertaining, I would urge people to either TiVo "Chuck" for later viewing or ignore it all together in favor of one of NBC's more interesting new offerings: the quirky "Life."
Echoing what has already been said numerous times in this comment section, I enjoyed this concept in its original, more clever adaption: Jake 2.0.
Reply