Chuck airs on NBC tonight at 8, and the season finale airs next Monday night. It's actually in danger of being canceled. But a major campaign has started to get the show renewed, and this time TV critics are getting behind it too.Alan Sepinwall has written an open letter to NBC not just pleading with them to renew the show but also giving logical, business reasons to renew it (product integration, a good show for recession escapism, etc). He calls the show the best thing on NBC right now. Not sure if I exactly agree with that (I love 30 Rock too), but it's certainly one of the top 10 shows on TV right now.
Over at The Chicago Tribune, Maureen Ryan has written her own love letter to the show, saying it's one of the few shows that a family can watch together. She also gives tips on how to save the show, including addresses for both NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman and head of programming Angela Bromstad. She also asks you to check out web sites like ChuckTV.net and Give Me My Remote, which has changed its name to Give Me My Chuck for the campaign.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-20-2009 @ 1:11PM
Jeff N. said...
Chuck is one of the better shows on TV right now. I know we love it at our house. It seems to have gotten better and better as the season has progressed. I hope many viewers let NBC know they want it to stay on their schedule. I plan to.
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4-20-2009 @ 1:19PM
Steve said...
I really hope they renew chuck, I love this show.
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4-20-2009 @ 1:29PM
sabih said...
save terminator too!
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4-20-2009 @ 4:36PM
Hashbrown Hunter said...
Fox isn't as forgiving as NBC.
4-20-2009 @ 1:30PM
Sarah said...
I'm in. Chuck is one of the best shows on tv right now.
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4-20-2009 @ 1:41PM
Johnzo said...
NBC has been very generous in promoting it, funding it, giving the writers and producers creative freedom, and renewing it for a second year with low first year ratings. It may be a great show, but it's not financially viable. It's clear that this show will not grow a larger fanbase especially after the smack-in-your-face superbowl promotions did nothing for it. It's time to say good bye, enjoy the ride you had, and move on.
4-20-2009 @ 2:44PM
Dave said...
There are disturbingly few TV shows that are worth even turning the TV on for anymore. I have completely packed away my TV now and am only watching a core few shows online. Of those shows, Chuck is one of the only bright ones among those. What happened to TV? It's all junk these days. :-(
The only few that I am really eager to see:
Chuck, Heroes, The Unit, Terminator, NCIS, Lost, Psych, and Legend of the Seeker.
Heck, I've been so bored with TV that I've taken to watching international TV to find something. 'Merlin' and 'Being Human' from the UK are good. And that's about it.
Recent cancellations spawned by people leaving TV due to the writers' strike has killed a few good shows too. Journeyman, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone...
I wonder how difficult it would be to raise the funding to start a new nationwide network that picks up great shows that the other networks are sloughing off...? The slogan could be "Making TV worth watching again." heh
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4-20-2009 @ 2:37PM
Jimmy said...
When you consider NBC's overall schedule is Chuck really doing any better or worse than everything else on the network? The biggest negative Chuck has going for it is the fact that it's not owned by NBC but Warner Brothers.
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4-20-2009 @ 8:20PM
B said...
Chuck is barely below Heroes in the ratings and I'm sure is much cheaper to make.
4-21-2009 @ 6:58PM
NELS said...
NOT EVEN CLOSE B.
Heroes gets a 3.2 in 18-49 (and 18-34) ratings. Chuck gets a 2.3 and 1.8.
That is a 28 percent increase in 18-49 ratings, and even worse a 44 percent increase in the 18-34 numbers.
As for being cheaper? I don't know, couldn't find anything on the cost of either show. But you are probably right.
Source is last weeks numbers:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/04/14/monday-ratings-fox-and-cbs-battle-for-youth-castle-slips/16681
4-20-2009 @ 2:45PM
Jason said...
TV in general is not financially viable right now. I don't think arguments like that hold as much ground nowadays as they have in the past.
In fact, I think it's a failure on the Network's part that Chuck isn't grabbing the ratings it should. Let's look at Mondays, shall we? We have Dancing with the Stars, Big-Bang Theory, HIMYM, the Mentalist, House, 24, Heroes, Medium, .... the point is, how much crap can your DVR hold? It takes me to Saturday sometimes to watch my Monday shows, and it's not like I DVR every show on TV either.
Now some load-balancing might be a good idea. Send some shows like Medium to USA where they can thrive, for instance. Keep likes together: Chuck is a comedy, it might be a good idea to move it to Thursday nights. Again, it's all just a matter of load-balancing. Perhaps Chuck is a better Summer series?
Also, with the increased (Subway) in-show advertising(Subway) as of recent, I'm sure that the revenues are not as affected (Subway) as if the revenue was solely commercial break-based.
And please, please stop relying upon Nielsen ratings as your single decision factor. Whatever happened to taking DVR and online downloads into consideration? Check your Hulu account-administration homepage, NBC, and give your DirecTV rep a call once in a while.
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4-20-2009 @ 4:44PM
Hashbrown Hunter said...
Chuck is one of those rare shows that is actually a little surprising why it is not more appealing to the mainstream. When something as sci-fi as Heroes, you'd think Chuck would have a better chance.
Well I'm all for this cause not only because there's a severe lack of dramedy shows in TV, but also because it's a quality show that just keeps improving week after week. This is one show that can't afford to be missed.
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4-20-2009 @ 6:16PM
Dan said...
Seriously, Chuck has continued to outdo itself. At first, it just seemed like a glossy show created in a board room without any real intelligence or planning out beyond the "nerd is forced into being a secret agent, his cover girlfriend is hot and she wears skimpy outfits and fights a hot chick every week" angle it started with.
But now Chuck is an incredibly deep, complicated and intelligent hour of comedy, action, mystery and drama that has surpassed every non 30-minute comedy on TV other than Dexter.
4-20-2009 @ 9:25PM
Logica4d said...
My family loves Chuck. I believe the real issue NBC shows are facing is the Leno effect. NBC will be losing 5 hours of programming a week when Leno begins. If you truly want to save an NBC show–stop Leno.
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4-21-2009 @ 12:55AM
superrrguy said...
I'm not a huge fan but I keep watching because there's nothing else to watch.
It's really on the dumb side of spy movies / tv stuff. He's always running around screaming like a girl and no one shoots him. I can't think of anything better on Mondays though.
Can't they change the name of the the Buy More to Best Buy and make some advertising deal? Also, get rid of the annoying sister but keep Awesome somehow. He's... what's the word I'm looking for?
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4-21-2009 @ 1:33AM
Liz said...
Chuck is great, and tonight's episode was one of the best. NBC has to renew it!
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5-18-2009 @ 2:09AM
Goretex30 said...
Really want to keep Chuck around for seasons to come?
1) Ask all your friends if they know anyone participating in any television rating / watching
survey or system.
2) Loan these people your season 1 Chuck dvds and / or watch it with them. Direct them to the web for Season 2 (NBC.com Hulu.com TheWB.com etc).
3) If you get asked to participate in any television rating / watching surveys, do it.
4) Work a Chuck reference into every conversation with someone new you meet and tell them how good
the show is if they don't know what you are talking about.
5) Chuck Season 1 dvd and Season 2 pre-order dvd's make great presents and give away items for company events.
6) Once they are hooked, give them this list.
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