TVSquad

There are only so many hours of television I can fit in a day, so I'm picky and particular about what I watch. Chuck is one of those shows that I watched early last season, I liked it, but for reasons I can't think of, it didn't make the cut. Seeing as it was good enough and is clearly popular enough to have a second season, with the first season DVDs out in a couple of months, I may have to do some catching up and find a way to fit it in.

This session was great for fans of the show, as the first five minutes or so were filled with a video montage of scenes from next season. I'll describe some of those scenes in my summary below, but I'll start them off with SPOILER in case you don't want to know.

Today was the very last day of the press tour here in Beverly Hills. It was "TCA Day," with members of the association (including me) going to the Warner Brothers lot to visit the sets of ER, Pushing Daisies, and Chuck, where we spoke to cast members and producers (Oh, we went to the set of America's Best Dance Crew, but let's just forget I mentioned that one). Then we bused it over to the Fox lot, where Joss Whedon showed us around the set of Dollhouse, and the entire cast of King of the Hill gave a table read of their 250th episode. All this fun will be in upcoming posts later this summer.

Despite some of the griping you may have seen from me, it's been lots of fun. It's just a very tiring experience. Case in point: On Monday, NBC decided to close out the press conference portion of the tour by having us sit through ten panels, five of them after lunch. Here's a wrap-up post that goes over some of what went on yesterday that I haven't already covered.

No, it's not another lamentation about those overlooked shows that really do deserve a DVD set, but just can't seem to get them. I've grown accustomed to having Bob's weekly DVD release post arrive like a slap in the face as Beggars and Choosers is not on it, again. Instead, this is about those shows that do get their DVD set, but are late for no good reason at all. At least, not one that I can come up with.

I started thinking about it last week as I was talking with a friend and we were watching the Hellboy/Chuck promo. She commented that she really should start watching Chuck. In full agreement, I quickly pointed her to the Chuck page on Hulu. But wait, there are only three episodes available on Hulu. I guessed that it must be because they don't want streaming to cannibalize DVD sales. So I headed to Amazon. Chuck isn't out on DVD until September 16th. What the hell?

It looks like the television show Chuck has scored another famous guest-star. Jordana Brewster will be appearing on the show for a minimum of three episodes in a pivotal role for the main character.

Brewster will play Jill, the college girlfriend who broke Chuck's heart by sleeping with his best friend Bryce Larkin. Bryce later went on to send Chuck an e-mail that put a lot of sensitive data in his head which became the show's premise.

(S01E13) Breast. Opening. Ever! Okay seriously, I was a little surprised at how blatantly they were just staring, and recording, close-ups of cleavage in the opening. Isn't this American television? The home of the prude boob(less) tube? But leave it to those crafty Chuck writers to make this seeming incongruous, and gratuitous, scene an integral part of the plot later on.

The NBC promo machine, while not only splicing in cute little ad-libbed (I'm guessing here) bits with the actors, promised more new episodes of Chuck "Coming Soon." Well, I don't know how they define soon, but considering there are no more episodes written and the writers are still on strike as of this writing, it looks like their soon is my later.

(S01E12) "If you want to go through life all emotionally constipated and alone, then suit yourself. I'll let you get back to protecting the greater good, you freaking robot." (Chuck to Casey)

Last night's first of two new Chucks was about learning that the supporting characters are human, too. Casey than just a cold-as-ice NSA Agent who would probably kill everyone in the room if he was ever the subject of a roast and has mastered the art of communicating with eye winces, grunts and scowls. Ellie and Devon/Captain Awesome actually have a relationship issue, which ... Morgan? ... diagnoses?! And we get nothing on the tired "is it or isn't it?," "does she or doesn't she?" non-romance between Chuck and Sarah (thank god!). In fact, they barely had any screen time together and I think it was, well, awesome!

Geeks and fruit lovers rejoice, NBC just announced that it is ordering an extra nine episodes of two of its new series: Chuck and Life. What that means is that both series will have a complete first season of 22 episodes each!

About 8 million viewers tune in weekly to watch geek-turned-secret-agent Chuck Bartowski solve crimes with his two handlers and to witness Detective Crews solve cases after sering time in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

(S01E04) "I thought you were supposed to be good at lying" - Chuck

So it was another satisfying episode of Chuck, funny, hip, referential. They still haven't worked out all the kinks in the show yet, but for the most part the structure and humor of the show is beginning to really solidify, giving us something that might last beyond a season.

"Chuck Versus the Wookie" introduced us to red-haired, blue-eyed bombshell Karina -- I can't seem to find the name of the actress who played her on any websites or press releases, so if you recognize her please tell me; I would like to see more of her ... work.

(S01E03) "Now that's what I call moving some merchandise." - John Casey

If you've already seen the episode, which I assume you have, you'll know the quote above comes at a very tense point in the show. The writers had two ways to go: have Casey say something very serious or have him say something so ridiculous it counters the "bad-ass"-ness of the previous scene (i.e. a microwave straight to a thug's head).

(S01E01) "Working on a five year plan, just need to choose a font." - Chuck Bartowski

Last night was the premiere of the shortest-named show in primetime. Shhh ... what do you mean Cane and Life are only four letters? I don't care about House and Bones tying at five letters. I refuse to acknowledge that CSI and ER are still on the air. I think my first line was clever and I am keeping it no matter how wrong it makes me.

Meandering back to the point ... it has been a long time coming for Chuck. For months there have been teasers and web ads bombarding people with its existence and now it is finally here. So let's see if it was worth the wait.

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.

One of my favorite characters on The O.C. was Summer Roberts. I liked her humor, naivety, and her spark. When FOX announced the cancellation of the show, I was sad to depart with characters like her, the Cohens and Taylor. So when NBC announced today that she would guest star on a few episodes of Chuck, I was delighted to see the actress return to the small screen!

Bilson will appear in a multi-episode arc on NBC's new action-comedy airing Mondays before Heroes. She is set to play a love interest for the lead character of Chuck, played by Zachary Levi. Her character will be Chuck's first romantic interest since his girlfriend broke up with him a few years ago while in college.

NBC is certainly giving their new comedy Chuck a good PR push, and it's now headed off on something of an unconventional path. The latest bit of Chuck pseudo-PR is a top ten list over at The Bachelor Guy. It's a post reportedly from our hero, Chuck Bartowski, running down the top ten things you'll need when running from assassins.

It's not what I would deem comedy gold or anything, but he manages to get a dig in at the iPhone keyboard, sing the praises of the Wii, and use the word spork, which you just don't see every day. You can also follow along with Chuck on twitter, if you've jumped on that bandwagon.

I give the whole thing extra points just for being different. Maybe it's because I've watched too much TV (is that possible?) over the summer, but at this point in the new season game, I've grown awfully tired of the same promos for the same shows over and over. It's time for premieres, and week after week with new episodes. Until then, the goofy web hijinks are a welcome distraction.

The first ingredient in a successful TCA party is to have it near the hotel where the tour is taking place. After sitting in panels and conducting interviews all day long, a shuttle bus ride to a faraway restaurant isn't really enticing.

So kudos to NBC for making a smart move by having its all-star gala on the roof of the Beverly Hilton's parking lot. It's an elevator ride away and the area is wide open. The party music isn't so loud that it's going to drown out any interviews. Nice.

Swag alert: guests received mini handheld fans upon arriving, but they weren't really needed because there was a nice evening breeze in the air.

NBC's new lineup continued on day two of its press presentation with Chuck, a one-hour drama by Josh Schwartz and McG, the creative team that brought viewers The O.C. The new series stars Zachary Levi, best known for his four years on Less Than Perfect.

If we're supposed to like Chuck, Levi's well cast in the role. He has a self-effacing way about him, especially when asked if he's bulked up over the last few years. He jokes he's eaten a lot of pizza and doesn't work out as much as he should.

Co-star Adam Baldwin is asked a question pretty much everyone knows the answer to. No, he's not related to the famous acting Baldwin brothers of Long Island. Baldwin jokes he hopes to meet Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) now that they're both on NBC so they can settle this in person.