So in an attempt to be more productive I have decided to try and blog every day this week as some programmes are having their finales this week; the most important one for me being the Chuck which will also hopefully not be the final ever episode.
Yes I have become a little ‘Save Chuck’ obsessed over the past few weeks but so have many as all the campaigns across the internet on fansites, facebook and twitter. I personally have not participated in a ‘save a show’ campaign prior to this one mainly because I have either come to a show after it has had premature cancellation (ie Arrested Development which I only started watching last year) or because I haven’t really been that invested in a programme to participate. However with Chuck I felt compelled to do something however small to join this internet campaign that has been gathering speed over the past few weeks because this show is too good to end up on a ‘cancelled too soon’ list on Entertainment Weekly or Television Without Pity.
Whoever came up with the ‘finale and footlong’ Subway idea is pretty super, to demonstrate support for the show by giving money to one of the featured advertisers is such a good way to show why this is a financially profitable programme. Money is obviously (and unfortunately) the main reason why a show will get the green light or whether is will be cancelled and this campaign is talking through dollars rather than the usual bombarding the studio with show related merchandise (although there is also the sending of nerd sweets to NBC that has been occurring for ‘Save Chuck’ campaigns but nothing speaks loader than money for a corporation).
This campaign got a kick start in the UK at a convention in Birmingham yesterday that both Zachary Levi (Chuck) and Adam Badwin (Casey) were at, when Levi led hundreds of fans to the nearest Subway for everyone to purchase a footlong (I’m guessing the Subway workers were super happy with that- though Levi did help behind the counter to get through the onslaught of customers). Here is an excellent video of the event:
It will soon be that time of year when the line up for next season will be announced (May is not that far away), so I thought I would get in there early and suggest why ‘Chuck’ should be featured in the NBC 2009-2010 schedule. The ratings for ‘Chuck’ haven’t been great which is why there has been some concern that it may get cancelled (a show in this precarious place is often called ‘on the bubble’). This is a worry for fans of ‘Chuck’ as the amount of scripted shows for NBC will be reduced next season due to Jay Leno’s talk show airing week nights at 10pm, which traditionally is an hour block reserved for original scripted programming. What I propose here is a list of reasons why ‘Chuck’ should be saved and why you should start watching it if you don’t already. Herein will be examples of the shows brilliance but I will try to keep them as non-spoilery as possible for those who haven’t but might start watching:
The character Chuck: In the pilot Chuck unwittingly downloaded all the US government’s secrets in to his brain (its sounds a little ridiculous but just go with it). He is a normal guy who works in an electronics store called Buy More and he lives with his sister Ellie and her appropriately nicknamed boyfriend ‘Captain Awesome’. Chuck is the kind of guy that would know how to combat the enemy on Call of Duty or if a virus has infiltrated your hard drive due to porn spam; but not in a real life situation which makes his entry into the world of espionage all the better. He certainly isn’t a Sydney Bristow or James Bond.
Supporting characters: these include his CIA/NSA handlers Sarah and Casey, the Buy More Crew (Morgan, Jeff, Lester, Anna and Big Mike) and his sister and ‘Awesome’ who are all integral to what makes ‘Chuck’ the show it is. The relationships with these characters range from ridiculous to the vital and it is this notion that Chuck is an important member of each unit, whether it is family, work or spy related that gives the show its heart.
‘Chuck vs. the…’: each episode has our hero up against a series of potentially national security risking villains and it is in these moments that the action elements of the show kick in (no pun intended). Whether it is Sarah fighting someone in her underwear or Casey going at it against a former mentor the action sequences are always well done. Even when Chuck gets in on the action (usually with disastrous consequences), the line between action and comedy is always portrayed and keeps the show from slipping into beyond ridiculous territory. Also they do like to blow things up and trash a lot of cars.
Josh Schwartz: He is the co-creator of Chuck as well as the mastermind behind teen programmes The OC, Gossip Girl and of the new web series Rockville, CA. Chuck is the grown up Seth Cohen (and not as self-involved) and has the pop culture references to match. There is Chuck’s staple high top Converse and a TRON poster on his bedroom wall, as well as other multiple current and past (mostly 80s and 90s) nods to computer games, movies and music. As with the other Schwartz creations music is another important element, however this has not been thrust into the forefront of the promotion of the show as it was done with The OC and Gossip Girl, but has even featured a ‘Flight of the Concords’ track.
It’s funny: Yes there are fully fledged comedy shows out there if you want a guaranteed laugh, but each week ‘Chuck’ has me laughing throughout. It is a hard show to place in a genre as it is comedic, but also has action and dramatic elements; this could be a reason as to why it is quite a difficult programme to promote as there is not one genre that it can be pigeonholed as.
Hot cast: From a purely superficial perspective there are some pretty hot people in the cast including Yvonne Strahovski (which aforementioned underwear fight sequences easily demonstrate this) and the adorkable Zachary Levi. If you like your men on the tough side who have a habit of communicating through snarls and grunts there is always Adam Baldwin (no relation to Billy or the rest of Baldwin family) as NSA agent John Casey, or if you like your women a bit more crazy there is always Julia Ling who plays Buy More worker and sometime Morgan girlfriend Anna. Captain Awesome and Ellie are also pretty good examples of the all American classic style (if a little vanilla) of hotness, this is best represented in the season 1 episode ‘Chuck vs. the sandworm’ when their Halloween costumes are Adam and Eve, definitely showed their physique.
Will they won’t they?: The romance between Chuck and Sarah is often frustrating but like any great relationship of this kind it is the anticipation of whether they will hook up that is what keeps people interested (as good as the daddy of all ‘will they won’t they relationships’ between Bruce ‘Bruno’ Willis and Cybil Shepard in the early seasons of Moonlighting). The fact that they have to pretend that they are dating is what turns this regular TV character device on its head and leads to many shenanigans so far. This cover relationship often produces scenes that are both funny and heartbreaking as it is obvious that if circumstances were different then they would be a pretty solid couple.
Guest stars: These guest spots have been pretty solid and cover a cross section of talent, from fanboy (Bruce Boxleitner of TRON and ‘Babylon 5’ fame), comedy legends (Chevy Chase) to the celebrities (Nicole Richie- who was actually pretty decent as Sarah’s former high school nemesis). There are many others including NFL players, Sports Illustrated swimsuit models as well as my own personal favourite ‘Lost’ alumni Dominic Monaghan and whilst some of these could be seen as stunt casting the guest stars never overshadow the overall quality and heart of the show that is Chuck himself.
So, there it is, my list of reasons why ‘Chuck’ should get a third season, if anyone can think of any others I would love to hear them. I keep mentioning the heart of ‘Chuck’ which might be due to me watching the first season of ‘Friday Night Lights’ (there’s a lot of ‘clear eyes, full heart’s, can’t lose’) in under a week and whilst I’m on that subject NBC could you also not cancel this show. But it is the heart of the ‘Chuck’ that I think is the factor that makes this show such a joy to watch and why I look forward to the next episode, hopefully you will too.
Chuck promo for the next new episode: ‘Chuck vs. the Predator’:
Some links for Chuck related sites:
http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/ The official site where you can watch previous episodes (if you live in the U.S.)
http://chucktv.net/ the oldest unofficial site for Chuck that is updated regularly with news, photos and other Chuck related goodies
