Late May, 2009 Ben Silverman, president of NBC Entertainment, announced that Chuck, its comedy/spy show and prime time weekly lead-off (it airs Monday nights at 8 p.m.) would be renewed, after a massive campaign by fans and TV critics. Alan Sepinwall, of the New Jersey Star-Ledger, wrote an open letter asking for renewal, and fans across North America ate at Subway, one of the show’s major sponsors. The renewal is good news for every fan of quality network programming, since Chuck is one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now.
Chuck: The Cast, the Creators, the Basics
Chuck stars Zachary Levi as the titular hero, who repairs computers at a Best Buy-type store. In the pilot, which aired on September 24, 2007, Chuck received an email from a former college friend, Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer), which contained thousands of government secrets encrypted into images. Chuck downloaded the secrets into his brain and promptly got two government agents on his tail: NSA Major John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski).
Created by Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Gossip Girl) and Chris Fedak, the first season followed the ordinary-guy-in-extraordinary situations template. Chuck became a government “asset” and joined Sarah and Casey on spy missions, while trying to maintain a semblance of normality with his best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez), sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), and soon-to-be brother-in-law Devon (Ryan McPartlin).
Season One vs. Season Two
Many of season one’s episodes were stand-alone stories, but an over-arching mythology did appear. Bryce returned to fight a shadowy criminal organization called Fulcrum. Chuck discovered that Bryce, who had got Chuck kicked out of Stanford, had done so to keep Chuck away from the C.I.A. And Fulcrum was seeking for the government computer, known as the Intersect, which they believed to be in Bryce’s brain, not Chuck’s.
Season one was interrupted by the writers’ strike, and like all shows that didn’t return after it ended, Chuck suffered in the ratings the following year. Season two returned to the mythology with a vengeance: Chuck, Sarah and Casey fought Fulcrum nearly every episode, Chuck’s ex-girlfriend, Jill (Jordana Brewster), was revealed to be a Fulcrum operative, and Bryce turned out to have been acting all along on a request from Chuck’s father (Scott Bakula) who had designed the Intersect in the first place. The season ended with Chuck receiving an Intersect “upgrade” which appeared to give him new abilities. Furthermore, Fulcrum was revealed to be part of a larger organization called “The Ring.” All of these developments may mean success or ruin for season three.
Chuck: Looking Ahead to Season Three
What made Chuck particularly wonderful was that this was a spy show that didn’t take itself too seriously. The characters and situations were often ridiculous, but the show was having fun with them, so the audience did too. The season two finale was a game-changer, and that’s a good thing.
But there’s the potential for the delicate comedy/action balance to be thrown off if Chuck is no longer a regular guy, and particularly if he is off waging war against “The Ring” instead of palling around with Morgan. Even more troubling: Chuck isn’t coming back until after the 2010 Olympics, i.e., March of next year, and has only been given the go-ahead for 13 episodes so far.
Still, 13 episodes of Chuck next year is better than none, and the creators and stars have shown that they can make some of the best TV entertainment around. So thank you, NBC, for renewing it. It’s time to start counting down until March.
