NBC has been derided for years owing to its consistent fourth-place finishes in the battle of network TV ratings. However, their failure to impress the nation has been a blessing in disguise for certain people, i.e. the fans of shows that would have probably been cancelled after one season (or a few episodes) if they were on a more successful network. Friday Night Lights is the perfect example of a quality piece of programming that never saw big ratings and was always in danger of cancellation. But since NBC faced a dearth of original programming, they kept FNL on for five glorious seasons, which I can now revel in to my heart's content. Similarly, another show that profited from the network's declining status is the nerdy spy comedy, Chuck.
Chuck premiered during my senior year of college and was a diverting bit of TV programming. My friends and I would gather in the TV room on Mondays (which was a less jam-packed time slot than it is now) and chuckle at the improbable adventures that would take place over that one hour. The show follows Chuck, a man who works at an electronics store called Buy More and is leading a dull life fixing people's computers as a member of the Nerd Herd (their equivalent of the Geek Squad). His old college roommate sends him an unexpected e-mail one day, with an attachment that changes his life. When he opens up the encoded file, top secret CIA information about every topic under the sun is downloaded into his brain via a program known as the Intersect. Chuck now becomes a walking repository of CIA information, capable of "flashing" whenever he sees an evildoer and instantly having their criminal history and known associates at his fingertips. In addition, he now has a variety of skills at his disposal - he can engage in hand-to-hand combat, speak fluent Russian, or tango seductively as the situation demands.
Yes it's a crazy premise, but it makes for entertaining television. Zachary Levi, the actor who plays Chuck, does so with such nerdy charm that you will root for him no matter what. Throw in his newly acquired CIA handlers who are sent to wrangle this new asset into shape and keep him from getting into the wrong hands, and his clueless best friend, sister, and sister's boyfriend, all of whom can't find out about his secret. The supporting cast is hilarious, all memorable characters in their own right, and as the show progresses, every single one of them begin to feel like family.
Chuck was constantly on the brink of cancellation, but it had an enormously devoted fan base. These fans were so devoted that they managed to convince Subway to stick around as a sponsor of the show, a move which then led to a lot of tongue-in-cheek product placement for the rest of the series. NBC figured they had to court whatever goodwill they had left and since Chuck had this highly vocal fan base, the show kept going. Thus, against all odds, Chuck returned this year for a special fifth season of thirteen episodes, designed to end the show on the creators' terms and give the fans a well-deserved resolution to a series that they had all grown to love.
I have never been a die-hard Chuck fan. The show was amusing, had some delightful references to delight any nerd (Adam Baldwin from Firefly plays one of Chuck's handlers after all), but could be wildly uneven from episode to episode. Therefore, I was surprised when I watched the finale on Friday and found it rather moving and emotional. If it managed to affect me in that way, I can't imagine how the true-blue Chuck fans felt. Every single character we had come to know over the past five seasons had a chance to come out and strut their stuff and it was nostalgic and wonderful. The story itself was extremely bittersweet, with an ending that was happy but not schmaltzy like most series finales. The love story between Chuck and Sarah, which has always been at the heart of the show, was really put through its paces in the finale, and the way they got through all the challenges served as a metaphor for the show itself.
Chuck was always the plucky underdog, and as you got to know him, you fell in love with his warmth, intelligence, and generosity. Fans of this show were drawn to the characters and the relationships that kept them all together. The stories were sometimes great, sometimes awful, but you tuned in every week to see if Chuck and Sarah would get together, if Morgan and Casey could get along, if Jeffster would sing another power ballad. In the end, the series finale was a worthy tribute to the show and gave these beloved characters all the hope and happiness that they deserved. So if you've never seen Chuck, grab the DVDs of Season 1 and start watching. You have a lot of CIA-Nerd Herd action to catch up on.
Chuck premiered during my senior year of college and was a diverting bit of TV programming. My friends and I would gather in the TV room on Mondays (which was a less jam-packed time slot than it is now) and chuckle at the improbable adventures that would take place over that one hour. The show follows Chuck, a man who works at an electronics store called Buy More and is leading a dull life fixing people's computers as a member of the Nerd Herd (their equivalent of the Geek Squad). His old college roommate sends him an unexpected e-mail one day, with an attachment that changes his life. When he opens up the encoded file, top secret CIA information about every topic under the sun is downloaded into his brain via a program known as the Intersect. Chuck now becomes a walking repository of CIA information, capable of "flashing" whenever he sees an evildoer and instantly having their criminal history and known associates at his fingertips. In addition, he now has a variety of skills at his disposal - he can engage in hand-to-hand combat, speak fluent Russian, or tango seductively as the situation demands.
Yes it's a crazy premise, but it makes for entertaining television. Zachary Levi, the actor who plays Chuck, does so with such nerdy charm that you will root for him no matter what. Throw in his newly acquired CIA handlers who are sent to wrangle this new asset into shape and keep him from getting into the wrong hands, and his clueless best friend, sister, and sister's boyfriend, all of whom can't find out about his secret. The supporting cast is hilarious, all memorable characters in their own right, and as the show progresses, every single one of them begin to feel like family.
Chuck was constantly on the brink of cancellation, but it had an enormously devoted fan base. These fans were so devoted that they managed to convince Subway to stick around as a sponsor of the show, a move which then led to a lot of tongue-in-cheek product placement for the rest of the series. NBC figured they had to court whatever goodwill they had left and since Chuck had this highly vocal fan base, the show kept going. Thus, against all odds, Chuck returned this year for a special fifth season of thirteen episodes, designed to end the show on the creators' terms and give the fans a well-deserved resolution to a series that they had all grown to love.
I have never been a die-hard Chuck fan. The show was amusing, had some delightful references to delight any nerd (Adam Baldwin from Firefly plays one of Chuck's handlers after all), but could be wildly uneven from episode to episode. Therefore, I was surprised when I watched the finale on Friday and found it rather moving and emotional. If it managed to affect me in that way, I can't imagine how the true-blue Chuck fans felt. Every single character we had come to know over the past five seasons had a chance to come out and strut their stuff and it was nostalgic and wonderful. The story itself was extremely bittersweet, with an ending that was happy but not schmaltzy like most series finales. The love story between Chuck and Sarah, which has always been at the heart of the show, was really put through its paces in the finale, and the way they got through all the challenges served as a metaphor for the show itself.
Chuck was always the plucky underdog, and as you got to know him, you fell in love with his warmth, intelligence, and generosity. Fans of this show were drawn to the characters and the relationships that kept them all together. The stories were sometimes great, sometimes awful, but you tuned in every week to see if Chuck and Sarah would get together, if Morgan and Casey could get along, if Jeffster would sing another power ballad. In the end, the series finale was a worthy tribute to the show and gave these beloved characters all the hope and happiness that they deserved. So if you've never seen Chuck, grab the DVDs of Season 1 and start watching. You have a lot of CIA-Nerd Herd action to catch up on.
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