CARMICHAEL. CHARLES CARMICHAEL: For all that we're lamenting, lately, that NBC has done wrong, here's something it did right last year: Chuck. Before the strike-induced hiatus, Chuck was an entertaining piece of light cheese, good for a laugh or two as long as you didn't think too hard about it. Last season, Chuck grew into an exceedingly entertaining piece of ultra-light supercheese, good for a belly laugh or two hundred as long as you didn't think too hard about it. In other words, like its titular hero, it remained its dorky, awkward self, but acquired improbable superpowers. Its lead is charming, its three leads' chemistry is outstanding, it is strangely capable of delivering self-consciously stupid spy-plotting and emotional resonance in the same package. It is snazzy and nimble, even while it styles itself as the supreme homage to mid-budget 80s entertainment, using Chevy Chase and Scott Bakula as key guest stars while riffing on Spies Like Us and Back to the Future and War Games (and, if I'm guessing correctly about Chuck's newfound powers, Greatest American Hero).
No, it's not without its flaws. As Alan points out, at least once a week there is a colossal hole in the plot. It is frequently predictable. The writers still haven't figured out how to make Sarah a fully-formed character instead of a love object (something unhelped by the distance with which Yvonne Strahovski plays the role). Despite all that, this is the show that most consistently made me smile last year -- not laugh, but just smile at the characters, the music, the ridiculous predicaments, the giant musical numbers involving Sam Kinison and an Indian lesbian, the freaking awesome cliffhanger.
It's back this Sunday. If you haven't watched this show, this may be of note: last year, the show managed to bring new viewers up to speed in a few clever and economical opening minutes. Hopefully it will repeat that feat this year.
And hey, I hear NBC may have some hours to fill later this year but has nothing in the pipeline. Anyone for a back-13 order?
I believe Chuck already has a back-6 order, so we'll get 19 episodes total!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading such good things about this show from people that usually don't steer me wrong TV-wise (Alan, Mo Ryan, Isaac), I'm doing a marathon to catch up by Sunday. I just finished Season 1 and loved it. I agree that it's light and maybe even cheesy, but it is so damn entertaining. While the tone isn't the same, I am enjoying it as much as I enjoyed the early seasons of Alias. It doesn't hurt that the music is great, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, Maggie - you're in for great things in Season 2. As Isaac says, even better - by orders of magnitude - than season 1.
ReplyDeleteYay for Chuck! Don't forget to set your DVRs properly - 2 hours Sunday, 1 Monday and the 1 Monday is in conflict with House and the 100th ep of HIMYM.
i'm so very excited that chuck is back! i liked season 1, but season 2 is what really sucked me in. i wish it had a better timeslot, but hopefully it will work out and we'll have more chuck in the future. now if they could just stop the on-again, off-again relationship between chuck and sarah. c'mon ali adler!
ReplyDeleteWith all of the online hype since last spring, I'd worry that Chuck just doesn't live up to the hype. But then I re-watched the first episode of season 2 (Chuck vs. the First Date) and was very pleasantly surprised. That was just a fun hour of television.
ReplyDeleteChuck feels like th spiritual air to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What Buffy was to high school, Chuck is to your 20's. It's a show that hearkens back to cheesy entertainment (mid-budget 80s spy movies in Chuck's case) and keeps the cheesy spirit, but also uses those situations to hit pockets of emotional resonance for the characters.
I've been working on getting the boyfriend up to speed on Chuck. Done with Season 1. Breaking out the Season 2 DVDs tonight.
ReplyDeleteLove the Chuck/20s to Buffy/teens comparison, Andrew.
ReplyDeleteSo excited for the new season!
I think we need a whole thread for speculation on what NBC is going to do with the time. I say they should bring Journeyman back!
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