Yesterday marked the first day of premier week(s). Instead of actually watching the premiers, I played a little catch up on last season. Today, however, I started watching some of the season and series premier episodes. First on my list was Chuck.
Chuck is no Alias, and it does not pretend to be. Chuck Bartowski is a Nerd Herd employee at Buy More. Bryce, his college roommate who happens to be a rogue CIA agent, e-mails him the secrets from the NSA and CIA joint archive just before being shot and killed by NSA agent Major John Casey. Casey is played by Firefly and Daybreak actor Adam Baldwin, a plus for the show. Chuck opens the e-mail, thinking it is just a birthday message. In doing so, his brain is flooded with the entire CIA and NSA archive. At random moments, Chuck recalls information from the archive, helping to stop an assassination.
Because the show does not take itself seriously, a hardcore techie like me can put aside the unreal use of computers and laugh about it. For example, Chuck is able to defuse a bomb by using a “DOS override” on a laptop to download a virus from the ether. It’s not realistic, but it’s funny!
The in-store scenes at Buy More should provide plenty of laughter, if it is done correctly. NBC is walking a fine line between humor and cheese, but so far Chuck is still leaning on the humor side.
I will post my thoughts on the rest of the premiers as I watch them.
Note: I updated to WordPress 2.3, and I am having a bit of trouble with the K2 theme. So, the blog is going to look funny until I figure out what is wrong with the theme.
I saw the online version of it like two months ago. I liked it and I didn’t. I had a hard time accepting that style of humor mixed in with the actiony bits. It felt like they weren’t sure which genre they wanted to be in and that got me a bit. Otherwise, I like it.
Besides, it’s the Man We Call Jayne!
I watched Chuck on Monday night, and I really enjoyed it. The lead apparently (according to the wiki) describes the show as a cross between Bourne Supremacy and 40 Year Old Virgin, which I find to be a rather appropriate analogy.
I haven’t decided yet… I’m not really digging the lack of chemistry between the main characters, at present. Jayne’s role is a bit disappointing to me, so far, too. He doesn’t ..look right, or act consistently, or something. Granted, it’s only one ep I’ve seen (and the pilot at that, which has to do a lot of exposition and stuff so the overall rhythm of the series isn’t necessarily present). I did enjoy stretches of it and some of the bit characters entertained - parts with Morgan, the sidekick to Chuck; Captain Awesome, Chuck’s sister’s boyfriend; and the weird brief interlude with winking guy, right after Chuck’s computer is trashed. :p
I totally forgot about those little things that will lead to on-going gags, like the winking guy and Capt. Awesome!
Thanks for the reminder, VoW!
I thought Chuck was ok. Boston leagal and How I Met Your Mother were kind of a let down. House was pretty damn good. When Does Lost start?
@ Scott: February 2008.