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Chuck (TV series)

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Chuck
File:ChuckTV.jpg
Chuck logo
Created byJosh Schwartz
Chris Fedak
StarringZachary Levi
Yvonne Strahovski
Joshua Gomez
with Sarah Lancaster
and Adam Baldwin
Opening themeCake: "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersJosh Schwartz
McG
Running time42 minutes (without commercials)
Original release
NetworkNBC/CityTV
ReleaseSeptember 24, 2007 –
present

Chuck is an American action-comedy television program created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working in the CIA; the message embeds the only remaining copy of the world's greatest spy secrets into Chuck's brain.[1][2]

Produced by College Hill Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision and Warner Bros. Television, the series premiered on September 24, 2007 on NBC, airing on Monday nights at 8PM/7c leading into Heroes.[3][4] On November 26, despite the fact that the writers' strike was still in play, NBC announced that Chuck received a full season pickup.[5] On February 13, 2008, it was announced by NBC that Chuck has been picked up for a second season in 2008/2009.[6]

Plot

Chuck Bartowski is a socially awkward twenty-something who works as a computer expert at the Nerd Herd (a parody of "Geek Squad") at his local Buy More (a parody of "Best Buy"), a local electronics retailer (a CompUSA store was used), with his best friend, Morgan Grimes. Chuck's sister, Ellie, is a doctor who is constantly looking out for his best interests and wants to help him find a girlfriend. On the night of his birthday party, Chuck receives an e-mail from his former Stanford University roommate, Bryce Larkin, who is now a "rogue" CIA agent. When he opens it, an entire server of sensitive data - once only available to the United States government is subliminally embedded into his brain by way of a long series of images. Both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own - Major John Casey and Sarah Walker - to retrieve that data. Since the disk with the government information was stolen by Bryce and destroyed in his attempted escape, and since Chuck experiences flashes of information from the database activated by certain subliminal triggers, he must use the knowledge he now possesses to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists - upending his previously uneventful life. Chuck's decision to keep his newfound occupation a secret from his family and friends and to live his life as normally as possible forces Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance and secret identities (Walker poses as Chuck's girlfriend and takes a cover job at a local restaurant, while Casey gets a job at Buy More), with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs.[citation needed]

Cast and characters

Recurring cast

Episodes

Main article: List of Chuck episodes

Cultural references

In the episode "Pilot", Bryce, a rogue spy and an old college roommate of the main character, steals classified government secrets from a supercomputer, which is actually an original Mac Plus[7]. The communicator gadget Bryce uses in the scene is an OQO Palmtop Computer, visually almost identical to the communication device in Doom 3 (an element that appears as a useful utility throughout the storyline). The chase scene in which Bryce Larkin escapes after stealing the secrets is a reference to the opening chase scene in a French film titled Banlieue 13 or District B13 - the acrobatics that Larkin uses is a stunt form known as parkour.[8]

In the episode "Chuck vs. the Helicopter", Chuck is viewing a series of photos when one triggers his recall of the secrets. He begins revealing apparently-unconnected secrets including "Oceanic Flight 815 was shot down by a surface-to-air..." - this invokes the exact same flight number that crashed on the ABC series Lost, though the stated cause for the flight's crash there is different.[9]

In the episode "Chuck vs. the Tango", Morgan is locked in a cage, listening to the same opera song that was played during The Shawshank Redemption. In the same episode, before the encounter with La Ciudad's men at the Buy More, there is an infomercial for the Bowflex playing on the wall of televisions in the background. In the episode "Chuck vs. the Wookie", Morgan has a messenger bag with "Tyrell Corporation Genetic Engineering Zone A Section 9 Replication Section", a reference to the corporation at the center of Blade Runner.[10]

The episode "Chuck vs. The Sandworm" is especially rife with references to other shows and films and to geek culture: the scene where Chuck runs in dramatic fashion to the Halloween party parodies the end scene of The O.C. episode, "The Countdown," including using the same soundtrack, slow-motion effects and similar placement of the characters (The O.C. and Chuck were both created by Josh Schwartz). The episode also has several references to Dune with the poster being shown in several key shots in the episode, while Morgan and Chuck's annual Halloween costume is the sandworm from Dune (and noted as such in the episode's dialog). Additionally, while being briefed on the weapons-design resource in this episode, Adam Baldwin makes reference to his Firefly character with the phrase "What, is he going to hurt me with his mind?"[11] Also, as the episode draws its conclusion and Chuck is attemping to disable the bomb referencing the James Bond film Goldfinger the bomb is stopped with 7 seconds remaining, as it does in the movie, with the same visual joke of the countdown reading out 007

All throughout the first season there have been many references to the popular multi-platform Call of Duty and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as well as "The next Call of Duty ".[citation needed]

In Chuck Versus the Marlin the bug found in the Buy More was called GLG20, a reference to the department of the Defense Intelligence Agency Austin Millbarge (Dan Aykroyd) and Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chevy Chase) are promoted into in the 1985 comedy Spies Like Us.

Production

Conception

Josh Schwartz and newcomer Chris Fedak wrote the script for the first episode which was initially given a put pilot commitment by NBC before a pilot order was green lit by the network in January 2007.[12] Schwartz and Fedak both attended the University of Southern California and the latter pitched the idea to Schwartz who agreed to develop the project with him.[13] McG, Schwartz's fellow executive producer on The O.C., directed the first hour of the series and consequently became an executive producer via his production company, Wonderland Sound and Vision. Fedak, Peter Johnson, Scott Rosenbaum, Matthew Miller and Allison Adler also serve as co-executive producers.[14] NBC gave the series an early pick-up and a thirteen-episode order on May 10 2007.[15] On November 26 2007, TV Guide reported that NBC had picked up the series for a full, 22 episode season.[16]

Casting

Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin were the first two to be cast in February 2007 in the roles of Chuck Bartowski and veteran NSA agent Major John Casey, respectively. Fedak always had Baldwin in mind for the role of John Casey and the producers found that the actor was a "perfect fit" for the character during the first casting session.[13][17] Relative newcomer Yvonne Strahovski, an Australian, was chosen for the female lead role of CIA agent Sarah Kent in the same month.[18] The character's surname was later changed to "Walker". Casting continued throughout March with Sarah Lancaster, Joshua Gomez, and Natalie Martinez landing the parts of Dr. Ellie Bartowski (Chuck's older sister), Morgan Pace (Chuck's best friend), and Kayla Hart, a heretofore unspecified character, respectively.[19] The Kayla Hart character was dropped before filming. Morgan's surname was later changed to "Grimes".[citation needed]

On September 14, 2007, Rachel Bilson, of The O.C. (which executive producer Josh Schwartz also created) signed on for a multi-episode arc to begin airing in late October.[citation needed]

Broadcast history

The first showing of the pilot occurred on July 27, 2007 at Comic-Con International in San Diego.[20] The series was originally slated to air on Tuesday nights at 9PM/8c as announced at the 2007 Upfronts but this was later changed to Monday nights at 8PM/7c as announced during the 2007 Television Critics Association summer press tour. The season premiere aired on September 24 2007 on NBC.[4][21] The pilot was leaked onto torrent websites on July 22 2007.[22] All thirteen episodes produced before the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike have aired. The last two episodes of the original thirteen aired on January 24, 2008, with episode 12 airing at 8PM/7c and episode 13 at 10PM/9c, three days after they aired in Canada.

International distribution

Country TV network(s) Weekly schedule (local time)
Australia Australia Nine Network TBD
Belgium Belgium VT4 6:35pm Sundays
Brazil Brazil Warner Bros. Television 11:00pm Tuesdays
Canada Canada Citytv 8:00pm Mondays
Croatia Croatia RTL Televizija TBD
Germany Germany ProSiebenSat.1 Media TBD
India India AXN 10:00pm Wednesdays
Indonesia Indonesia AXN 8:00pm Mondays
Israel Israel AXN TBD
Macau Macau
China Guangdong Province		 TVB J2 TBD
Malaysia Malaysia AXN 9:00pm Mondays
Hong Kong Hong Kong AXN 10:00pm Mondays
Template:Country data Latin America Warner Channel 11:00pm Tuesdays, 1:00pm Thursdays UTC
Philippines Philippines C/S on RPN 8:00pm Mondays - Premiers 21st April
Poland Poland TVN Siedem 9:00pm Tuesdays
Portugal Portugal RTP2 10:40pm Wednesdays
Sweden Sweden TV3 8:00pm Saturdays
South Africa South Africa M-Net 7:30pm Wednesdays - Premieres 04 June 2008
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka AXN on DialogTV 06:30pm Mondays - Premiers 05th May
Thailand Thailand AXN 9:00pm Mondays
Turkey Turkey CNBC-e 8:00pm Tuesdays
United Kingdom United Kingdom Virgin1 10:00pm Mondays - Premiered 7th April
United States United States NBC 8:00pm Mondays, 7:00pm Central time

Online distribution

In an aggressive marketing campaign by NBC, the pilot episode was released across a broad range of mediums from satellite broadcasting to popular social networking websites such as Facebook, shown on United Airlines flights, freely distributed on video on demand on about 30 cable and satellite systems including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Dish Network, on Yahoo, and from Amazon Unbox.[23]

DVD Release

On May 12th, 2008, Warner Home Video announced that the first season of Chuck on DVD, will be released on September 16, 2008. This DVD will include all 13 aired episodes of Chuck as well as new bonus features. These bonus features will include deleted scenes, bloopers, and commentaires from Chuck stars Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez, and the shows creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedek.[2] [3]

Reception

Comparisons to other media

Josh Schwartz has defended criticisms by pointing out that whilst the title character of Jake 2.0 has superpowers born from nanotechnology, Chuck Bartowski does not possess any extraneous abilities besides his flashes of intelligence that were uploaded into his brain which are activated only by certain subliminal triggers.[13] Schwartz has since described the show as a hybrid of Alias and The Office whilst Zachary Levi, who portrays the titular character, says it's a mix of The Bourne Supremacy and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.[24]

Weekly ratings

# Episode US Air Date Households (Rating/Share)[25] 18–49 (Rating/Share)[25] Viewers (m)[25] Rank (#)
1 "Pilot" 2007-09-24 5.8/9 3.6/9 9.28 #42
2 "Chuck vs. The Helicopter" 2007-10-01 5.0/8 3.2/8 8.39 #46
3 "Chuck vs. The Tango" 2007-10-08 4.5/7 2.7/7 7.22 #54
4 "Chuck vs. The Wookie" 2007-10-15 5.0/8 3.3/8 8.23 #47
5 "Chuck vs. The Sizzling Shrimp" 2007-10-22 4.4/7 2.9/7 7.24 #62
6 "Chuck vs. The Sandworm" 2007-10-29 4.2/7 2.8/7 7.14 #57
7 "Chuck vs. The Alma Mater" 2007-11-05 4.6/7 3.2/8 7.66 #52
8 "Chuck vs. The Truth" 2007-11-12 4.6/7 3.0/7 7.56 #52
9 "Chuck vs. The Imported Hard Salami" 2007-11-19 4.6/7 3.1/8 7.80 #44
10 "Chuck vs. The Nemesis" 2007-11-26 5.0/8 3.3/8 8.36 #40
11 "Chuck vs. The Crown Vic" 2007-12-03 5.2/8 3.2/8 8.48 #32
12 "Chuck vs. The Undercover Lover" 2008-01-24 4.4/7 2.7/7 6.88 TBA
13 "Chuck vs. The Marlin" 2008-01-24 4.5/7 2.9/8 7.02 TBA
--- First season average --- 7.79

Awards

Chuck is mentioned multiple times in IGN's 2007 year in review awards. Along with winning the honor of best New TV Series, Sarah Walker won the award for best TV character, and Chuck & Sarah as a couple won the Couple that we rooted for the most award. Chuck was also nominated for "Best New TV Comedy Series" at the 2008 People's Choice Awards which aired on January 8 2008 but lost to Samantha Who?.[26]

Other media

Marketing

In May 2007, NBC announced that their official website would launch "MyNBC" allowing users to be more interactive with selected shows. MyNBC will allow fans to delve inside Chuck's "brain" which will host hot spots of top-secret government information that the title character possesses. It will also have bonus video features.[27] In addition, NBC further announced in July 2007 that tie-in micro websites where fans who log onto Buy-More.net would be directed to NerdHerdHelp.com giving them access to exclusive content of the show and a blog written by the title character's best friend and sidekick, Morgan, would be launched in September 2007.[28] NBC is reportedly expected to spend about $8 million in total promoting the show.[29]

Comics

Wildstorm, a DC Comics imprint, will be producing a six-issue mini-series written by Peter Johnson and Zev Barow (series co-executive producer and writer, respectively), with art by Jeremy Haun and Phil Noto. It will start in June 2008.[30] [31]

References

[32]

  1. ^ "About Chuck"
  2. ^ Chuck from NBC
  3. ^ Chuck television listings on The Futon Critic
  4. ^ a b "NBC Showcases Fall Primetime Entertainment Series Beginning Week of [[September 24]]". 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  5. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071127/tv_nm/nbc_dc;_ylt=AmodmDuvWsLJKzfH.Li7NTJxFb8C
  6. ^ NBC. "NBC RENEWS DRAMA SERIES 'CHUCK, 'LIFE' AND 'HEROES' FOR 2008-09 SEASON". Retrieved 2008-02-13. {{cite news}}: Text "date + 2008-02-13" ignored (help)
  7. ^ TUAW article
  8. ^ Interview with Zachary Levi at Daemon's TV
  9. ^ Chuck Has a Lost Connection | The Underwire from Wired.com
  10. ^ IMDB Movie Connections for Blade Runner
  11. ^ Zap2It
  12. ^ Development Update: Wednesday, January 3, The Futon Critic
  13. ^ a b c "PopGurls Interview: Josh Schwartz". PopGurls. 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-23. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Development Update: Thursday, January 25, The Futon Critic
  15. ^ Sullivan, Brian Ford (2007-05-10). "NBC to Keep 'Lights' on for Second Season, Adds Newcomers". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Exclusive: NBC Extends Chuck, Life for Full Season!, [1]
  17. ^ Development Update: Thursday, February 8, The Futon Critic
  18. ^ Development Update: Monday, February 12, The Futon Critic
  19. ^ Development Update: Friday, March 16, The Futon Critic
  20. ^ "Full Comic-Con Schedule Online!". ComingSoon.net. 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ NBC delivers the quality once again this fall, introducing five ambitious new dramas, an inventive comedy and a variety of innovative unscripted programs for its 2007-08 primetime schedule, The Futon Critic
  22. ^ "Massive Leak of Pre-Air TV Shows: Piracy or Promotion?". TorrentFreak. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  23. ^ Schiller, Gail (2007-08-27). "New media, new ideas tout shows for fall". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ Dahl, Oscar (2007-07-27). "2007 Comicon: Chuck Screening and Panel". BuddyTV. Retrieved 2007-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ a b c "Your Entertainment Now Blog". Word Press.
  26. ^ "IGN Best of 2007". Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  27. ^ NBC Digital Entertainment announces second season of cutting-edge interactive entertainment, The Futon Critic
  28. ^ "NBC Digital Entertainment launches new tech and content features". The Futon Critic. 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Grossman, Ben (2007-07-23). "NBCU Effort Aims To Keep 'Lights' On". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2007-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ Chuck #1 at Wildstorm
  31. ^ Exclusive First Look: Chuck, the Comic Book, TV Guide, May 19, 2008
  32. ^ "Details and Artwork for Season 1 DVD". TVOnMedia.com. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
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