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This Sunday night, Chuck returns to NBC for a special two-episode, two hour jump start into season three. Expect to be dazzled. NBC was good enough to send an impressive press kit for Chuck's new season, including five episodes.
For those of you who were concerned about how the show would handle the many changes promulgated by the end of last season, you can relax. While it's no spoiler to reveal that Chuck now has the fully integrated Intersect 2.0 inside his head, complete with martial arts skills and other talents (Flamenco guitar?) it's also not a surprise that having all that in his brain doesn't mean that life is any easier for a simple, Burbank IT guy.
One of the pleasures of blogging here at TV Squad is getting a press kit from a network to promote a new or returning show. Sometimes it's just a folder with a screener. Sometimes it's a cornucopia of doo-dads and tchotchkas that might be cool. I've seen some reviewers build an entire wardrobe from press kit tee-shirts, hoodies and caps. So, it was with real excitement -- like the anticipation of a birthday gift -- when Fedex turned up with NBC Entertainment Publicity's big box of promotion for Chuck.
I really like this new series of promos for Chuck. It was always a show that could have been cancelled, so it's great to see NBC promoting it with new TV promos, posters, and these new web promos. If some fans haven't seen the show, they want you to know that it has Action! Romance! Comedy! The show returns on January 10.
2009 was a good year for television. It offered the resurgence of the comedy on network television, and the continuing growth of original programming on cable. In all honesty, I don't think I could just do a list of what was great and what was horrible on television because I would need pages and pages.
Instead, I'm going to focus on the things that really stood out this year. Sorry, Mad Men fans, but even though this was a great third season and an amazing finale, I expect it at this point. It's the only way I could come up with to keep my list manageable.
Also, as a point of protest I did not include Jon, Kate or the balloon boy hoax. These events got more attention than they deserved already this year, and I feel bad I even mentioned them.
It looks like the NBC series Chuck has another enemy, but it's not one that will appear on screen. Fox has decided to show an original episode of their medical drama Houseon Jan 11, at the same time as Chuck's first episode in its Monday timeslot (the show's season premiere is Sunday, Jan. 10). This is two weeks before the show was originally scheduled to come back with new episodes.
I'm a fan of Chuck and I'm also a fan of Hugh Laurie from his days on Britcoms (although I don't really watch House), and I could tell you right now that House will likely win in the ratings for that night. The audience for House is far more mainstream than Chuck and there are more viewers for that show overall. Chuck is more of a minority cult-type show.
However, NBC can take it as a good sign that it's a viable show since Fox is concerned about ratings for the night. Hopefully it won't get so decimated in the ratings that it will stay on for a few years and not be moved to Friday nights.
NBC wants the new season of Chuck to get off to a good start. In fact, the network has realized that to reach the true Chuck viewer, the place to show a marathon of Chuck episodes from last season is probably not NBC proper. The network isn't set up for marathons anyway. So NBC will give fans a chance to catch up by showing a Chuck marathon on SyFy.
On Thursday, January 7, three days before the two-hour Sunday premiere, the Chuck marathon will begin over on SyFy. The eps chosen are Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak's favorites from Season Two, including "Chuck vs. The Santa Claus" which was a hoot.
But 2009's a new year, so I have a new list of gripes and wishes that I hope get fulfilled in 2010:
That I get the power to bend space and time. That's the only way I'll be able to watch and/or record the coming Monday slate: HIMYM, House, and Chuck will all be on at 8 PM. Maybe I need to wish for a couple of TiVo HD XLs to appear under my pole.
Speaking of Chuck, I hope they follow up last year's bang-up finale with a great third season. And I hope people watch.
That season two of Breaking Bad comes out on DVD soon so I can catch up in time for season three.
That more people discover that Conan's actually doing a good job on The Tonight Show.
That Comcast gives Jay Leno his own show... in daytime.
Southland does better ratings on TNT than they ever would have on NBC.
Continued laughs from rookie comedy sensations Modern Family and Community.
I haven't been a regular viewer of NBC's spy spoof Chuck, but after seeing this poster, I'm wondering if I should start.
It's got everything that makes an action comedy series great: face kicking, Chuck Taylor All-Star hightops, leggy blondes with weapons, dark suits and what appears to be a secret lair underneath a set of stadium bleachers.
You can see a new video preview of the third season, which starts Sunday, January 10, 2010, by clicking here. Apparently, Chuck is going to get to do some face kicking off his own since he now has the full skills of a spy. That may or may not be a good thing, but then again it is moments like these that make TV shows so interesting.
I know, I know, you're thinking to yourself, what about Heroes?
NBC has released its midseason schedule, and we can see that Chuck returns on January 11 (after a special two-hour season premiere on January 10) in the Monday at 8PM slot. The new comedy Parenthood will air at 9, but that show doesn't start until March 1. As for Heroes (which currently airs in the Mondays at 8 slot), the season finale (episode 19 in a slightly shortened season) actually airs on Feburary 8.
In other NBC scheduling news, Jerry Seinfeld's new reality show (now there's a sentence that's really painful to write) The Marriage Ref will air Sundays at 9, between Dateline and Celebrity Apprentice, starting on March 14. What that means is that I probably won't be watching NBC on Sunday nights. Not that I watch NBC Sunday nights now when it has NFL football.
Fans of Chuck know that something happened to him in the season finale that is going to take the show into a whole new area: Chuck Bartowski now has the skills of a spy and not just the info stuck in his head. In this cool preview of the new season (which Vik Sahay talked about a bit in last week's podcast), we get a quick recap of what happened last season and a taste of what's to come when the show comes back on January 10.
[Watch clips and episodes of Chuck and other shows at SlashControl.]
Happy pre-Thanksgiving! Before you dive into the feast and football, dig in for some Chuck talk first. Vik Sahay, who plays Lester Patel on the NBC geek hit, joins me, Jason Hughes and Kona Gallagher to talk about the show's new season, which starts on January 10. Here's a hint about the season: Jeffster is mentioned a few times during the interview.
Before and after the interview, the three of us talk about:
Why Mondays, especially at 8, is such a brutal timeslot,
Oprah's "retirement" and if she'll ever have that same kind of platform again,
If you haven't heard, Chuck returns on January 10! For a while it looked like it wouldn't come back at all and then it looked like it might be a late spring return or even a - gasp! - summer run, but it's back in January (and with more eps than originally thought). Here's a sneak peek of season three featuring Zachary Levi.
On Tuesday, we're going to be recording our weekly podcast. In honor of the return of NBC's Chuck on January 10, we're going to have Vik Sahay, who plays Buy More cog Lester Patel, on board to talk about the show's return and what fans can expect.
Last season ended with a bang, as most fans already know. Not to spoil anything, but the finale ended with Chuck saying the famous line from The Matrix, "I know kung fu." And, boy, does he ever. Sahay will be able to give us some insight into what's in store for the Buy More crew now that Chuck is going in a new and even more adventurous direction.
Have questions about for Vik about Chuck or anything else? Leave them in the comments and we'll relay them to Sahay during the podcast. We'll even give you credit for any question we use. So, ask away below. Any question we get in before we record the podcast tomorrow (time TBD right now) will be eligible.
Chuck will be returning to the airwaves on NBC on Sunday January 10th at 8 PM. The third season will start with a two-hour premiere and then the show will be on again the following night in its regular timeslot right after Heroes. This is three hours of Chuck over two days.
The pity is that Chuck is actually a good show and Heroes hasn't been as such since the first season. Perhaps Heroes should be the lead-in for Chuck? With the boost in the number of episodes and the guest-stars galore slated for the coming season, it's a very exciting time to be a Chuckaholic like me. This could also be a sign that NBC is giving more support for Chuck and less for the dying Heroes.
Zachary Levi is great in his role and Yvonne Strahovski is much fun to look at, but what really makes the show is Adam Baldwin. Perhaps John Casey should get his own show? Nah. He's better as a foil for Chuck Bartowski.
The "Ask TV Squad" column, published every Wednesday, answers your questions about current and past TV shows, as well as about the celebrities appearing on TV. Every week, I will pick a question (or more) sent to us and provide answers in the column. If your question is not picked for a column, it may be answered in a subsequent column or in TV Squad's APB Podcast.
To submit questions to the "Ask TV Squad" column, you can post them below in comments or email them to asktvsquad@gmail.com.
This week, I answer questions about Chuck, Katherine Heigl, and where to legally watch shows online for the U.S. and Canada.
2009 was a good year for television. It offered the resurgence of the comedy on network television, and the continuing growth of original programming on cable. In all honesty, I don't think I could just do a list of what was great and what was horrible on television because I would need pages and pages.
It looks like the NBC series Chuck has another enemy, but it's not one that will appear on screen. Fox has decided to show 
NBC wants the new season of 
If anyone has followed our Festivus festivities for the last four years, you'll remember that 
I haven't been a regular viewer of NBC's spy spoof Chuck, but 
I know, I know, you're thinking to yourself, what about 
Happy pre-Thanksgiving! Before you dive into the feast and football, dig in for some 
Chuck will be 
The "
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