Five years ago I happened to be watching TV and caught a promo of a show that looked interesting.
To be fair I wasn’t really impressed by the ad, I thought the girl was hot but the show really didn’t do much for me.
Then NBC did something surprising. They put all of their new shows and their pilot episodes on demand maybe a week or so before the show was to debut. I ended up watching a few shows one night and remember the next day talk to one of my best friends Matt and ironically he watched the show the night before. We both absolutely loved it. It was a mixture of comedy, and action. The cast had some awesome chemistry.
Basically, the show is about Chuck Bartowski (Played by Zachary Levi) who was kicked out of college because of his roommate and best friend Bryce Larkin (Played by Matt Bomer) turned him in for cheating. Chuck’s falls into a rut and moves in with his sister Dr. Ellie Bartowski (Played by Sarah Lancaster) and her boyfriend Dr. Devon “Captain Awesome” Woodcome (Played by Ryan McPartlin). Along with his best friend Morgan Grimes (Played by Joshua Gomez) they work together at the Burbank Buy More. Bryce Larkin becomes a CIA spy and steals a computer program where all of the government secrets can be placed into a person brain. Bryce is shot by the NSA Col John Casey (Played by Adam Baldwin) but was able to send off the program to Chuck who downloaded the program, the intersect, into his brain. Chuck has no idea what is in his head. The NSA send John Casey to find Chuck and the CIA send in Sara Walker (Played by Yvonne Strahovski)
Chuck is recruited to use the knowledge in his head to help catch assassins and international terrorists, quickly falling out of the rut he was in. The Intersect causes Chuck to receive involuntary "flashes" of information from the database, activated by triggers such as faces, voices, objects, and keywords. In order to protect his family and friends, Chuck must keep his spy occupation a secret. Casey and Walker are assigned to watch over Chuck. They are forced to establish an uneasy alliance and cover identities; Walker poses as Chuck's girlfriend and takes a job at a fast food restaurant near the Buy More, while Casey reluctantly becomes part of the Buy More sales team.
The first episode was simply put Awesome. A really fun first date between Chuck and Sara, some fun fighting between Sara and Casey, a bomb and a porn site that unleashes a virus on all of its computers.
I was hooked from the beginning. The show became a must watch and immediately went into the rotation. However, the rest of the world wasn’t as excited as I was about this show. Season one was picked up for 22 episodes but due to the writers’ strike only had 13 episodes air. Season 2 received a full season but the rating fell and the shows could not hold onto its audience. NBC debated about canceling the shows but fan loyalty stepped up and came up with a Subway campaign. The date of the season 2 finale fans of Chuck were to go out and order a Subway foot long to show support for their show. The campaign worked and Chuck was picked up for a season 3. There was some serious questions if Chuck was going to get a 4th season. NBC picked up a full 22 episode season where the finale could have been either a series or season finale. NBC decided to pick up Chuck for a 5th and finale season giving Chuck 13 episodes to leave us our chance for a final good bye.
The show was great in the early going as Chuck was the clumsy nerd. I am more fond of the earlier episodes and my complaints about the later episodes is that as Chuck because a better spy he loses that nerd in him. The show knew it audience and had many inside jokes; including Sara dressed in a provocative way almost every episode. My personal favorites are the belly dancer and of course princess Leia. Everyone in the cast served a purpose and it was a refreshing change for what is on TV today.
The show had no shortage of guest stars including Scott Bakula, Chevy Chase, Matt Bomer, Linda Hamilton, Timothy Dalton, Carrie Ann Moss, Kristen kruk, John Larroquette, Rachel Bilson, Bruce Boxleitner and Morgan Fairchild, Tony Hale, Jordana Brewster, Gary Cole, Robert England, Melinda Clarke, Nicole Richie, Christopher Lloyd, Summer Glau, Dolph Lundgren, Cheryl Ladd, Stacey Kiebler, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Bo Derek and last but certainly not least Brandon Routh
No tribute to Chuck would be complete without a tribute to one of the greatest cover bands of all time…
Sorry I can’t embed every song so you have to go href="http://youtu.be/riTdIi6_Xkw”>here for Mr. Roboto - April, 27, 2009
Another one where you have to go href="http://youtu.be/TA_AdBS-9eI/”>here for “Fortunate Son” – March 8, 2010
For “Is this Love” – January 17, 2011 go href="http://youtu.be/HNwL-tM0ajk/”>here
For “Push It” – January 31, 2011 go href="http://youtu.be/5WGf_Sxrb3Y/”>here
Finally “ href=" http://youtu.be/ZGzHLlaOLT0/”>Eye of the Tiger” – July 21, 2011
8pm tonight the two part finale begins...
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