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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
Voices ofChuck Bartowski
Opening themeCake: "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes11 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersJosh Schwartz
McG
Running time42 minutes (without commercials)
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 24, 2007 –
present

Chuck is an American science-fiction 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, a rogue CIA agent, which happens to embed the world's greatest spy secrets into his brain.[1]

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.[2][3]

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, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data - once only available to the United States government - directly into his brain. 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, respectively - 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 his 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.

Cast and characters

Recurring cast

  • Rachel Bilson - Lou
  • C. S. Lee - Harry Tiberius Tang
  • Ryan McPartlin - Devon (AKA Captain Awesome)
  • Vik Sahay - Lester
  • Julia Ling - Anna Wu
  • Scott Krinsky - Jeff
  • Mark Christopher Lawrence - Big Mike
  • Bonita Friedericy - General Beckman

Episodes

Main article: List of Chuck episodes

Cultural references

Chuck includes a great deal of references, images and nods to nerd culture and video games, literature, television and films, especially those involving spies or conspiracy. One example can be seen in the pilot, wherein Bryce, a rogue spy and collegiate friend of the main character's, steals the secrets. The communicator gadget Bryce uses in the scene is visually almost identical to the communication device in Doom 3 (an element that permeates 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 [4] or District B13 - the acrobatics that Larkin uses is a stunt form known as free running or parkour.

In regards to other games featured, Morgan is also seen numerous times playing Gears of War, with some scenes focusing on the game play itself; in "Chuck vs. the Wookie", he is seen playing Halo 3; and there here is also a World of Warcraft video game at the Buy More seen at the beginning of the third episode. Most notable, however, is the inclusion of references to the older text adventure game Zork, which plays an active role in the plot in several episodes - including triggering the main series plot in the pilot episode, the solving of a Zork-based riddle being the reason Chuck was even able to accidentally download the database to his brain in the first place.

Additionally, in the pilot episode, a poster of the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest (1959) may be seen in Chuck's room; the film in question centers on an unwitting character caught up in an international conspiracy. Another movie poster shown hanging in Chuck's room is Park Chan Wook's Oldboy, a Korean movie with a large underground cult following.

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.

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 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.

In the episode "Chuck vs the Sizzling Shrimp", James Hong plays a wheelchair-bound crime boss named "Lo Pan" for the second time — the first was in Big Trouble in Little China, a role he reprised in the speculative fiction series The Chronicle. The character's first name in this instance is "Ben", a veiled reference that James Hong had previously "been Lo Pan". In the same episode, Chuck tells Ben, "Forget it, Ben, it's Chinatown." This is a reference to a line in the 1974 film Chinatown: "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." Hong also starred in Chinatown, as a butler.

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?" There is also a reference to Comic-Con, when Sarah gives Chuck an engineered photo of he and Sarah cosplaying as Han Solo and Princess Leia from Star Wars (as the photo is supposed to have been taken on a visit to the convention - part of their cover story as boyfriend and girlfriend). She is shown at the Halloween party later actually wearing the same iconic "slave girl" Leia costume that she wore in the doctored photo.

The episode "Chuck vs. the Alma Mater" is also particularly rife with references: Chuck and Bryce are shown playing a game with rubber dart guns. This is a popular game on college campuses, known as "Assassin". When Chuck finds the disc his professor made, he says "Gotcha!", which is a reference to a 1985 movie about a college student who is playing a version of Assassin and gets embroiled in a real world of spies. There are also many references to J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings in this episode. Morgan compares Harry Tang to Sauron, and compares Chuck to Frodo Baggins. Also, when Harry Tang interrupts a staff competition involving the Buy More television wall, he holds up a Logitech Harmony Remote Model 880 and refers to it as "the one that controls them all", a parodic reference to the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings. While attempting to steal "the one remote" from Tang's locker, Morgan is betrayed by Lester, similar to how Frodo was betrayed by Boromir or by Gollum. Later, during a phone call with Chuck, Morgan refers to himself as "Samwise" (referring to Samwise Gamgee), prompting a customer to do so as well. Morgan finds himself imprisoned in "the Hole" (the Customer Service desk) by Tang; when he finds a way to disable Tang's remote, he offers to repair it for his freedom, quoting Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs ("Quid Pro Quo, Harry. Yes or no.") During the television-show-naming contest, Lester identifies an episode from The O.C.'s second season and muses it was "underrated". There are also additional references to Zork (Chuck was making his own version of it in college, leading up to Bryce saying "You are likely to be eaten by a grue") and Everquest. In many scenes at the Buy More there is also a poster of Mario and Luigi.

In the episode "Chuck vs. the Truth", Sarah suggests that their relationship advance to the next level: sexual intercourse. In response, Chuck chokes on his coffee, and mutters the phrase "hot coffee", a humorous reference to the controversial mini game mod in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Music

For a list of music by episode, see List of music from episodes of Chuck
  • Because of The O.C.'s musical influence and success, Chuck creator Josh Schwartz has made it a point to give Chuck the same kind of influential and intense indie/alternative soundtrack. Alexandra Patsavas, previously The O.C.'s music supervisor, mixed the tracks for the first thirteen episodes.
  • Theme Song - Cake - "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (First used in "Chuck Versus the Tango", episode 3); only non-lyric portions of the song are used, however.
  • In the episode "Chuck vs. the Helicopter", the musical scoring towards the end of the episode at the port and during the helicopter sequence makes reference to one of the main themes from the orchestral score of the movie The Bourne Identity.
  • In the episode "Chuck vs. the Sandworm," Chuck asks Sarah to stay in his room in order to fool Awesome and Ellie into thinking that they are making out. When she asks how long, he says, "48 minutes and 12 seconds," which he explains is the length of the first album by The Arcade Fire (Funeral). Chuck describes the album as an "audio aphrodisiac."

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] NBC gave the series an early pick-up and a thirteen-episode order on May 10 2007.[8]

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.[6][9] Relative newcomer Yvonne Strahovski, an Australian, was chosen for the female lead role of CIA agent Sarah Kent in the same month.[10] 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.[11] Morgan's surname was later changed to "Grimes".

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.

Broadcast history

The world premiere of the pilot aired on July 27, 2007 at Comic-Con International in San Diego.[12] 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.[3][13] The pilot was leaked onto torrent websites on July 22 2007.[14]

International distribution

The series will air on Nine Network in Australia and CityTV in Canada.

In Latin America it's broadcasted every Wednesday on Warner Channel[15][16]

Online distribution

Subject to an aggressive marketing campaign by NBC, the pilot episode will be released for purchase and viewership from September 10 2007 onwards across a broad range of mediums from satellite broadcasting to popular social networking websites such as Facebook. The first episode of the show will be shown on United Airlines flights and be freely distributed on video on demand on about 30 cable and satellite systems including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Dish Network. By September 17, the American public will also be able to view the season premiere on Yahoo. Purchase of the pilot will also be available from Amazon Unbox, again to American audiences only (restriction based on credit card billing address).[17] Furthermore, despite NBC not renewing their contract with iTunes, Chuck and Journeyman are available because they are not properties of NBC Universal (Chuck is produced by Warner Bros. Television, while Journeyman is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.)

Reception

Comparisons to other media

Advertising of the show initially portrays the program as bearing strong similarities to UPN's canceled series Jake 2.0 [citation needed]. 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.[6] 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.[18]

Weekly ratings

# Episode Air Date Rating[19] Share[19] 18–49 (Rating/Share)[19] Viewers (m)[19] Rank (#)
1 "Pilot" September 24, 2007 5.8 9 3.6/9 9.28 ?
2 "Chuck vs. The Helicopter" October 1, 2007 5.0 8 3.2/8 8.39 ?
3 "Chuck vs. The Tango" October 8, 2007 4.5 7 2.7/7 7.22 ?
4 "Chuck vs. The Wookiee" October 15, 2007 5.0 8 3.3/8 8.23 ?
5 "Chuck vs. The Sizzling Shrimp" October 22, 2007 4.4 7 2.9/7 7.24 ?
6 "Chuck vs. The Sandworm" October 29, 2007 4.2 7 2.8/7 7.14 ?
7 "Chuck vs. The Alma Mater" November 5, 2007 4.6 7 3.2/8 7.66 ?
8 "Chuck vs. The Truth" November 12, 2007 4.6 7 3.0/7 7.56 ?
9 "Chuck vs. The Imported Hard Salami" November 19, 2007 ? ? ? ? ?
10 "Chuck vs. The Nemesis" November 26, 2007 ? ? ? ? ?

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.[20] 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.[21] NBC is reportedly expected to spend about $8 million in total promoting the show.[22]

References

  1. ^ http://www.nbc.com/Fall_Preview/Chuck/ NBC
  2. ^ Chuck television listings on The Futon Critic
  3. ^ 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)
  4. ^ IMDB - Banlieue 13
  5. ^ Development Update: Wednesday, January 3, The Futon Critic
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ Development Update: Thursday, January 25, The Futon Critic
  8. ^ 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)
  9. ^ Development Update: Thursday, February 8, The Futon Critic
  10. ^ Development Update: Monday, February 12, The Futon Critic
  11. ^ Development Update: Friday, March 16, The Futon Critic
  12. ^ "Full Comic-Con Schedule Online!". ComingSoon.net. 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ "Massive Leak of Pre-Air TV Shows: Piracy or Promotion?". TorrentFreak. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  15. ^ "New US shows set to hit Aussie TVs". Australian Associated Press. 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2007-06-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Citytv roster of shows". Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  17. ^ 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)
  18. ^ Dahl, Oscar (2007-07-27). "2007 Comicon: Chuck Screening and Panel". BuddyTV. Retrieved 2007-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ a b c d "Your Entertainment Now Blog". Word Press.
  20. ^ NBC Digital Entertainment announces second season of cutting-edge interactive entertainment, The Futon Critic
  21. ^ "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)
  22. ^ 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)
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