Thanks to NBC’s early previews of their new fall lineup I recently sat down to take a look at their new dramedy Chuck. From creators Josh Schwartz, of The O.C., and Chris Fedak comes the tale of Chuck Bartowski, played by Zachary Levi, a nerd who works for the Nerd Herd at an electronics retailer (think of the Geek Squad you find at Best Buy’s). It seems that Chuck now has all of the intelligence secrets of the US stored in his brain when he opened an e-mail from an old college roommate that happened to be a CIA spy.
Knowing that Chuck holds the key to a lot of their secrets, the CIA and NSA launch separate investigations into Chuck’s life, attempting to determine whether he is working for an enemy of the country. On the CIA we have Agent Sarah Walker, played by Yvonne Strahovski, who seduces Chuck in order to find out more about him. For the NSA we’ve got Agent John Casey, played by Adam Baldwin, who has a more direct and lethal approach.
The show is fast-paced and a fun to watch, but needs to be taken with a grain of salt. To believe that an email containing thousands of images with state secrets could somehow be stored in the mind of a person is a bit of a stretch, but once you get over that you’re hooked in for the ride. Thankfully the show doesn’t take itself too seriously so you’re not sitting there getting frustrated it at. It knows and accepts its boundaries and so should the viewer.
The supporting cast also helps lend credibility and grounding to Chuck and his adventures. His sister Ellie, played by Sarah Lancaster, wants nothing more than for Chuck to find a nice girl and ditch his best friend Morgan, played by Joshua Gomez, his co-worker and playmate in nerddom. it will be interesting to see how Chuck balances his new life as a spy with his day job and friends and family. But if the producers are able to continue the pilots pacing and dialogue then they should find some success. Chuck’s definitely one of the new shows I’ll continue to watch this season.