Chuck Up!

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | January 11, 2010 | +

There actually is some good news for NBC today, even if, naturally, it comes from a show that the network was once on the verge of ensuring would never see another season. The double-shot season premiere of Chuck got the spy comedy-drama its best ratings since its 3D stunt episode last year.

Celebrate, but don’t relax prematurely—after all, Chuck’s near cancellation came after that huge 3D show last year and a subsequent fall-off in the ratings. But it’s the only good news NBC has had from a scripted show in a while, and considering how the bar for renewal must be lower at post-Jay Leno Show NBC, the chances are looking good that we may be able to keep Chuck on the air even without eating Subway sandwiches.

Related Topics: chuck, TV Ratings, Uncategorized

@TIMECulture

Latest on Entertainment

Review May 23, 2012

Glee Watch: NYADA, NYADA, NYADA

Spoilers for the season finale of Glee below:

One beef I often have with Glee episodes is that they move too fast, go in too many directions, try to cram in too much at once. You might say that about “Goodbye,” the season 3 finale, but in this case that approach seemed about right. It’s an episode about graduation, and graduation is something that, no matter how much you plan for and anticipate it, still goes too fast. Graduating is something you do, but in the moment it feels like something that happens to you, suddenly and all at once, like going over a waterfall.
From our Partners
Adele Crosses Huge MilestoneHuffington Post

Community, the Video GameSlate
Critics Consensus: Battleship Is All WetRotten Tomatoes
Dancing with the Stars: Season 14, Episode 17 May 23, 2012

Dancing with the Stars Watch: The Last Dance

Kelly Clarkson and Gladys Knight perform before the winner of the 14th season of Dancing with the Stars is announced

charlieromeobravo

Speaking of Subway, I thought that part of what helped Chuck get renewed was a deal they made with Subway. I saw the initially confusing car commercial with Ellie, Morgan and Awesome but I didn’t notice any special considerations for Subway last night when I watched the first episode. Did the Subway thing fall through? Rumor was that Sarah would be working at Subway as her new cover…
mchristiansen

From Alan Sepinwall:

The much-publicized deal where Subway would help finance the new season in exchange for more prominent product integration wasn’t finalized when these early episodes were shot, so Subway won’t be an on-camera presence until later in the run.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2010/01/chuck-chuck-vs-pink-slip-chuck-vs-three.html
charlieromeobravo

Ah, I see. thanks for the info. It looks like NBC managed to sneak in a deal with Honda though huh? My wife and I were watching and it took us a bit to figure out that that the Ellie, Morgan, Awesome road trip was a commercial. Pretty clever.

It’s funny. I’m sure a lot of working actors used to think “Woo, I landed a regular role on a network television show. Now I won’t have to do commercials to make ends meet!” Thems was the olden days :-) People talk about how news papers are dying but it isn’t a picnic on the big three networks either, especially over at the National Broadcasting Clusterf***.
http://collegegradrealworld.net jtemplon

I never watch commercials and I took the time to watch the Honda commercials with Ellie, Morgan and Awesome. I thought they were a great idea. The Crosstour got some good publicity there.
antilles13

Wasn’t the 3-D episode on a Sunday too? Um, so why not just move it to Sunday nights again (post-NBC-football sundays, of course)?
doubleang

thank god, i can only stomach Subway every year or two
alalia

I think you’re right, or perhaps it got moved to a later time on Monday? I seem to remember watching it at 9pm. Part of Chuck’s rating issues come from being at 8pm on Mondays. It’s a tough spot given the comedies on CBS,and it was nice having something to actually watch on Sunday night besides Masterpiece Classic. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Masterpiece theater.) I think Sunday might be a better night for Chuck.
van68

Three episodes into Season 3, I’m not terribly impressed. I was a big Chuck fan in S1, and only slightly less so last year, but the Sunday and Monday shows felt badly padded and much too preoccupied with the Chuck/Sarah romantic tension. (One other nitpick: Could the writers come up with an alternate word for “spy”? I lost track of how many times Chuck, Casey, Sarah, Carina, Devon and everyone else used that term. We get it; you’re spies. Move on.)

On the other hand, that Honda ad was awesome (!), less for its specific content than for its heraldic potential moving forward. I was blowing through the commercials on my DVR and actually stopped, rewound, and watched about half the spot before realizing it was a Honda ad — and even after that realization, I went on to watch the whole thing. I wasn’t even angry at being jerked around; instead, I was kind of impressed. If more sponsors can put that kind of effort into their spots, commercial TV might have a chance.
Dave

Not only have I been impressed with the genius of the Honda ad cross-promotion, but I thought they’ve been really entertaining. Does anyone know if they’ve been playing the Chuck-Honda-Olympics ad during any other shows? I think folks seeing some of the chemistry just the supporting actors have would do really good things for the show.

The look on Ellie’s face while Awesome and Morgan were crying and singing was just priceless.

This seems like a much, MUCH better way to do ad integration than the way they did Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy a few years ago. Integrating the show into the commercial > integrating the commercial into the show.