Zachary Levi in a season 3 promo for "Chuck," a show whose series finale airs tonight on NBC.If you had told me a few years ago that "Chuck" would be able to would merit good enough ratings to receive both five seasons and an end date in 2012, I wouldn't have believed you. Ever since the show premiered in September 2007, it seemed like it was constantly on the verge of cancellation. In season one, it could be argued that the only reason the show survived was due to the infamous WGA Writer's Strike that plagued the majority of the TV season. In season two, it was in a battle among NBC's other "bubble" shows as to who was going to obtain the limited number of slots the network had left once it foolishly decided to experiment with putting Jay Leno on primetime for five hours a week. And yet, with the help of a loyal fanbase that went so far as taking part in an ingenious campaign of targeting the show's main sponsor (Subway) and then buying a ton of their sandwiches, the show was able to fight off cancellation once again with a budget-cut third season.
On and on this pattern continued, with the show continuing to get good enough ratings to fight off the cancellation axe as most of the newer NBC shows in this time period tanked in the ratings (the latter part had more to do with it). Season three's thirteen episode order was bumped up for a back nine, then it got renewed again for a fourth season, then that season got a back nine, and then (with ratings dropping to an all-worst at 1.3) the show was finally renewed for a fifth and final season consisting of thirteen episodes, and placed on Friday night for it to die peacefully. And now here we are: January 27th, 2012 with NBC set to air the show's two hour series finale (the sixth different "finale" the series has had by my count) before forever pretending to ignore it's existence. If there are such things as miracles in the TV business, this would be one of them.
I've been one of those people that have enjoyed this low rated spy comedy since the very beginning. It was a show that pushed all of the right buttons of mine overtime, even though it wasn't always great. It was a both fun and light-hearted, with a good balance between the show's comedy aspect and espionage aspect, and a cast that was talented and very-likeable (and, in the case of Yvonne Strahovski, attractive). Overtime, you began to care deeply about these characters just as much as any show on TV would make you do. It had a lot of technology gags and pop culture references galore. It had some of the consistently best music playing in the background week after week, and even when it's budget was cut after season two, it's small scale action sequences still managed to be fantastic and impressively coordinated. If "The Big Bang Theory" (the highly rated CBS comedy that premiered at the same time as "Chuck" back when making shows about geeks was the hot new trend in TV) is a show that likes to poke fun at the quirkiness of its nerdy characters like Sheldon Cooper, "Chuck" was a show that embraced its nerd aspect, and made it enjoyable to all of those who stuck around.
As far as seasons go, season two would have to be my favorite. To me, there's no doubt about it. It had the best episodes ("Chuck vs. The Colonel" and "Chuck vs. The Ring" still remain two of my personal favorites), the best guest stars (Scott Bakula as Chuck's father, Chevy Chase as the evil villain Ted Roark, etc.), the best writing, the better structured-storyline, you name it. That season was so good that I remember at the time doing all I could to try to bring this show back: watching it live, watching the replays on Hulu, suggesting it to friends, taking part in the Subway campaign, you name it.
Seasons three and four were a downer compared to season two. Season three started out a bit underwhelming as I was not a fan of the Chuck-Sarah-Shaw-Hannah love quadrilateral, but I thought it rebounded in season 3.2 once Chuck and Sarah finally ended their "Will they, won't they?" phase and finally begun dating. Season four was probably the weakest that the show has ever done. Sure, it had it moments (Timothy Olyphant, the episodes "Chuck vs. The Push Mix" and "Chuck vs. Phase Three, for instance), but the acting was half-assed, the green screen was worse than usual, and the stories weren't as well thought out (the Vivian Volkoff storyline was probably the worst in the show's history). Luckily, the show has made a rebound this past season, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up later on tonight (in an interview with Alan Sepinwall, series co-creator Chris Fedak promised an ending that would be satisfying and cliff-hanger free). Hopefully the show could sneak in one last Jeffster singing montage and a few more Subway product placement before they inevitably bring everything to one, final happy conclusion.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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