Another excellently twisty Chuck this week: Bartowski tackled his first solo asset-gathering mission — not that Sarah and Casey weren’t right behind him. Read the full post.
Feb 1
2010
11:24 PM ET
The 'Chuck' disconnect: High quality, low buzz? UPDATED
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I began watching Chuck last year and loved it. I have convinced 5 other friends to watch. BUT as we live in Canada we don’t count in the ratings. I am sure there are a lot of fans around the world who watch but are also not apart of the count. Perhaps we should start a letter writing campaign and send “Chuck” postcards (using this season’s Chuck poster were he is Kung-fu-ing the baddies) to NBC to show our support this extremely well written and acted show to indicate how many fans there really are out there!
Thank you EW for supporting Chuck in your weekly updates as there is very few articles written about Chuck in any other magazine that I have seen.
@ Saul, I agree that most of the buzz Chuck does generate is on the Internet. I don’t know maybe because I’m in it and actively search for things related to Chuck, I often see/read the online support. It’s a bit disheartening though when you see the ratings the next day after an episode that more people are not watching. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that for the most part the ratings and demos are holding steady but the show is so fantastic that I truly believe if the average viewer gave it half the chance (as say they would for most ‘reality’ shows ), they would love it as well. Hopefully one day the online support will translate into mainstream support via other media means including the ratings.
I like Chuck very much. First year to watch it steady. Do love the episodes with Brandon Routh. Can hardly wait for next one he is on. Since Chuck writers and producers like to put actors from Science Fiction shows on the program, get the guys from Star Gate, and Star Trek on as guests also. Like, Marina Sirtis, and Richard Dean Anderson, and Amanda Tapping. I agree, that Chuck should go back to Sunday night, and put the Football back on Monday night.
Love Chuck. Series should go to another day though. NBC doesn’t need Dateline on two nights. Put it on Wed. or Thurs. at 8pm. Love the episodes with Brandon Routh, as Daniel Shaw. Hope they can get some some of the actors from the Stargate and Star Trek universes to come on. Like Marina Sirtis, and Robert Picardo, and, Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson, and Michael Strange.
I love this show. I think part of the buzz problem is that people aren’t watching other NBC shows and therefore don’t get exposed to this show by way of commercials during the week.
Chuck is a pretty great show in a terrible time slot. Move Chuck to the Heroes time slot on Monday and watch the ratings soar! There is just too much competition at 8PM. Plus NBC needs to bring on a better campaign for it. I love the show but I always DVR it in favor of the far superior HOUSE. If NBC wants to keep Chuck around -and I hope they do – then they need to put it in a time slot that will allow it to gain an audience.
I’ve developed an anti-NBC bias over the last several years, so I don’t plan to check out “Chuck.” (I confess I have watched “Trauma” though.) It all started when they turned “E.R.” into the horrible soap-opera-y train wreck that it became. I did like “The Office” but then they used it as a vehicle to cross-market “The Biggest Loser” which turned me off. They were the only network to charge for on-demand cable viewing of their shows, the cheapskates. Every good show they have, they ruin. Every franchise they have, they run into the ground (I mean you, SNL.) Then there’s the certain point of view about the world, some call it politics, which infect far too many of their show scripts. So yes, I’m pretty much done with the Peacock. (Sorry Chuck, on another network I might give you a chance.)
I don’t know why NBC doesn’t do more of a media blitz. They have such a good looking cast, they need to put them in places that so that their pictures end up in People and on OMG etc. Shallow yes, but an effective way to get viewers. Worked for Heros and Gossip Girls.
NBC will likely pair Chuck up with a new spy comedy from J.J. Abrams that’s due next fall. If they can do it on a day where the youth demo isn’t, you know, watching House and How I Met Your Mother, it might do even better. I was talking to a guy who works at an NBC station, and he said he feels like Chuck is the only show that actually actively brings viewers to the network.
If they can renew Parks and Recreation, they definitely need to renew Chuck — and now. It’s a great show. I’ve gotten a few people turned on to it. I watch it, I DVR it. Hey, do we know what the DVR numbers are? Sorry if it was answered earlier. Chuck is the only show I watch on NBC. If they cancel it, I’m done with that network.
I like Chuck a lot, but I’d never miss House. So I watch House and see Chuck on cable on demand afterwards. I’d like to see it moved to Sunday night when the only shows I watch are on HBO.
Chuck is still the best show on TV and has been since it’s first episode: best ensemble, music, writing, acting and action. It also continues to be the most neglected. Chuck never ever got the advertising it deserved. Sometimes I think Chuck is too good for audiences who miss it’s pop culture references and witty writing. NBC needs to up the advertising and back up it’s best show.
The trouble is that the writers don’t know what they want. Do they want a savvy, sophisticated geek comedy with a sweet romance, or do they want a soap opera? They’re idiots to keep trying to compete with The Bachelor in that time slot, by posing this ridiculous on-again/off-again romance between Chuck and Sarah. What kept my interest from Day One was the way this show embraced and loved geek culture, its wit and savvy, its use of the Buy Morons as comic relief. This show needs more Casey, more Jeffster, more Devon and Ellie (one of the sweetest couples on TV). What it does NOT need is more “Friends” type sexual tension. Yawn, yawn, yawn. If I want fake, sloppy romance I’ll watch The Bachelor. If I want angst and tension, I’ll watch House. I go to Chuck for comedy, and lately all I’m getting is a high school romance. If that’s the writers’ idea of mainstream, let it go back to what it does best–showcasing geek humor–and let it remain a “cult hit”. After all, some “cult hits”, like The X-Files, became mainstream hits too.
I want a relationship where I don’t meet a psycho online. Yeah…thats about right.
Now onto Chuck- I am an avid tv watcher n some I try n just don’t “get” some shows- Chuck being 1 of them. It’s 40 years too late 4 a James Bond spoof(In like Flint anyone) and the couple of times I saw it I couldn’t decide if it was a comedy or an actioner. SURE it COULD be both if done well- X-Files, Buffy, Dexter or Breaking Bad i.e.. But they have something Chuck is missing: an edge. And no not just the edge that comes from cable freedom. Just having Chuck be a Superspy is woefully antiquated in this time of deadly Jason Bournes, cynical James Bonds special effect laden actioners. It IS amusing- but not funny.
By the way I’ve only seen House once n “rather have needles put in my eyes” than see the Bachelor: On The Wings Of Mehhhh…