Question: I couldn't agree more with your review of Chuck! I absolutely love this new series. I love that a guy I know — because who doesn't know a guy like Chuck? — is able to save the day. Zachary Levi is a complete revelation. He is so wonderful in this role! I love the supporting cast as well. I find myself completely amused by the whole story, which is rare in today's television landscape. Looking forward to hearing good news about Chuck.
Answer: The really good news about Chuck is that tonight's third episode is the best yet. After a few episodes of setup that appear to have underwhelmed some early viewers (but which made sense to me, as Chuck adjusts to a world gone topsy-turvy and wonders whom if anyone he can trust), this caper really lets Zach Levi shine. And Adam Baldwin is hilarious, especially whenever he's forced to play "trainee" at the Buy More store. But like most shows so far this season, it's not what you'd call a breakout hit. Still, it's holding its own in a ver ...
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After that powerhouse pilot, I was a bit anxious the writing would not be able to hold up to that standard. This episode wasn't on the same level, but it had enough going for it that it was still a fun hour. I'll get the two not-so-fun moments out of the way first. The dinner party scene was almost painful to watch. I am not a big fan of awkward situational humor, so in that respect it was well done because it made me antsy. I was also a bit disappointed with the helicopter situation. Chuck should have figured out the computer-game angle on his own. Now for the good stuff, and there was plenty. The fight between Sarah and Casey was great. It was so over the top, but that's what made it so much fun to watch. She really handed him his butt, so his ego had to be bruised more than his body, which can clearly take a licking and keep on ticking. There was a good deal of humor based on Casey's tough guy status, such as chasing down the shoplifter, his stealth fighter comment and shrugging...
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Michelle Ryan, Skeet Ulrich, Masi Oka and Matt Dallas by Sean Smith/jpistudios.com
At the 38th Annual Comic-Con International, fans of the sci-fi and fantasy genres proved they're no longer on the fringe. The mammoth convention, held this past weekend at the San Diego Convention Center, attracted more than 125,000 people, and in a nod to the fact that the event has gone far beyond comic books, it has billed itself as "celebrating the popular arts." Movie studios and TV networks packed huge rooms with rabid fans eager for exclusive scoop and swag.On the first day it was officially confirmed that Zachary Quinto, Heroes' slithery villain Sylar, will indeed be playing Spock in the next Star Trek movie (opening Dec. 25, 2008). Director J.J. Abrams made the announcement during a Paramount Pictures panel, and in a symbolic passing of the ears, Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role on TV and in previous movies and will play an elder Spock in Abrams’ movie, joined the discussion. "People have been asking me why I’m doing this movie," Nimoy said. "We have a great...
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Zachary Levi as Chuck by Chris Haston/NBC Photo
The network of Heroes is going hero-crazy this fall. But two of NBC's more buzzed-about new genre series couldn’t be more different: a dark and disturbing "reimagining" of '70s superhero series Bionic Woman and the laugh-out-loud action-comedy Chuck, about a computer nerd whose brain is accidentally wired with government secrets, catapulting him into the spy game. Both were presented in back-to-back sessions at the TCA critics' press tour Tuesday morning.Of course, much of the latest Bionic buzz has focused on this week’s announcement that the ever-controversial Isaiah Washington is joining the show for an early five-episode arc as a mystery man brought into the secret bio-science organization that turned Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan in a new twist on the old Lindsay Wagner role) into a part-machine superhuman. It’s a casting stunt that at least a few journalists in the room feel could backfire. Executive producer Jason Smilovic defended the casting stunt by saying, &...
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NBC's 2007-08 lineup features the new dramas Journeyman (Mondays, 10 pm/ET), a romantic-mystery from the Emmy Award-winning producers of The West Wing, concerning a San Francisco newspaper reporter (Kevin McKidd, Rome) who inexplicably begins to travel through time and alter people's lives; and Chuck(Tuesdays, 9 pm/ET), a comedic spy thriller about an unassuming computer geek who is unexpectedly catapulted into a new career as a government agent after spy secrets are mysteriously embedded into his brain. Also new this fall is the drama Bionic Woman (Wednesdays, 9 pm/ET), a re-imagination of the classic from David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) and Jason Smilovic (Kidnapped). Bionic Woman stars Michelle Ryan (EastEnders) as a young woman who is radically altered and empowered after a car crash. Additionally, Life (Wednesdays, 10 pm/ET) features a complex police detective (Damian Lewis, Band of Brothers) who's given a second chance on the Force after serving years in prison for a crime h...
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The latest pilot developments, from Variety and the Hollywood Reporter:• ER's Shane West is one of the half-dozen clerks whose professional and personal lives are chronicled in Fox's Supreme Courtships.• Boston Legal's Mark Valley is one of the two leads in NBC's Business Class, playing a charismatic and thoroughly amoral traveling salesman. Legal partner Craig Bierko, meanwhile, is a newly single guy in the Fox comedy The Rules of Starting Over, which also stars The Office's Rashida Jones as a lawyer looking for a decent fella. Um, Jim Halpert?!• Jane Lynch (A Mighty Wind) has come on board Area 52, NBC's comedy about a secret government research site.• Less Than Perfect's Zachary Levi is NBC's Chuck, and Adam Baldwin (Day Break) is the NSA agent who recruits the computer geek for espionage work.• Rome's Kevin McKidd is NBC's Journeyman.• CBS likes The Man, CSI creator Anthony Zuiker's drama starring LL Cool J as an undercover L.A. cop, while ABC has p...
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