A Second Chance for Chuck and Life
For some of us, this is the week when the TV season truly begins, with the welcome return of a handful of shows that were abruptly cut short in their freshman season by the writers' strike, but were (to the surprise of many) given a reprieve by their networks, which still sees potential in them.
First up is one of the best: NBC's delightful spy spoof
Chuck, which got a further vote of confidence when NBC gave the show a full-season renewal before the first episode even aired. Having breezed through the first three episodes, I'm with NBC on this decision. No one's expecting ratings miracles in one of the week's toughest time periods- with competition including ABC juggernaut
Dancing With the Stars, two of CBS's best comedies, Fox's
Terminator, the CW's
Gossip Girl (ironically, also from
Chuck executive producer Josh Schwartz) and the estimable
Monday Night Football franchise on ESPN, which presumably shares much of this show's target audience. But NBC is clearly going to give this one time to catch on. And given the problems the network is having on other nights (especially on Wednesdays, where the execrable
Knight Rider sputtered like a jalopy on its opening night),
Chuck could and should find a safer or more prominent perch before long.
It certainly deserves to. From the opening moments, when our charmingly geeky hero is being dangled from a building as he spills out a season's worth of exposition (a nod to the show being out of sight if not out of mind for months),
Chuck re-establishes itself as classic TV escapism- with classically enjoyable animated credits to boot. It's a funny, smart, stylish, silly action comedy, a hoot with heart, pure entertainment that mixes danger, humor and romance in a satisfying package.
In the title role, Zachary Levi proves it really is hip to be square (the name of the Huey Lewis standard he wakes up to). Chuck is a TV-adorable mensch, leader of the Buy More "nerd herd" who, after a college setback- it's a long story- was content to coast through life, fixing computers and playing computer games with his clingy pal Morgan (the hilarious Joshua Gomez), until a twist of fate caused an actual computer database of top-secret government information to be downloaded into his brain. Now he's "the most important intelligent asset in the world," and he's constantly on the run from secret agents and assassins and other refugees from
24-land. To protect him, he has two secret-agent babysitters: one gruff and scary (Adam Baldwin's amusingly tightly-wound Casey from the NSA), one lithe and lovely (Yvonne Strahovski as the alluring Sarah of the CIA).
The situation is comically dire as the new season begins. With a new computer "intersect" about to go online, Chuck's unique status as a living computer is about to be phased out. He seems happy at the thought of getting his normal life back, but it's pretty evident he's kind of digging the spy life. (Levi especially shines whenever he adopts the suave James Bond-ian persona of "Charles Carmichael," his wannabe alter ego.) Chuck and Sarah, pretending to be a couple, naturally have fallen for each other, which complicates the end game as well. Sarah bucks Chuck up, telling him he can do anything, urging him to use his spy adventures as a catalyst to raise his sights beyond the Buy More (where the antics often get so goofy it threatens to become a drag on the show).
The downside to Chuck's new lease on life is that it also carries a death sentence, with Casey under orders to eliminate Chuck when the new model boots up. Most weeks, Casey looks like he'd be happy to throttle Chuck, but even this grumpy straight arrow has to acknowledge Chuck has stepped up as a hero. What's a patriot to do?
Tonight's season opener is full of twists and reversals of fortune as it veers between adventure and comedy- Michael Clarke Duncan is a riot as the imposing villain-of-the-week "Mr. Colt"- ending with a shocker that resets the entire season. (Next week's episode, with terrific guest turns by John Larroquette as a soused agent and Melinda Clarke as a "black widow" Russian temptress, concludes with another jaw-dropper.)
Chuck is a terrific way to start Monday night, and the offbeat crime drama
Life is a great way to finish at 10/9c. (
Life is airing original episodes on Mondays and Fridays for two weeks to give it some extra exposure before settling in to its tough regular time period of Friday at 10/9c.)
Life and its star Damian Lewis (
Band of Brothers) grew on me slowly last season, and now I find the quirkiness of the cop and his methods more intriguing than off-putting. (They seem to be downplaying some of his more annoying and precious traits, but not at the expense of his character.)
With intensity leavened by bursts of unpredictable wit, Lewis plays Charlie Crews, a cop who was unjustly convicted of murder and sent to prison, where he spent years in solitary (for his own protection) developing a Zen philosophy and a yen for fruit. Now released with a sizable payoff from the city, he's a little fruity himself in his odd habits- like walking out of new boss Donal Logue's office in the middle of a thought, or flashing a sudden tight grin at a suspect that hints at some devilish intent. He's a source of irritation but also a grudging pride in his partner Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi), whose own policeman father appears to have had some role in Charlie's frame-up.
Life operates on two tracks: following Charlie's dogged attempts to solve the case that changed his life while he readjusts to life and the job. (Watch him struggle to figure out a public washroom with automated fixtures in tonight's episode. He's almost like an alien.) I'd like to see the writers wrap up Charlie's big-picture mystery before long, because
Life works just fine as a sunny but sinister L.A. procedural and character study. It doesn't need a continuing storyline to sell itself (and possibly limit its audience).
The season opener, which involves the creepy discovery of a series of bodies stuffed inside trunks scattered around the city, is a terrific puzzle that takes advantage of L.A.'s sprawling topography. (One trunk is found in the riverbed, which contains no water.) It also becomes a meditation on the nature of happiness, which plays into Charlie's Zen outlook and his partner Reese's disgruntlement.
Life is not helped by its generic title, by being part of an overall glut of crime drama (most aren't this distinctive) and by being scheduled opposite CBS's equally diverting Friday hit
Numb3rs. Surviving the sophomore jinx won't be easy, but if you're in the market tonight for a crime drama that won't insult your intelligence, consider giving
CSI: Miami a week off. As I said earlier, I'm not expecting miracles. That's life.
