Chuck

[Fellfrosch]

I could never get into this show, try as I may. If they pull an Alias with the next season (i.e., a complete change of setting and focus, which Alias did every season without losing the core characters or conflict), I might give it another shot.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Yeah, if they don't make major changes but just go back to the status quo, I will be sorely disappointed. The show was really going somewhere at the end of this season, and I want it to keep going there, not stall out. By ordering only 13 episodes, NBC could be prompting them to keep it edgy and moving like it was when they knew it was in danger of being canceled. (I'm thinking like the end of Jericho, which was awesome compared to the soap opera stuff in the middle of the first season.)

The Buy More was part of what we grew to love about the show, but I really think it is time to move on.

Dan, did you see much of the second season? Especially toward the end it was packed with so many geek references, it really was a treat.

[Fellfrosch]

After giving up on the early stuff, I came back just long enough to watch the episode with Tricia Helfer. It was better, but still bothersome.

[darxbane]

From what I have read, the Buy More will still be around to some extent.  Since the show is being asked to cut some expenses, big changes in scenery may not be possible.  One thing I won't like is if they keep stringing the Chuck/Sarah romance along (which I hear is going to happen).  I don't care if they get together or not, just choose one or the other already!

[Bookstore Guy]

i love this show, but i doubt it will last more than next season. they wont show it until March of next year, which is an absurdly long wait for a show of this nature. it feels like they felt obligated to pick it (justifiably so) due to the feedback from viewers, but they didn't want to get FULLY on board with the show. So now casual viewers will forget all about the show, and it will get canceled.

as for cutting costs, they have mentioned that most of it will have to do with the supporting characters - aka Buy More. Which is fine. Buy More was awesome, but it ran it's course.

All I ask is that when they DO finally air season 3 (only 13 episodes so ordered so far) that they give it a satisfying ending.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

The Buy More is a huge standing set and I think it would cut tons of expenses for them to get rid of it.

[Renoard]

IT probably wouldn't cost all that much, just move out the cartons and junk, move in new junk.  Buy more becomes a whole new venue, like a college library, or a corporate drone cube-tract like the one in Matrix.  They could auction off the V-Dubs for a pretty big chunk of change and keep the grips in donuts for a long time.

[Bookstore Guy]

oh im sure getting rid of that set-piece would cut a nice chunk out of their expense. I say they should do both. cut some of the character's parts, and get rid of the buy more. I don't see why they cant have good 'ol Chuck start up a business with his buddies. He still has a cover, he sets up a future life for himself, and we get to have him and the side characters we like in one smaller setting. it also fits the Chuck character to start up his own business - the whole "take control of my own life" thing. It could be sweet, and it would let us focus more on the chuck with the new intersect.

[darxbane]

Is it really not going to air until March?  I thought a half-season would start after sweeps in late January.  If they start in March they would have to show all 13 episodes with not weeks off in order to be done in May with everything else.

As for the set, the Buy More is already constructed and paid for, for the most part.  It would be more expensive to break it down and build a new set than to leave as it is.  In any case, I think they dropped the ball on this one.  They should have never left it up against House.  They should have reversed Chuck and Heroes, or moved it to Thursdays.  It is a comedy, after all, and I'm sure Parks and Recreation will suck.

[little wilson]

So. Who else is watching the premiere tonight? 'Cause I totally am going to, and the promo is making it look mighty fine.

[ryos]

First: YAY CHUCK! I love this show.

Second, I must admit I'm a bit puzzled by some of the decisions they made. It's almost like the writers, knowing they might get canceled, pulled out all the stops and changed everything up and made an ending that could stand on its own. Then, when they got renewed, went, "Oh crap! Now we've gotta put everything back the way it was, lest we upset the core audience by changing up the formula!" Down this road lies stagnation, people.

Sarah's reasons for why she can't be with Chuck make no sense. They're spies, not Jedi; what's to say they can't have a love life? I also wish Chuck would buckle down and learn to handle himself without the Intersect, but that may be asking a bit much.

Also: AWESOOOOOOOME! NOOO!

[Pink Bunkadoo]

"Oh crap! Now we've gotta put everything back the way it was, lest we upset the core audience by changing up the formula!"

I got that feeling too.  I was looking forward to things being a little different.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I was looking forward to them changing it up. I'm disappointed that they didn't. Almost very disappointed. They took the safe way out. They've also made Chuck's new intersect abilities different from the way they used to work. When he would flash on someone, he would KNOW that information. He wouldn't forget it some unspecified period of time later. Whereas now when he flashes a skill, he forgets it (an unspecified amount of time later) and has to re-flash when he needs the skill again. Lame. I understand why they did it—Chuck would have become too powerful—but it's inconsistent.

That said, it's still Chuck. It's fun to watch. The explanations for how things went back to status quo are plausible in the universe, though the relationship thing is, I think, an in-character misunderstanding (I think Chuck flashes better when he has someone to protect, and once they realize that they can have a normal relationship).

Karen said, before we watched it, that she would be happy if they made Chuck's skills like Ralph's in Greatest American Hero—great when they work, but something often gets screwed up. Which is basically what they did, so it's fine.

However, the run-up to the end, and the end of season two, was transcendant. Chuck became a truly great show on many many levels. If it had ended that way, I would have been truly happy. I was happy, thinking it was the ending. But the network realized it was a good show and didn't cancel it, so now there's more of Chuck to milk. Which is fine—we'll watch it and enjoy it—but it illustrates the common failure in American television storytelling.

There may never be an American television show as good as Cowboy Bebop. When you can set out to tell a story the way you want, with a beginning, middle, and end, and then do exactly what you want, the potential for greatness is higher than when you just keep making more as long as something is popular.

Heroes season 1 was great. Lost season 1 was great. The very beginning and the last half of Jericho was great. Day Break was great (though the last half of that had to be watched online). In this country, great shows either 1. get canceled before they can go anywhere or 2. get renewed after they go somewhere and then get horribly lost.

[mtlhddoc2]

wow Peter..


Ditto.

Except for the Bebop stuff cause I havent seen it.

and you left off Nathan Fillion's show Drive. Which was awesome, truly original- even with a Cannonball run feel to it.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Drive had problems (for one, it was really obvious the highway they were driving on was in San Bernardino, not Florida or wherever else they were supposed to be that day), but it is indeed another example of the network screwing us over.