A Statement About Chuck

As loyal readers know, Alias is one of my favorite shows.  Duh.  And until JJ and Jennifer get together to make a movie (which would really only work if Jack Bristow came back from the dead... We miss you Jack!), we'll have to settle for the intrigue of Lost, the angst of Mad Men, and the characterizations of How I Met Your Mother to get us through the night.

There are those who would argue that Chuck is a worthy successor to our beloved spy series; they would say that the mythology is as dense, the mysterious organizations are as threatening, the supporting characters are as engaging.

And to an extent, they would be right.

I have been skeptical about Chuck from the beginning, and started watching after Mr. Ausiello declared it the best comedy on television (for the record, he is wrong).  Anyway, there are things to love about this show, the characters being  one of them.  Chuck himself, the lovable Nerd Herd team leader who has had all of the United States government intelligence downloaded into his head (before the super terminal itself was destroyed, rendering him the only source of archived US intelligence... just go with it, people!), is infinitely relateable for the post Office Space generation; after having been kicked out of Stanford (long story), he has spent the better part of his twenties languishing in the Best Buy-esque Buy More, trying to figure out what next to do with his life.  His best friend is Morgan, the extreme loser-geek for whom Buy More is probably the last stop, but whose sense of humor, loyalty and cluelessness render him one of the best sidekicks since Marshall Flinkman.  Add in Chuck's beautiful and supportive sister Ellie and her exclamation spouting fiance Captain Awesome, (not to mention the rest of the Buy More staff), and you've got more likeable characters than exist on any other show on TV.

So what is there to be skeptical about?  Well, accepted plot absurdities aside, something is just not gelling on this show.  The ironically weak link is the whole CIA, undercover, Chuck-in-mortal-danger... plot.  In order to excuse the insanely hot CIA agent who has to watch him at all times, the cover is, naturally, that the two are in a romantic relationship.  Which is complicated by their actual feelings for each other and her professionalism... blah blah blah.  Except that there is very little chemistry between Chuck and his handler, Sarah (no Syd and Vaughn "Oh, you have a girlfriend?" moments here, kids!).  This is made more painfully evident by the sparkling chemistry between the actors playing Chuck and his sister Ellie... which is distracting to say the least.

As an action-comedy, Chuck succeeds as neither.  The action is neither hardcore nor particularly convincing, and the only funny characters are given very little screen time in their Buy More locale.  The comedy is clever, but again, not overwhelming.

Chuck is worth watching, but not worth watching with any sort of devotion.  Come for the Alias references, stay for the bright spots between plot points.