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NBC

Tonight at 8:00pm Chuck premieres on NBC. Of all the new shows debuting over the next couple weeks, this is one of my three favorites. From Josh Schwartz, creator of The OC (don’t call it that), comes this tale of a big-box electronics store employee who unknowingly downloads the entire archive of the NSA and CSI into his brain when a former college roommate and current spy sends him the information in an email. LET THE HILARITY ENSUE! Needless to say, Chuck is pretty relaxed about the whole plausibility angle, and rightly so. The series is quick, funny and if not action-packed, then certainly action-subsidized. More after the jump…

In what was certainly a “get me a Jim Halpert type” casting session, Zachary Levi plays Chuck, a late-twenties slacker living with his parents, working retail, and unsure about which direction to take his life. Levi’s performance is big when it needs to be and aloof much of the rest of the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if NBC is trying to trademark this very persona so that it can be ever-present in all of its programming. Luckily Mr. Levi never gives the camera a knowing glance during Chuck’s premiere episode, but that isn’t to say it won’t happen in weeks to come.

Chuck’s best bud, Morgan, works with him at the store and is a source for much, though certainly not all, of the episode’s comic relief. What’s funny is comparing this dynamic to the retail-working duo over on The CW’s Reaper, which premiere’s tomorrow. There a twenty-something slacker living his parents and working a non-branded Wal-Mart learns that he isn’t a spy but an indentured servant for the devil. He also has a punch-line heavy best bud and co-worker. The two shows aren’t really anything alike aside from their nearly identical setups. I suppose if fans of cop shows can have dozens of iterations of the same procedural, fans of retail employment can have a couple shows of their own.

But back to Chuck. The episode takes much of its runtime getting everything in order for future episodes, though still manages to find time for Chuck to work a mission. It’s pretty efficient storytelling. Most signs point to future episodes being a tad more spy-oriented with the obvious will they or won’t they tension between our hero and the lovely CSI agent trying to protect him (Firefly fans will enjoy Adam Baldwin as the NSA agent also keeping his eye on the Nerd Herd leader).

With the exception of How I Met Your Mother, Chuck is requisite television for a Monday, and don’t let the “Directed by McG” credit scare you away. Sure, he actually calls himself “McG” (pronounced Mah-guh), but he did direct the first Charlie’s Angels movie (of course, he also directed the second, but let’s not think about that) and despite what you may remember it about it, it was pretty freaking great: Bill Murray, Crispin Glover, silliness, punching and kicking… sounds like a winner!

Either way, check out Chuck tonight on NBC.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Chuck, NBC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.