Not so long ago, before NBC was the total television wasteland it is today, “Chuck” aired on Monday nights. However, the show ended two years ago after a lengthy battle with cancellation. For a while, it looked like “Chuck” was going to stew in the television purgatory of quality shows no one remembers. But through some act of God, “Chuck” has made it onto Netflix, which is essentially where TV shows go to be resurrected. As “Chuck” was and still is one of my favorite TV shows, I thought I would sing its praises a little bit.
The show chronicled the story of the Charles “Chuck” Bartowski, an employee at an electronics store who accidentally has thousands of government secrets downloaded into his brain via email. These secrets make him an invaluable government asset. A team of agents is then assigned to protect him and use him to save the country and/or world from various threats. Obviously, this does not work out as well as everyone wants it to and hijinks ensue. Over the course of its five seasons “Chuck” saw its two main protagonists fall in love, quite a few international incidents and more familial issues than a Manson family reunion.
Yet the show still managed to be a unique blend of comedy, spy action/adventure and drama. The fluidity of the relationships within the show changed relatively constantly, and while there was certainly a formula viewers could detect after the first couple of seasons, the moving parts within the formula were varied enough that its flaws were forgivable.
The relationship between Chuck and his CIA handler Sarah is especially pivotal. Throughout the series their relationship fluctuates into the traditional will-they-won’t-they territory, but unlike most relationships of the sort, it’s actually really hard to guess what happens between them until it actually happens. Chuck has his obligatory four-episode girlfriend for a couple seasons and Sarah responds every time with a boyfriend of her own. However, there is always something just below the surface between them. As the show went on it became more predictable, but it’s probably still one of the better TV relationships ever portrayed.
The supporting cast is also golden. Adam Baldwin plays the hell out of Colonel John Casey and Joshua Gomez, Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky are just the right amount of stupid and endearing as Chuck’s coworker friends. Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin also do a great job as Chuck’s sister and her husband, lovingly nicknamed “Captain Awesome.”
Finally, “Chuck” got all of the little things right. The soundtrack is impeccable and the guest stars even more so. The show did a great job of bringing in actors and actresses with great acting pedigrees, like Linda Hamilton and Timothy Dalton, who can carry the plot forward while tickling every nerd’s funnybone. The show realized the irony of bringing in Hamilton to play Chuck’s overprotective mother after playing Sarah Connor in the “Terminator” franchise and having Dalton play a bumbling secret agent after making his acting bones as James Bond.
While “Chuck” started to drag on a bit during the last part of its run, my love for the earlier seasons prevents me from reading too much into it. After all, 99 out of every 100 comedies and dramas get precipitously worse after season three or four. For every “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” there’s a “Dexter,” an “Entourage” and every Chuck Lorre show ever produced (see “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”).
So next time you’re wandering aimlessly on Netflix, give “Chuck” a shot. You won’t regret it.
Are you looking forward to endless “Chuck” marathons too? Let Jake know at smasal@wisc.edu.
