Be Excellent To Each Other

A friend just recommended it to me this weekend and I have found it to be utterly superb. You can keep all that Wire type nonsense, this stuff is much more fun.

It's about a nerd guy who fixes computers for a living at a big warehouse superstore thing. He gets an email one day which imprints in his mind every bit government secret info on terrorists spies etc. So if he sees something connected to this info, it'll often trigger a series of other connections for him to know something is going to happen that is bad. The two secret agents that work around him (Jayne from Firefly and some hott blonde girl who looks a bit like Cameron Diaz in The Mask sometimes) then get to work in stopping it.

It's played out for comedy mainly but has loads of great action too. It's from McG and is quite similar in styling to his Charlie's Angels work.

It's super exciting and is full of male nerd fantasy. It's pretty innofensive at the same time. It'd probably be 15 on DVD for violence though. Watch it. It's ace.

This promo gives a good feel for it:

I think it got mentioned in an American TV thread aeons ago, I'll have a look for it tomorrow as I'm half asleep now. I enjoyed it though.

It is excellent. I'm not sure if it was me who championed it here (I definitely mentioned it on STAG (stop that!)) but it is about the best that US TV can offer in 'light' shows. It's a great mix of A-team style action (no-one really bleeds or dies that much), hot chicks and witty dialogue. There's usually a sub plot involving Chuck's Nerd Herd mates (think PC World employees) and plenty of geek references. Try itm you might like it!

It's only £10 on Amazon. So I've bought it.

I really enjoy Chuck, it's just utterly amiable nonsense.

Pretty sure I did. I've been watching it since day one and been a big fan since the first episode. There's a gag about iPods and Zunes in series three that nearly made me laugh up a lung.

Chuck is superb - I'm sure I've mentioned it in one of the 'merkin TV threads.

Works largely due to the charms of the casting, but it's very well done and difficult to think of anything to criticise it for.

Series 3?!?!?!?!?Why didn't you tell me this has started again - it was me who got you into this IIRC

Yeah. It's a perfect example of what it is. Plus they keep find excuses to get Sarah down to her pants, or soaking wet, or soaking wet in her pants. Like the fight in the school in season 2 where -- OF COURSE -- the attractive female villian fights her, and OF COURSE they end up in the locker room showers, and OF COURSE all the pipes get broken.

They know their audience, I'll give them that.

And I meant series 2, DBSnappa, soz. Mistyped.

Yep, excellent isn't it? A recent guest star playing a straight laced (female) spy infiltrated a bachelor party as a stripper in a police uniform. Much sexiness ensued.

This show is every male nerd's fantasy.

The fact that Sarah dresses like this:



Most of the time must certainly show it is.

Torrents queued.

It looks like a good show from what I've seen of the pictures posted here.

It's fine. Like someone said, completely harmless fun. I still prefer "the big bang theory" for my nerd-comedy needs

That's ace, is that.

I have both series sitting on a HDD if you want them.

Oooh yeah, Yvonne Strahovski. WOOF. Ahem. The fact that she's super fit and seems to almost have a penchant for flashing her undercrackers is obviously a bonus.

The best thing is that both HC and my daughter think Chuck is awesome TV.

I'm glad you posted that, reading the comments in this tread I was beginning to wonder about myself for a minute!

POTW (for comedy in brevity).

That was Caprica 6(Tricia Helfer) who you'd think really shouldn't work as sexy, but she is and I don't normally like really skinny women.

Watched the first five episodes or so. It's... okay. Nice to see Adam Baldwin playing to his strengths again and I like the little pathologist from Dexter playing the evil assistant manager. In general the cast are likable enough, it romps along at a fair old pace, there's generally a couple of chuckles an episode and all in all it's a fairly pleasant way to fill 45 minutes but it's nothing remotely special. Doesn't grip me in the slightest.

So they get some chiselled guy and mess his hair about a bit and give him the cuntiest fucking voice in the universe and he's supposed to pass for your common or garden geek? Fuck off. That trailer alone is enough to ensure I never watch it. Man, he's annoying as all hell.

Both Government Yard and Rodafowa are horribly wrong. Mainly Government Yard. Yes he's not your average geek but it doesn't really matter. And I find him a thoroughly likeable chap anyway. The main thing is that it's tremendously good fun. It IS something incredibly special and makes me loudly laugh out loud several times an episode usually. I find it utterly utterly gripping. You can keep all that significant and clever Wire crap which didn't grip me in the slightest.

I think maybe it's that it's really targeted at a very specific audience. Probably.

I like The Wire and I like Chuck, there aren't really any useful comparisons to be drawn though. I like Chuck because it just all feels daft and quite innocent. Not really like a modern US comedy at all which generally seem to be either self-consciously edgy or worse, worst of all in fact fucking "kooky".

Ah, missing the point a tad, but I'd put that down to the trailer probably mis-selling (sp?)

I'd watch a couple of episodes first - but comedy is very subjective and Chuck isn't the new hotness, it's just a charmingly played well made ludicrous situation dramedy. There is no element of reality that isn't wilfully ignored mostly - it's probably closer to a nerd fantasy than anything.

It's no good trying to defend people with things like comedy is subjective.. you're just a rubbish failure if you don't think Chuck in of the best things ever. Obviously.

And being as TV shows are clearly the most important thing in the world, it makes you third rate citizen and you should be sent to guantanamo bay, well if it was still operating.

All this is absolute and total FACT.

Watched the first 3 episodes of S1 last night, and it was indeed rather entertaining.

See, Craster is a good person and not a COMPLETE FAILURE OF A HUMAN BEING LIKE GY and (to some extent but slightly less) RODAFOWA.

Well done Craster.

I have no time right now, maybe in the week.

Right, I've come to the conclusion that every TV programme ever aired would be well served by the addition of more Yvonne Strahowski.

Actually fuck it, same applies for Adam Baldwin.

For different reasons.

Well recovered

I've started watching this as I fall asleep, so far I haven't fell asleep before an episode's finished.

Adam Baldwin is now in two of my all time favourite shows. I finished watching Chuck S1 the other day. All of it was wonderful. Now all of you go buy the incredibly cheap DVD set that is actually quite packed with extras.

I like the show a lot. It has wonderful characters, funny jokes and beautiful people. There is nothing not to like.

EXCEPT! The product placement in it is insane. I can't help feeling that the truely brilliant writers have worked a miracle with the constraints the TV company must have put them in.

'We want a show set in a shop so that products can be advertised each week. And we want products or companies to feature as essential features in most plots. OK thanks get to it.'

But yet they've made a show I still think is ace.

For example the sponsorship for CALL OF DUTY TM is insane.
MORGAN: Hello Chuck would you like to play CALL OF DUTY with me tonight on line with its excellent online features.
CHUCK: Unfortunatly I am unable to.
MORGAN: But it is so much fun to play with these features: X, Y and Z.
CHUCK: Alas I can not.
MORGAN: Fine, I shall walk over to this large CALL OF DUTY ADVERT TMand then stand next to it.

And thats before the plot where they use CALL OF DUTY TM to solve all their problems. Or the plot where they feature plenty of adverts for the new MADDEN TM. Or the plot where Activision TM send Chuck and elite beta copy of CALL OF DUTY WORLD AT WAR TM because he works in a shop but he won't lend it to Morgan because he'll put it on the web and that is bad but Morgan wants to play this brilliant game so much. Or the time they go to the Atari office. Or the time that Morgan and Chuck love their $5 dollar meatball footlongs from SUBWAY.

It's like the show wants you to feel ok if you pirated it because it basically plays like an advert.

Remember - I think the show is one of the best things I've seen on TV for ages. But it does set a horrible precedent.

I have to say though, unless they're really stupidly annoying about it (which sometimes they admittedly are), I'd rather they were buying $5 meatball footlongs from Subway than from 'ObviouslySubwayButSlightlyRebrandedToUndergroundOrSomeShit'.

Excellent. Due to season 2 being toned down a bit from season 1, it's not quite as good. Still good though. Chuck Vs Suburbia was particularly good. I think 13 episodes is a good length for a series. Gets things moving a bit better so I am pleased it is reduced to that many really. I'd like to see it step up to 15 rated again really so they could shoot and stab people again, rather than shooting things to fall on people.

Ah, Season 2 is actually 22 episodes long. The finish is awesome sauce. It's just been confirmed that SIII has been commissioned though fuck knows what they're going to do with it.

Yeah, I linked that above. The S2 finale was excellent, though I'm a little unsure about the very end predictable 'twist'.

Chuck starts at 9pm tonight on Virgin one TV fans!

Incase you didn't want to be evil and download it. Though with the vast amount of product placement in it anyway....

I really didn't see the games stuff as product placement, I just thought they were being gamers. They didn't mention the worlds Call Of Duty any more than we do.

I did notice a fair bit of it, but didn't think any of it was out of place.

If we only ever talked about Activision Products sure.

Except for that one time when we were paid to do a sub plot about how excellent the new madden is.

But hang on I've just got to say advertising slogans from Subway whilst my boss eats one. For about a minute.

I love the show, I really love the show, but the product placement is foul. But it is the future depressingly. Apparently the 3rd season was commissioned only after Subway agreed to be a main contributor. There are rumours that this will lead to some characters working in a subway. Hmmm.

I'd far rather they worked in a subway than the usual fake "MeatAndCheeseInARollOMatic".

*cough cough*



No you wouldn't you nincoompoop!

Unless you are really turned on by horrible baggy green shirts.

EDIT: that attitude really bothers me. Fake companies in shows allows you to be satirical and entertaining. Look at GTA and imagine how much charm it would lose if it was all proper brands.

Weinerlicious had a name that made me laugh and awesome uniforms. Subway just forces more brand awareness down my throat.

Point to Lave.

Fuck me, only the fact that I forgot what the place was called prevented me from making exactly the same post twice in one thread.

Hell, I often search the forum to re-read something i half remember reading, and then once I've finished the interesting post in question I realise that I wrote it. Which is both vain and mental.

I've never ever had that problem.