CHUCK Premiere

In the spring of 2005, I knew The Office was gonna be hot. In the Fall of 2005, I knew Prison Break was gonna be hot. In 2006, I was looking forward to Friday Night Lights and Heroes (both of which I haven't watched beyond the pilot, but they got buzz from critics and fans for being high quality shows). I watched most everything new in each of those seasons, but I targeted those shows as the ones I knew I'd like.

This fall, I'm looking forward to two shows: CW's Reaper and NBC's Chuck.

My cable company's On Demand feature has some of NBC's pilot episodes, and I was able to check out Chuck tonight.

I think I got it "right" again-- this is a show I'll be watching all season.

Zachary Levi (formerly the great "Kipp Steadman" in the not-so-great Less Than Perfect) plays Chuck. He's a nerd; in fact, he's a member of the Best Buy-esque's "Nerd Herd" tech department. Chuck's old college roommate, who went on to be a CIA agent, sent Chuck an e-mail that contained all of the CIA and NSA's secrets. Chuck opened the e-mail and was flooded with the information that worked its way into his brain. Now the CIA and NSA both want him for what is contained in his mind.

The pilot had a great mix of humor, drama, and action. My only quibble is that the camerawork was sometimes disorienting (which didn't seem to have a purpose). But all in all, this pilot was a great start to the show.

I'm a bit tired of how being a tech/comic/scifi/fantasy "geek" is played for laughs the last few years, but Levi plays Chuck a little more "normal" than Hollywood usually lets its "geeks" get. That is a welcome change. And while I loved his Kipp Steadman, I can see myself growing to like his Chuck just as much.

And I can't go without mentioning Yvonne Strzechowski as the CIA agent who saves Chuck's life. She has the incredibly rare traits of both (extreme) beauty and talent. I checked her out on imdb.com. and she didn't have many entries at all, which made her all the more impressive to me. The chemistry she has with Levi is great. She's definitely got "it", and I'll be looking forward to watching her career.

Rounding out the main players are Joshua Gomez as Chuck's geekier friend Morgan (who had some good parts and some bad parts), Sarah Lancaster (playing another doctor) as Chuck's sister Ellie, and Adam Baldwin as NSA agent John Casey (who seems to be playing ally and antagonist to Chuck).

And I do have to mention one of the funnier parts of the pilot: Ellie's boyfriend, who Chuck has dubbed with an appropriate nickname. One that I'm not going to spoil here.

If you want to know the joke, you've gotta watch the pilot.

Chuck premieres on my birthday, Sept 24, on NBC at 7 pm CST. Nice present for me.

If you didn't get the hint, this show is highly recommended.