Chuck
Chuck title screen
Created by	Josh Schwartz Chris Fedak
Starring	Zachary Levi Yvonne Strahovski Joshua Gomez with Sarah Lancaster and Adam Baldwin
Voices of	Chuck Bartowski
Opening theme	Cake: "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Josh Schwartz McG
Running time	42 minutes (without commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 24, 2007 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Chuck is an American television science fiction-comedy created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" who receives an encoded e-mail from an old friend, a rogue CIA agent, which embeds the world's greatest spy secrets in his brain.^[1]

Produced by College Hill Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision and Warner Bros. Television, the series premiered on September 24, 2007 on NBC, airing on Monday nights at 8:00/7:00c leading into Heroes.^[2][3]

[edit] Plot

Chuck Bartowski is a socially awkward twenty-something who works as a computer expert at the Nerd Herd (a parody of "Geek Squad") at his local Buy More (a parody of "Best Buy"), a local electronics retailer (a CompUSA store was used), with his best friend, Morgan Grimes. Chuck's sister, Ellie, is a doctor who is constantly looking out for his best interests and wants to help him find a girlfriend. On the night of his birthday party, Chuck receives an e-mail from his former Stanford University roommate, Bryce Larkin, who is now a "rogue" CIA agent. When he opens it, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data, once only available to the United States government, into his brain. Both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own, Major John Casey and Sarah Walker, respectively, to retrieve the data. Because the disk with the government information was stolen by Bryce and destroyed in his attempted escape, Chuck experiences flashes of memory activated by certain subliminal triggers, he must use the knowledge he now possess to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists, thereby upending his previously uneventful life. Chuck's decision to keep his newfound occupation a secret from his family and friends and to live his life as normally as possible forces Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance (Walker poses as his girlfriend; Casey gets a job at Buy More) with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Chuck episodes

[edit] Cultural references

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (October 2007)

The main image of Chuck has deep roots in nerd culture and video games, to follow hand-in-hand with the characters' nerdy tendencies. One example can be seen in the pilot, wherein Bryce, a rogue spy and collegiate friend of the main character's, steals the secrets. The communicator gadget Bryce uses in the scene is almost identical to the communication device in Doom 3, an element that permeates as a useful utility throughout the storyline. The chase scene in which Bryce Larkin escapes after stealing the secrets is a reference to a chase scene in a French film titled Banlieue 13 ^[4] (or District 13). The acrobatics that Larkin uses is a stunt form known as free running or parkour. The chase is very similar to the chase scene in District 13 in which David Belle's character is escaping from Tony D'Amario's character in the opening scene of the movie. Morgan is also seen numerous times playing Gears of War, with some scenes focusing on the game play itself. In Chuck versus the Wookiee, he is seen playing Halo 3. There is also a World of Warcraft video game at the Buy More seen at the beginning of episode 3.

In the pilot episode, a poster of the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest (1959) may be seen in Chuck's room. The film centers on an unwitting character caught up in an international conspiracy.

In the episode "Chuck vs the Helicopter", Chuck is viewing a series of photos when one triggers his recall of the secrets. He begins revealing apparently-unconnected secrets including, "Oceanic Flight 815 was shot down by a surface-to-air...", a different cause than what was revealed to bring down the airplane on the ABC series Lost.

In the episode "Chuck vs the Helicopter", in a scene where Sarah Walker is about to enter a room, there is a part where Sarah reaches for her gun. Right next to her gun holster is an iPhone. In "Chuck vs the Wookiee", Sarah uses an iPhone to take a picture of John Casey while he's tied up to a bed frame.

In the episode "Chuck vs the Tango", Morgan is locked in a cage, listening to the same opera song that was played during The Shawshank Redemption.

In the episode "Chuck vs the Sizzling Shrimp", James Hong plays a wheelchair-bound crime boss named "Lo Pan" for the second time — the first was in Big Trouble in Little China. The character's first name in this instance is "Ben", a veiled reference that James Hong had previous "been Lo Pan". In the same episode, Chuck tells Ben, "Forget it, Ben, it's Chinatown." This is a reference to a line in the 1974 film Chinatown, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." Hong also starred in Chinatown as a butler.

In the episode "Chuck Versus The Sandworm," the scene where Chuck runs in dramatic fashion to the Halloween party parodies the end scene of The O.C. episode, "The Countdown," using the same soundtrack, slow-motion effects and similar placement of the characters. The O.C. and Chuck were both created by Josh Schwartz. The episode also has several references to Dune with the poster being shown in several key shots in the episode while the sandworm is actually the sandworm from Dune.

In the episode "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater", Chuck and Bryce are shown playing a game with rubber dart guns. This is a popular game on college campuses, known as "Assassin". When Chuck finds the disc his professor made, he says "Gotcha!", which is a reference to a 1985 movie about a college student who is playing a version of Assassin and gets embroiled in a real world of spies. Also, there are many references to J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings in this episode. Morgan compares Harry Tang to Sauron, and compares Chuck to Frodo Baggins. Also, when Harry Tang interrupts a staff competition involving the Buy More television wall, he holds up a Logitech Harmony Remote Model 880 and refers to it as "the one that controls them all", a clear reference to the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings. While attempting to steal "the one remote" from Tang's locker, Morgan is betrayed by Lester, similar to how Frodo was betrayed by Boromir or by Gollum. Later, during a phone call with Chuck, Morgan refers to himself as "Samwise" (referring to Samwise Gamgee), prompting a customer to do so as well. During the television-show-naming contest, Lester identifies an episode from The O.C. Season 2 and muses it was underrated.

[edit] Music

• Because of The O.C.'s musical influence and success, Chuck creator Josh Schwartz has made it a point to give Chuck the same kind of influential and intense indie/alternative soundtrack. Alexandra Patsavas, previously The O.C.'s music supervisor, mixed the tracks for the first thirteen episodes.

• Theme Song - Cake - "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (First used in "Chuck Versus the Tango", episode 3)

• In the episode "Chuck vs the Helicopter", the musical scoring towards the end of the episode at the port and during the helicopter sequence makes reference to one of the main themes from the orchestral score of the movie "The Bourne Identity".

For a list of music by episode, see List of music from episodes of Chuck

[edit] Production

[edit] Conception

Josh Schwartz and newcomer Chris Fedak wrote the script for the first episode which was initially given a put pilot commitment by NBC before a pilot order was green lit by the network in January 2007.^[5] Schwartz and Fedak both attended the University of Southern California and the latter pitched the idea to Schwartz who agreed to develop the project with him.^[6] McG, Schwartz's fellow executive producer on The O.C., directed the first hour of the series and consequently became an executive producer via his production company, Wonderland Sound and Vision. Fedak, Peter Johnson, Scott Rosenbaum, Matthew Miller and Allison Adler also serve as co-executive producers.^[7] NBC gave the series an early pick-up and a thirteen-episode order on May 10, 2007.^[8]

[edit] Casting

Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin were the first two to be cast in February 2007 in the roles of Chuck Bartowski and veteran NSA agent Major John Casey, respectively. Fedak always had Baldwin in mind for the role of John Casey and the producers found that the actor was a "perfect fit" for the character during the first casting session.^[6][9] Relative newcomer Yvonne Strahovski, an Australian, was chosen for the female lead role of CIA agent Sarah Kent in the same month.^[10] The character's surname was later changed to "Walker". Casting continued throughout March with Sarah Lancaster, Joshua Gomez, and Natalie Martinez landing the parts of Dr. Ellie Bartowski (Chuck's older sister), Morgan Pace (Chuck's best friend), and Kayla Hart, a heretofore unspecified character, respectively.^[11] Morgan's surname was later changed to "Grimes".

On September 14, 2007, Rachel Bilson, of The O.C. (which executive producer Josh Schwartz also created) signed on for a multi-episode arc to begin airing in late October.

[edit] Broadcast history

The world premiere of the pilot aired on July 27, 2007 at Comic-Con International in San Diego.^[12] The series was originally slated to air on Tuesday nights at 9:00/8:00c as announced at the 2007 Upfronts but this was later changed to Monday nights at 8:00/7:00c as announced during the 2007 Television Critics Association summer press tour. The season premiere aired on September 24, 2007 on NBC.^[3][13] The pilot was leaked onto torrent websites on July 22, 2007.^[14]

[edit] International distribution

The series will air on Channel Nine in Australia and CityTV in Canada, in Latin America it will be broadcasted on Warner Channel^[15][16]

[edit] Online distribution

Subject to an aggressive marketing campaign by NBC, the pilot episode will be released for purchase and viewership from September 10, 2007 onwards across a broad range of mediums from satellite broadcasting to popular social networking websites such as Facebook. The first episode of the show will be shown on United Airlines flights and be freely distributed on video on demand on about 30 cable and satellite systems including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Dish Network. By September 17, the American public will also be able to view the season premiere on Yahoo. Purchase of the pilot will also be available from Amazon Unbox, again to American audiences only (restriction based on credit card billing address).^[17] Furthermore, despite NBC not renewing their contract with iTunes, Chuck and Journeyman are available because they are not properties of NBC Universal (Chuck is produced by Warner Bros. Television, while Journeyman is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.)

[edit] Cast and characters

• Zachary Levi - Chuck Bartowski
• Yvonne Strahovski - Sarah Walker
• Adam Baldwin - Major John Casey
• Joshua Gomez - Morgan Grimes
• Sarah Lancaster - Dr. Ellie Bartowski

[edit] Recurring cast

• Rachel Bilson - Lou
• C. S. Lee - Harry Tiberius Tang
• Ryan McPartlin - Devon (AKA Captain Awesome)
• Vik Sahay - Lester
• Julia Ling - Anna Wu
• Scott Krinsky - Jeff
• Mark Christopher Lawrence - Big Mike
• Bonita Friedericy - General Beckman

[edit] Reception

[edit] Comparisons to other media

Advertising of the show initially portrays the program as bearing strong similarities to UPN's canceled series Jake 2.0 ^{[citation needed]}. Josh Schwartz has defended criticisms by pointing out that whilst the title character of Jake 2.0 has superpowers borne from nanotechnology, Chuck Bartowski does not possess any extraneous abilities besides his flashes of intelligence that were uploaded into his brain which are activated only by certain subliminal triggers.^[6] Schwartz has since described the show as a hybrid of Alias and The Office whilst Zachary Levi, who portrays the titular character, says it's a mix of The Bourne Supremacy and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.^[18]

[edit] Weekly ratings

[edit] Other media

[edit] Marketing

In May 2007, NBC announced that their official website would launch "MyNBC" allowing users to be more interactive with selected shows. MyNBC will allow fans to delve inside Chuck's "brain" which will host hot spots of top-secret government information that the title character possesses. It will also have bonus video features.^[20] In addition, NBC further announced in July 2007 that tie-in micro websites where fans who log onto Buy-More.net would be directed to NerdHerdHelp.com giving them access to exclusive content of the show and a blog written by the title character's best friend and sidekick, Morgan, would be launched in September 2007.^[21] NBC is reportedly expected to spend about $8 million in total promoting the show.^[22]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Chuck (TV series)

• Official "Chuck's Secret" website
• Official "Chuck" NBC website
• Watch online
• Chuck Fourm
• Chuck Wiki: encyclopedia and episode guide
• Chuck at the Internet Movie Database