Chuck

What’s it about?

Chuck is a humble tech-support guy at an electrical retailer whose brain becomes the unwitting recipient of a government supercomputer and its capabilities.

Starring

Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Adam Baldwin, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Scott Krinsky, Vik Sahay, Bonita Friedericy

An Introduction to Chuck

Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) is a twenty-something underachiever who works at Buy More, an electrical retail store nestled in suburbia. As a science and computer geek he is a member of the store’s ‘Nerd Herd’ technical support team, along with best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez).

Chuck still pines for his ex-girlfriend, Jill, whose heart was stolen at Stanford University by his charming room-mate, Bryce (White Collar’s Matt Bomer). To make matters worse, Bryce had Chuck expelled – a fine friend, indeed! Unknown to Chuck, Bryce is now a CIA agent and has just stolen all the files from a top-secret government supercomputer known as the Intersect.

On making his escape, Bryce is intercepted and shot by NSA agent John Casey (Firefly‘s Adam Baldwin). As a parting gesture, Bryce emails the Intersect to a certain Nerd Herder leaving no copy behind. Chuck opens the email and is confronted by millions of flashing images comprising the Intersect’s entire database.

The government wants its information back and dispatches CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and rival agent Casey. The next day, Chuck begins to get weird ‘flashes’ of seemingly random information – or is there more to it than that? At the Buy More, an attractive woman shows up and seems very taken with him. Just when things look to be taking a turn for the better, a mysterious figure attempts to steal his computer… good job the Intersect is located somewhere else!

Summary

Imagine a show where a guy has to save the world by playing Pac-Man to the soundtrack of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”… the geeks shall inherit the earth, baby!

Chuck is a very watchable, good-natured show with comedy, action and enjoyable characters. Zachary Levi’s eponymous hero is down-to-earth and self-effacing, nicely contrasting the glamorous, deadly Agent Walker and the no-nonsense, militaristic Agent Casey.

Chuck’s main priorities are friends and family – namely sister, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and her beau, Devon (Ryan McPartlin), nicknamed “Captain Awesome” owing to his regular ‘Bill & Ted’-style response to situations. Chuck and Ellie’s parents have disappeared from the scene, their individual whereabouts remaining a mystery.

There are a great collection of oddball characters in Chuck’s world and some top cameos in the show by luminaries such as SNL’s Chevy Chase, Quantum Leap’s Scott Bakula, The Terminator’s Linda Hamilton and The Matrix’s Carrie-Anne Moss. As Chuck develops, all the principle players have their own dilemmas to deal with and there are many surprises and reveals in store to keep you hooked.

The show’s future looked uncertain from time to time but its considerable, devout fanbase ensured its continuation by petitioning restaurant chain Subway to sponsor it. This ensured the loyal viewer got closure by allowing the story time to work towards its fan-approved conclusion. Awesome!

Check out the Season 1 Trailer here: