http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/09/chuck-and-the-d.html
Chuck' and the dangers of 'spy-fi' dramedy
Giving a negative review to "Chuck" (7 p.m. Monday, WMAQ-Ch. 5) is
like kicking a puppy or taking a kid's candy. I feel like a heel for
even considering it.
Still, despite "Chuck's" zippy pace and fun dialogue, this nerd-
friendly "spy-fi" show from "O.C." creator Josh Schwartz has plot
holes you could drive a truck through. Given the show's genial, hard-
working nature, I wanted to look past those structural problems, but I
couldn't. If you can, then "Chuck" might be your new BFF.
Chuck The premise is that Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), a tech-
support guy for the Nerd Herd (think Best Buy's Geek Squad), gets a
bunch of super-secret spy information accidentally downloaded into his
brain. He's not thrilled with this development.
Like so many other male characters on new fall shows, Chuck is not
exactly brimming with ambition: He can't even decide whether he wants
to apply for the assistant manager position at the electronics store
where he works.
But when a ninja invades his home to steal his precious computer and
when assassins try to take him down, Chuck must face the fact that the
era of playing the videogame "Call of Duty" for hours on end is over.
It's certainly easy to imagine why a TV executive would respond to
this pitch: "It's 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' meets 'Alias'!" But therein
lies one of "Chuck's" problems. Those properties had memorable
characters ("Alias," for its first couple of seasons anyway, was a
great family soap wrapped inside an exuberant brand of undercover
escapism).
Though Levi is certainly a likable presence, it's hard to invest much
in Chuck or his dilemmas, especially because so much of the spy stuff
is played for laughs.
Of course this show isn't trying to emulate "The Bourne Identity" and
its sober sequels, but just a tad of believability would have helped
"Chuck." I can't buy that the government would have stored important
spy secrets on a single computer, and that those crucial bits of data
would now, through a series of mishaps, reside only in Chuck's head.
(At the very least, Chuck could counsel members of the intelligence
community on the importance of backing up their hard drives.)
But my biggest nitpick is this - wouldn't the information in Chuck's
head, which gets him in and out of various action-oriented scrapes,
soon be out of date? All the pop-culture quips and funny ninja battles
in the world couldn't get that killjoy question out of my head.
Aside from Chuck and his funny wingman Morgan (Joshua Gomez), the rest
of the cast is fairly bland, especially an undercover spy named Sarah
Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). Adam Baldwin does what he can with his
gruff spy character, but the fact that his character shoots someone in
cold blood in the pilot adds a discordantly dark note to the
proceedings.
You may find "Chuck's" admirable energy and sprightly dialogue makes
up for those faults, but personally, I think Chuck had better keep his
day job.
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