On our flight to Maui, we watched the premiere of “Chuck,” which doesn’t actually start until September 24. I suppose this is a marketing ploy to get “buzz” going, and I’m actually okay with getting suckered and blogging about it. Why? Because “Chuck” is funny and smart and has a great cast that really clicks, and because we laughed… we laughed a LOT, in that way that can only rendered by “OMG LOL.”  Chuck is played by Zachary Levi. The end of the episode had a “zing!” comic turn that made us make the “BWAAAAAA!!” noise. It’s almost, almost, worth a w00t! or two. There were a lot of “geek chic” references that were sly enough not to be cloying or pandering to the “nerd herd” that is clearly this show’s target audience.

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Chuck stars Levi as an ordinary guy who works for the “Nerd Herd,” a team of tech-support clerks at a big-box retail store inspired by Best Buy’s Geek Squad. He becomes involved in the world of international espionage when a former college buddy e-mails him a computer program that downloads the entire national intelligence database directly into his brain.Chuck premieres Sept. 24 and will air Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)