Don’t Make Us Send Some Ridiculously Large Number of Packages of Nerds Candy to NBC Headquarters!

Yes, I’m a nerd. A proud nerd. I like to watch shows nerds watch. So does my husband. And we like to spend money on things nerds like. We would buy a DVD set of “Chuck” should one become available. We (mkay, I) would buy a Jeffster t-shirt. We buy many products that are product-placed on “Chuck” already, but when we see them, we don’t groan with dismay, but chuckle (get it? WE CHUCKLE) because the placements are both clever and relevant to the characters and the action on the screen. We get it, this show. Why don’t you renew it, so we can all continue to chuckle, laugh, guffaw, and get it some more?

We usually watch on a slight amount of delay with TiVo, but sometimes I’ve watched episodes via Hulu (because that’s how I roll). I actually pay some attention to the ads on Hulu, because they’re funny. I like funny.

I like Chuck. A lot. If you NBC executives don’t renew Chuck, you’ll suck @nomtweets. And that is a very bad thing.

Please don’t cancel Chuck, NBC. Don’t be like those total jerks from the Hollywood Buy-More.

Chuck: An open letter to NBC to save it – Sepinwall on TV – NJ.com

An open letter to Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment, and Angela Bromstad, president of NBC Entertainment, on the subject of “Chuck,” which airs its penultimate episode of the season tonight at 8 on Channel 4:

Dear Ben, Marc and Angela: I know this is a busy time for you. Two weeks from today, you’re going to be announcing your prime-time schedule for the 2009-10 TV season, and you still need to figure out how to make that work when you’re devoting the 10 o’clock hour to Jay Leno five nights a week. So I’ll get right to the point:

If that schedule doesn’t include “Chuck,” I’m going to be very unhappy. And, I think, you might come to regret it, too.

Why, when you have such a tight schedule, would you bring back a show that routinely finishes a distant fourth in its time slot? Well, beside the fact that it’s one of the most brutal time slots on television — up against “Dancing with the Stars,” “House” and the CBS comedies (not to mention “Chuck” co-creator Josh Schwartz’s “Gossip Girl” on the CW) — I can think of a bunch of reasons, both creative and financial, for continuing to follow the comic adventures of nerd-turned-spy Chuck (Zachary Levi) as he saves the world while trying to get that computer of government intelligence out of his head.

Ugh, I can’t stand crap like Dancing with the Stars, and I don’t watch Gossip Girl, either. House is okay, but after Chuck started, our TiVo got reprogrammed so that the cute nerdy guy with the computer in his head totally dominates the cranky drug-addled doctor with the cane.

Here are the reasons Sepinwall mentions – MoRyan of the Chicago Trib put me on to this:

1. Product integration can be boiled down to three little words: “Five Dollar Footlong.” Also, anything Big Mike happens to like for dessert (lately, it’s been Dunkin Donuts). Not to mention the occasional rapturous appearances of big-ticket appliances, like the matched washer-dryer set Devon originally bought Ellie for their anniversary, which he prudently exchanged for the ginormous flat-screen TV. All the brand names are clearly visible or discernable every time there’s a scene in the Buy-More, and the vehicles are often referred to affectionately by their nicknames. Hello?? Want to stimulate the economy much?? Mention US-made cars that appeal to nerds, geeks, and early adopters. All the cool kids are watching this show. And hello again??? MAC. Who do you think Chevy Chase is actually spoofing? Definitely not Bill Gates, that’s for sure.

2. Recession escapism means that this show makes people happy. A lot of people look forward to this show, and it makes them feel all giggly and warm afterward, a lot like you’ll feel if you watch this video:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rLdQ3UhLoD4" width="425" height="344" wmode="transparent" /]

See? “Chuck” is almost as irresistable as this adorable slow loris getting tickled. How could you not want people in today’s America to feel that good after watching?

3. Good press as in, SRSLY, have you checked out the Internets tubes lately?? Twitter will go nuts if Chuck is cancelled, and God knows how many “Save Chuck” Facebook groups have been created already? (five, at last count, with varying numbers of exclamation points. Ignore that guy in the homemade kilt, though). You’ve got a ton of TV critics and entertainment journalists and ordinary pop-culture geek-bloggers begging you to SAVE #CHUCK. Don’t make them do something crazy, like fly a frakkin’ skyad banner over the auditorium where the 1995 Emmy Awards were held, like the Earth2 fans did when you cancelled their Emmy-winning show. Don’t make them send you Nerds candy, like fans of Roswell sent Tabasco to the WB. Don’t make them come up with something completely crazy and creative, because it will get great press and you will look like total “loosers.”

4. NBC Tradition – oh, by all means, live up to the good tradition of putting on quality shows, and please don’t live down to the tradition of cancelling “sci-fi” genre shows that had strong fan support, like a little franchise fan letters kept alive for a couple of seasons… what was it called? Star Trek? And there was another little thing you had on for several years… Quantum Leap (starring Scott Bakula, remember?). And yet another one called Earth2 (see above) and there were a fair number of people who loved Seaquest:DSV, I guess… Remember, you cancelled Scrubs after a season, but it went on to some success for several more seasons on ABC. And good God, you cancelled Father Knows Best after picking it up from CBS? And cancelled SCTV? Philistines! We need the warm, fuzzy, and funny!

5. Yvonne Strahovski‘s character is the glue that keeps Chuck from coming unglued. She keeps “the asset” on an even keel and gives him hope for the future. And Yvonne is an amazing actress – sure, she’s gorgeous, but she’s also believable in a very physical role and delivers an emotional punch too. Don’t you want America’s little girls growing up with a role model like that?

6. It’s (arguably) the best show on your network right now, as Sepinwall says. It’s consistent, it’s funny, it’s pure entertainment. Also, it’s the most sharply written slice of American life on television right now – take away the spy element, and it’s a workplace comedy that’s got something to say about “dead end” jobs and the unlikely communities that form wherever people are working for a living.

Don’t make us send you crap. Renew this show… or, make us send you crap, write some sight gags into future episodes of 30 Rock, and renew this show. Please.

SAVE CHUCK!

A couple of times recently I spotted a familiar face playing a role in one or another favorite television shows. The first time, I knew in advance that they had a guest spot, and I didn’t recognize him. The second time, I had no idea (or missed the opening credits due to watching via TiVo.

In the most recent CSI episode, “Living Legend,” I missed the first 10 or 15 minutes or so. I’m not sure I would have recognized Roger Daltry in the first two roles he played in heavy makeup, because I didn’t recognize him in the second 2 roles. I had twigged to the fact that the same person played 2 of the 4 suspects, just before he tore off the prosthetic makeup. I even knew in advance he was appearing, a fact that
I admitted on HIGHLA-L, the Highlander fan mailing list, because back in the day, Daltry’s recurring character Fitzcairn was a fan favorite.

I went back and rewatched the beginning, and if you know what to look for, you can see it. There’s something oddly puffy and inexpressive about the characters’ faces. This doesn’t stop Daltry from belting out a really good version of “That’s Life” as a murderous karaoke singer, though in closeup you can tell that there’s something about the makeup that limits the range of motion on his mouth. He used different accents with all the “murderer” personae he adopted, and used his natural accent for his character’s
real identity. It’s only around the eyes that you can see they all resemble each other, which is exactly how he’s caught out by the CSIs.

Excellent job by all: Daltry, makeup people, wardrobe. In a related article, it was all filmed in 2 days, which is an amazing feat when you consider the amount of time it takes to design, apply, and remove just one character’s makeup, let alone 4 or 5.

Before that, we had watched CSI: New York. In “Sweet 16,” a peripheral character is the father of a young man being questioned about the death of a pigeon trainer, found dead on the roof in their building. The father? The second I saw his profile and heard his voice, I hollered “Hey, that’s Barry from ‘The Flash,’ John
Wesley Shipp.” He wasn’t even fully visible for a few seconds, he’s quite a bit older than the last time I saw him, and still no amount of makeup would have disguised him. His voice, body type, and the shape of his nose in profile are pretty distinctive.

And no, I’ve never watched “Dawson’s Creek,” but I was a big “Flash” fan for the one season it was on. In closing, enjoy playing the “Hey, It’s That Guy” game at home. The site has been around for a while and isn’t being updated, but they leave it up for weirdo geekfans like me.