The Last Chuck Post for at Least 3 Days!

I know I have been a bit heavy on the “Chuck” posts as of late but I have one more in me at least so please indulge. This post will get into the specifics of how the Season 2 finale ended so if you are not up-to-date with “Chuck” you do not want to read on. Those of you who are still onboard for reading (all one of you) I want you to know that this post is in no way meant to disparage the joy that is “Chuck”, only point out some facts and compare those facts to other great shows (this post also contains “Battlestar Galatica” and “Alias” spoilers for season two of both shows).

After the warm fuzzy I felt when I was writing “My Power Ballad in Praise of Chuck (http://bit.ly/4rYws)” I had a counterbalancing sentiment that threatened to ruin all future episodes of this terrific show. I know what you are thinking, “he’s come to his senses about the over the top product placement”, but that’s not it. I still firmly believe that “Chuck” will do more than fine product placement.

What worries me is the Season 2 finale felt so much like a series finale that the writing staff may have written themselves into a corner. Morgan and Ana have left for Hawaii, Chuck and Ellie reconciled with their long lost father, Fulcrum has been destroyed, Bryce gave up on chasing Sarah and conceded her heart to the better man, which paved the way for Chuck and Sarah to have their happily ever after moment, and even Casey came around to the idea that Chuck’s friendship was more important than the orders of the US military. Additionally, Awesome knows that Chuck is a spy at this point. Let’s not forget that by the middle of the season finale Chuck ceased to be the Intersect.

All of that is enough to make the series end on a great high, however, by some miracle NBC did not cancel the show (even if they are thinking about it now http://bit.ly/46HhQr). The Chuck writers then did the only thing they thought they could do, rebuild Chuck as the Intersect but better (the “I know Kung Fu” line at the end of the episode had me in stitches; Chuck is apparently a superior Neo to Neo).

While this new wrinkle keeps Chuck in the spy game, it also makes Casey and Sarah irrelevant. If every time Chuck is in danger he can “Flash” for a solution what is the point of his superspy handlers? Where does the conflict come from if Chuck is not told to “stay in the car”?

I have faith that the writers and creators of this show have a plan as to where this is going; I just hope it’s a good one. This type of season finale is not unheard of in recent television history and I would like to point out two ways it could go. The first is the “Alias” and the second is the “Battlestar”. Both “Alias” and “Battlestar Galactica” had game changing season 2 episodes that forever altered the DNA of each series, with drastically different consequences.

We will start with the “Alias”. “Alias” was a show that in many ways was a forerunner to “Chuck”. It featured spies, double agents, and shadowy organization prominently just like “Chuck” though the heroine of “Alias” was more the “Sarah” of Chuck’s story, but I digress. “Alias” had a mid-season 2 finale called “Phase One” where Sydney Bristow destroyed the secret organization (SD-6) that led her to believe she was working for the CIA.

Unfortunately once Syd destroyed SD-6 the show began a slow decent in quality that some people (myself included) felt it never fully recovered from. It was a big risk on the part of the “Alias” crew and unfortunately the show runners did not map out a second act that was as strong as the nearly flawless first. If you haven’t seen “Alias” season’s 1 and 2, I strongly suggest you check them out!

The “Battlestar” thankfully is an example of a team turning the core structure of a show on its head with unbelievable results. Also at the end of Season 2, “Battlestar Galatica” aired the episodes, “Lay Down Your Burdens; 1 & 2” in which the rag tag fleet of survivors elected a man president who was incapable of leading. This awful decision allowed the new President to stop the fleet from their migration and settle a barely hospitable planet which he thought was safe from their pursuers. Then the show flashed forwards a year in time (that is the “Battlestar” proper).

The “Battlestar Galatica” flash forward created some of the best moments of the series and I would argue some of the best moments in television history. It was a bold gamble and it paid dividends.

So my question for the writers of “Chuck” is simple; “Are you going to pull off a ‘Battlestar’ or drift slowly downward with an ‘Alias’?” My hope is the “Battlestar” outcome, but the similarities between “Chuck” and “Alias” as far as show archetypes are concerned has me more than a little bit worried.

My Power Ballad Post in Praise of Chuck

After proclaiming, NBC was trying to kill “Chuck”, only 3 ½ days ago I managed to locate and view the entire second season (I realize that probably puts a point or two on the wrong side of the “Does this guy have a life?” question, but… whelp whatever). The first 12 episodes were extremely hard to get but since I’ve documented the possible ways of tracking them down in a previous post I won’t bore you with the details here. Episodes 13 through 22 were streaming beautifully on Hulu.com which is rapidly becoming its own broadcast channel on my TV screen (I’ll do a how to on that in a future post).

Anyway, after watching the “Chuck” season 2 finale, I can honestly say that I love this show. It’s not the kind of “fleeting” love one might get after an episode of “Weeds”. It’s not the type of “makes me miserable to watch it but it just so damn terrific and I am compelled to watch” love one could feel about “The Wire”. It is not even the variety of “I could watch these characters all day but the storylines make me pine for ‘Lost’ to return” love one definitely gets when watching “Leverage”. Nope, “Chuck” is the kind of show you fall hard for, it is the “I love this story, I love the characters, I love the witty writing, I love the way it makes me grin like a 5 year old who was just told he could stay up an hour later” type of love that few shows ever manage to earn.

I realize that the previous paragraph is a bit over the top(I hope it did not make you want to up-"Chuck"), but it really is the way this show makes me feel as a viewer. I do not even care that by the end of the second season I saw dozens of advertisements within the show because they fit so well into the overall plot of the series. Why bother to bribe Big Mike with generic donuts when he could be as happy with a “Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki” from Subway? Why shouldn’t Morgan’s dream job be to become a Hibachi chef for Benihanas? Why wouldn’t “Buy More” have a giant “Fable II” cardboard cutout prominently displayed in multiple places within the store? Come to think of it, since Chuck and company quit the “Buy More” at the end of season two, why not have the whole operation moved to a “Best Buy” and hopefully secure the all powerful ad dollars needed to give us another season or two of “Chuck”. I am cautious to say this aloud but maybe we could get a commercial break free episode presented by the in show advertisers.

In case I have not made my thoughts clear enough about this show, you need to watch “Chuck”. Seriously, even though it is criminally hard to watch some of the episodes streaming online I have faith that you can figure it out, so get to it!

NBC is trying to kill Chuck!

I blogged (though not very traditionally) the first season of Chuck in May of this year (http://bit.ly/DF6Z1) and have been impatiently awaiting my chance to view season two. I would have kept rolling along with Chuck back in May but I could not legally locate the first 12 episodes of season two streaming anywhere on the internet. Hulu was streaming the final 10 episodes but nothing was on Netflix (my favorite online portal) and the DVD’s aren’t out yet.

I could legally purchase individual episodes on Itunes or Amazon but I can’t easily get those on my TV screen. To make matters worse, I’d have to purchase 12 “Chuck” episodes for $2.99 each to get them in the same quality I stream “Leverage” on Netflix (with my monthly subscription of $8.99). That seems crazy so my options are limited.

I could wait to watch “Chuck” until the DVD’s come out, but I am thinking it’s going to be a while. I could Torrent the episodes free of charge, but I am not a pirate and like to give artists credit for their work (Ad supported credit is super preferable to pay per view). Or I could search for websites that stream “Chuck” all of which are of more questionable value than Hulu or Netflix.

I’m not going to lie to you dear reader, I found a streaming website that could be an option. However, the quality is extremely shoddy and it seems more like a “Chuck” slide show than episode of TV. To make matters worse I’m not fully convinced that “freeonlineepisodes.net” is entirely on the up and up, though there is plenty of advertising.

Anyway, that all brings me to my point (bet you didn’t think I had one) and the title of this blog post. NBC is not making it easy for new viewers to get caught up. First off, is the horrible season one streaming experience was at WB.com. Why the WB (the company that produces Chuck) does not let Hulu host the videos there where they will work every time? Why does NBC allow for the first season to be online and not the first ½ of the second season? Without the first half of the second season why even bother to put of the second half of season 2?

Because sadly dear reader NBC is trying to kill Chuck (I only have the circumstantial evidence I’ve provided about btw), even though they renewed it, and plan to bring it back in March 2010. Damn you Jay Leno and your 5 hours of prime time comedy a week!

District 9

I went to see “District 9” about a week ago and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. This post may veer a bit into spoiler territory so steer clear if you haven’t seen the movie.

“District 9” was the exact opposite movie of what I was expecting to see when I went to the theater. I had only seen one preview for the movie and heard that Peter Jackson (writer director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) was attached so I decided I wanted to see it. I was expecting “Independence Day” made for a more mature audience and spent the first third of the movie wondering when the brash American expert was going to come to clean the mess up.

Only that expert never came, and once I stopped waiting for him/her I realized that the aliens in the movie were living in a concentration camp and that the nerdy guy we met in the beginning of the movie was actually our “hero”. That was shocking considering the many despicable (from our frame of reference) things we watched him do throughout the first 1/3 of the movie.

Also, once I stopped forcing my preconceived notions into the narrative what the movie “should” be I realized that Mr. Jackson’s vision was much more interesting than movie I was picturing in my head.

This is a movie that never really lets the audience get comfortable and forces the viewers to work on the puzzle of what is actually happening the entire time. As the story unfolds we find out that people, governments (shadow governments), and the aliens all have ulterior motives for the actions they pursue. The only person in the movie who starts out without any concealed plan is our “hero” and he is literally transformed through his childlike lack of awareness of the major players around him.

I loved that the aliens were not “cute”. I loved that they were not only a pain to deal with for the people and local government but also that they were simply destructive and not pleasant. I am not entirely sure as to what made the one alien who repairs “stuff” so different than the others, but I can’t wait to check out “District 10” and find out!

Leverage & a Word on Netflix

The wife and I have been watching the TNT show “Leverage” streaming on Netflix and have been having a great time with the show. “Leverage” is not going to change the world and it is not going to be nominated for any Emmy’s but it is a fun show with amazingly likable characters.

The plot is fairly straight forward, “Nate” has a vendetta against the major insurance company he worked for in the past and he is willing to transfer his anger and sense of injustice to any big corporation, gang, or drug company that is trying to screw the little guy. Through happy coincidence he ends up working with some of the people he had chased all over the world in his past life as an insurance investigator and finds them all to be criminals with hearts of gold. Nate sums up the show perfectly when he says, “We pick up where the law leaves off”.

If you liked “Oceans 11” or “The Italian Job” the show does a fairly good job of making every episode feel like a mini version of those movies. The storylines can unfortunately be a bit shallow and feel overstretched at times but just like in “Oceans 11” the strength of the show lies in the wonderfully well realized characters.

The first season of “Leverage” is only 13 episodes and season 2 seems to be streaming on Netflix as it airs on TNT. This is a super deal for the savvy Netflix user because you can catch the episodes commercial free at your leisure.

Now I must sing the praises of Netflix because you dear reader need to know what a terrific service they provide. For only $8.99 a month Netflix provides unlimited DVD’s (one at a time) and unlimited streaming. This is in my humble opinion the personal media deal of the decade. To make this even better Netflix streams “Leverage” in high definition and it looks just as good as TNT in HD that Comcast provides when I stream it through my XBOX 360 on my HD TV.

The Colony

“The Colony” on Discovery Channel has been a huge summer time surprise for me this season. The premise is simple enough; a viral apocalypse happened, and the world has changed. “The Colony” puts 10 strangers (most with unique skills) into a warehouse and surrounding area, and then separates it from the rest of the world. The mission of the survivors is to rebuild society but it is not that simple. The producers of “The Colony” have placed many roadblocks in the way of their colonists and are creating a truly unique brand of television.

But the real question is whether or not this particular show is one you will enjoy. If you are a fan of reality shows in general the answer is “maybe”. You have to keep in mind the “reality” of the show is less than that of your typical “Big Brother” or “The Bachelorette” (both of which my wife has subjected me to this summer) type shows because the participants are buying into an “unreality” which is the backbone of the show. There is no cash prize for “winning” and the point of the show is for them to work together in order to survive and prosper in this new world.

That said, the situation the participants are placed in is traumatic and helps immerse them in this fictional universe. The participants have their hearts truly into this experiment and because of that it makes for really great reality television. By the second episode there is plenty of yelling, crying, and tempers flaring to give even fans of “Survivor” satiation.

The other avenue by which you might enjoy this show is that of the tech/gearhead geek show. If you like(d) “Junkyard Wars”, “How it’s Made”, “Battlebots”, or similar shows you are going to enjoy “The Colony”. That’s because to improve upon their situation the colonists must make stuff, and each episode has them concocting something, which you see them conceive the need for, design, and then build.

Now the real fun of this show comes when you have the geniuses butt heads on a project or which project should take priority. Some of the participants are not as useful as others and the one that seems to be most productive with the practical projects seems to have the social skills of a gnat. Think and I know I’m dating myself here but, the “Real Worlds” Puck personality mixed with brains of Thomas Edison, and the testosterone of Mike Tyson. The guy is a truly indispensible a-hole and he makes for great television.

There is one issue I have with this show. The experts they have “inform” the viewer of what the colonists are attempting/feeling are superfluous and really only server to take the viewer out of the universe created by the otherwise spectacular series.

You can catch “The Colony” on the Discovery Channel (they love to rerun marathons) or by going to Hulu.com.