We’re taking a break from the regularly scheduled program – yes; that means we have even more new shows to introduce on upcoming Tele-Tuesdays – to say goodbye to one of our favorite series: Chuck.
Friday night aired the last of the new episodes, an event the audience has been expecting since the end of last season when the network announced that Chuck would come to an end during its fifth season, with a short order of only thirteen episodes. But true “Nerd Herders” had already grown accustomed to waiting on the series’ fate year after year, considering the fans and Subway (the restaurant chain) saved the show and it’s supposed low ratings as much as they could with petitions, campaigns, and sponsorships for the past two years.
So, thank you NBC, Subway, and the creators of Chuck, for giving us five seasons filled with geekiness, action, laughter, love, character growth, true familial support, and “Jeffster”.
Meet Jeffster, and the other Chuck characters:
The series follows Charles “Chuck” Bartowski, played by the ever-adorable, Zachary Levi. Chuck, very intelligent and known for his hacking abilities, has a bright future and a gorgeous girlfriend (played by Jordana Brewster), but he never graduates college because his friend plants evidence indicating that he was cheating.
As if getting kicked out of school for such horrible accusations wasn’t enough, Chuck’s girlfriend breaks up with him. Defeated, he is forced to re-establish himself and he moves in with his sister, Eleanor “Ellie” Bartowski (played by Sarah Lancaster). Chuck accepts a job at the Burbank Buy More as a “Nerd Herder” (think Geek Squad at Best Buy), alongside his childhood best friend (Morgan Grimes, played by Joshua Gomez).
His life seems to be getting back on track, as much as it possibly can, when suddenly the same friend responsible for Chuck’s early collegiate departure (Bryce Larkin, played by Matt Bomer), sends him a mysterious email – an email that changes his life, forever.
The email contains “the intersect” – a program written by Chuck’s father (played by Scott Bakula) that contains all of the government’s databases, a supercomputer, and is uploaded directly into Chuck’s brain. The intersect allows Chuck to “flash” on faces of terrorists or objects once he sees them or comes into direct contact with them. The information obtained by these flashes enables Chuck to see into the terrorist’s past lives, as well as see what the terrorists have in store for the future, making Chuck an extremely valuable government asset.
The CIA sends Agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and Major John Casey (Adam Baldwin) to secure the intersect, which later leads to the two trained government killers’ main assignment during the series – protect Chuck, and the intersect, at all costs.
As one can imagine, Chuck is not the most coordinated spy – even with his intersect flashes to perfect the art of karate and other skills. But he is loveable, even to those who seem the most callous of heart (insert a famous John Casey grunt here).
While we’re on the topic, here are a few of our favorite John Casey grunts…
Of course Chuck and Sarah fall in love after playing a long game of cat and mouse, and the entire group forms a new family. Over the years, the family members increase with the addition of Ellie’s husband (Dr. Devon “Awesome” Woodcomb, played by Ryan McPartlin), Chuck’s long-lost mother (Mary Bartowski, played by Linda Hamilton), and Casey’s daughter (Alex, played by Mckenna Melvin). And who could forget the extended family, Chuck’s Buy More family: Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), Lester (Vik Sahay), and Jeff (Scott Krinsky)?
What makes Chuck so special? Besides the fantastic cast of characters, and I mean characters, each of the “Chuck versus” something-or-another episodes were literally filled with action and massive take downs of bad guys – bad guys including: Chevy Chase, Brandon Routh, Timothy Dalton, and Bo “freaking” Derek.
Chuck never once forgot the meaning of friends and family, and each episode left me with a smile on my face – feel good, action packed, geeky goodness.
Well, to be honest, a few of the episodes left me in tears – but good tears – tears of happiness, and in Friday night’s case, tears of sadness that we’ve reached the end of Chuck’s journey. A journey that was not dragged out too long like many other television series, in my opinion.
So much more can be said of the five years we’ve spent with Chuck, but for those who haven’t watched the series in sequential order with us, here’s hoping you will – via the Netflix Queue, Best Buy DVD sets, Hulu, etc…
We will miss you, Chuck. I did see a random Twitter handle Friday night when I was reading through the #goodbyechuck farewells… Could we be lucky enough to see a “Chuck Versus the Movie” in our future? A girl can dream….
Did you watch Chuck? Are you in a Chuck mourning period with me? Who was your favorite character and why? Least favorite? Favorite bad guy? Favorite episode and/or storyline? Let’s reminisce. I’d love to hear from you!
Tiffany A White's Ooo Factor 