Chuck

[Ed_Laprade]

Just a quick comment. I think that those who have suggested that the tropes being used are confusing have the right of it. In shows like Get Smart and The Avengers, you knew that there were going to be things that went over the top, but that was ok because they were clearly comedies, or had definite comedic leanings, with tongue firmly in cheek. Chuck takes itself too seriously for that clear distinction, as far as I could tell.

 

[Fast Learner]

I guess I'm just not as insistent that it fit some particular trope that's been popular before.

On the computer breaking stuff, c'mon guys, how can you enjoy any show set in the modern era without handwaving all that stuff away. Computer stuff is always, always, always portrayed inaccurately. It's just how things are. I'm sure if I was a gun nut or a horse fancier or, god forbid, an automobile mechanic (car suspensions in the real world do not survive those kinds of jumps), those things could bug the heck out of me, but you've just got to let it go, if you're willing to be entertained.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just a quick comment. I think that those who have suggested that the tropes being used are confusing have the right of it. In shows like Get Smart and The Avengers, you knew that there were going to be things that went over the top, but that was ok because they were clearly comedies, or had definite comedic leanings, with tongue firmly in cheek. Chuck takes itself too seriously for that clear distinction, as far as I could tell.

I disagree. If anything, it's more overtly humorous than many Avengers episodes were. (Avengers was certainly much more surreal.)

I like "Chuck," but I think the show's problem is one shared by pretty much all the new shows this year except for "Reaper," which is a wildly uneven tone. Sometimes "Chuck" wants to be an action-adventure, sometimes it wants to be somewhat slapsticky, sometimes it wants to be a Kevin Smith or Judd Apatow feature (and failing badly at that). I think there's a good middle ground to be staked out, and hopefully the show can do it pretty quickly.

But at least it doesn't commit the sin "Journeyman" and, to a lesser extent, "K-Ville" do, which is being boring. I suspect "Chuck" will make it to the end of the year. It'll have to improve to get renewed, though.

 

[Grog]

I guess I'm just not as insistent that it fit some particular trope that's been popular before.

For me, it's not about the show fitting into popular tropes, it's about the show's plot elements actually being plausible (or at least, not so wildly implausible as to take me out of the show).

When an NSA team decides to murder a CIA agent in the course of taking Chuck into custody, that takes me out of the show.

When a computer virus causes an electrical short in the computer, that takes me out of the show.

When a supposedly super-competent CIA agent takes her mask off on the sidewalk right outside the house she just broke into, without even bothering to look around and see if anyone was watching first, that takes me out of the show.

Actually, these kinds of things would be annoying even in a silly comedy like Get Smart. But in a show that we're clearly supposed to take at least somewhat seriously, they're crippling. When the show doesn't make sense, I can't get immersed in it.

 

[Dracomeander]

What you folks are missing about the computer falling apart is that it wasn't together in the first place. The pieces were just loosely in the case to keep them together while Chuck was waiting 'til he could afford to pick up the parts to fix it. Chuck stated that the computer hadn't worked in over a week. That wasn't the computer he received the email on.

 

[GlassJaw]

Well I got through about half of episode 2. It's official - this show sucks. I'm done.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Well I got through about half of episode 2. It's official - this show sucks. I'm done.

It was a struggle but I did manage to get through the whole episode. Now I'm done as well.

There are few things I'd say this about, yet I have no problem saying it about Chuck: life is just too short.