"Chuck" Season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Caprica will be back this fall for the second half of its first season. I wouldn't imagine hearing renewal news until after that.

 

[joshEH]

Right, yeah, I know about the second half of the season -- but according to Entertainment Weekly, the actors' option-holds expire around July or thereabouts (i.e., before the back half of the season airs), so many folks are expecting to hear something about a pickup (or not) on or before that.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Oh! Well that's awkward.

 

[joshEH]

Hey, it's cool. Appreciate the response, either way.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It does beg the question: was SciFi really that confident that "Caprica" would rocket out of the gate and a renewal would be a foregone conclusion, or is the guy in legal who drew up the contract going to find himself in hot water?

 

[joshEH]

Exactly, you'd have to think that they were nervous about the very premise, despite it being set in the BSG universe -- no fighting spaceships, killer robots, very few action set-pieces, etc. It wasn't even remotely close to a Stargate series, in terms of mass-audience potential.


And there's the telling fact that even just the frigging pilot script sat on a shelf at the network for almost three years before it finally got greenlit, and that it was the Writer's Guild strike in 2007-08 that finally prompted them to put it into production, out of a lack of available screenplays. They were certainly skittish about something, there.


(On second thought, when you consider the other major output of Syfy -- stuff like Chupacabra, Mansquito, and the upcoming Mongolian Death Slugs -- maybe it's no surprise why this particular project took so long to finally happen.)


That said, word is that the second half of the season really starts advancing the storyline much further in the direction of the coming Cylon revolt (as some of the preview ads are indicating), and that we should start seeing some of the truly interesting scenarios that BSG only hinted at -- the oppression of the Cylon race, rising inter-Colonial political tensions, and the Cylon civil-liberties crisis that Joseph Adama will almost certainly be at the heart of -- explored in depth, and soon.


Which is why I've got everything crossed for that season-season pickup; we're right on the cusp of the issues that I've been looking forward to seeing the series explore, and although Caprica is considered a "bubble show," the odds still look somewhat decent, going by various articles recently. (After all, if Chuck can do it...)

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Just an all around great hour of television. I don't have any complaints this week. What a shocker of an ending, too.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I Was a Spy For the Ring. I guess without the Governator, Shaw is going to flip his lid. I hope Chuck ends up getting another upgrade that makes him competent without it sometimes fizzling out.


Remember, they're burning two episodes next week to make up the finale.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Scott Bakula rocked every second he was on the screen. Nifty fake out with Shaw possibly being alive, then dead, and then alive again.


Morgan ruled. Again. The Sarah hatchet moment was.... AWESOME. Chuck's lying really became irritating. Especially the more transparent the lies became. Poor Ellie. She is being played and the end results are going to be disastrous.


Many great moments but the episode as a whole felt disjointed.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I really feel sorry for Ellie once she realizes the wrong people have been playing her.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Weird. Last night, my DVR glitched coming back from commercial, and I figured I missed a second or two of dialog when Morgan was speaking with Devon. Turns out I missed the whole Jeff? scene and the followup with Casey and Morgan.

 

[Ken Chan]

Originally Posted by Lou Sytsma

Chuck's lying really became irritating. Especially the more transparent the lies became.

Yeah, all the half-lies were not just annoying, but they seemed almost like padding to stretch out the show. Kinda like the whole Jeff* and EWF&Rain -- I hope there's a real payoff.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Does The Big Bang Theory moving to Thursday next season help Chuck? I've heard it said that they target the same audience and TBBT ended up winning out, but I don't know if that is the expert analysis as well.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Doubtful since TBBT was on at 9:30 pm this season and was a nonfactor in Chuck's ratings. Getting Chuck away from House would make a noticeable difference IMO.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Originally Posted by Ken Chan


Yeah, all the half-lies were not just annoying, but they seemed almost like padding to stretch out the show. Kinda like the whole Jeff* and EWF&Rain -- I hope there's a real payoff.

There will be. Lies carry prices and Chuck is going to carry the guilt for the fallout.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Random Chuck thought - could they be going totally Tony Stark and revealing Chuck's identity to the public?

That could be fun.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Lou Sytsma

Random Chuck thought - could they be going totally Tony Stark and revealing Chuck's identity to the public?

That could be fun.

I don't know exactly how it works in the States, but here in Canada, most CSIS employees aim to keep their (true nature of their) employment a secret from even their friends. I assume it's similar for the CIA, so I doubt announcing that the Agency has a super-secret intelligence weapon inside a person, and then revealing who that person is, is going to happen in the slightest. I grant this awesome show an insane amount of suspension of disbelief, but that would be pushing it.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

What would even be the point in "revealing" his "Identity?" He's not a super hero, he doesn't perform amazing feats in front of the world, no one would care.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs

What would even be the point in "revealing" his "Identity?" He's not a super hero, he doesn't perform amazing feats in front of the world, no one would care.

He could be himself and do more humanitarian deeds instead of those restricted to those sanctioned by the government.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Originally Posted by Lou Sytsma

He could be himself and do more humanitarian deeds instead of those restricted to those sanctioned by the government.

So he isn't going to work for the government anymore? Why would they let him keep the intersect if he weren't an agent? What kind of "humanitarian deeds" would the intersect help with since its main purpose is as a database of government intel?


Chuck is a show about spies, I wouldn't expect that to change anytime soon.