NBC's Chuck Is Trying Really Hard To Woo You And According To The Ratings, It's Not Working
Not watching Chuck? That's for the best, although the suits at NBC would be shocked and saddened to hear it, especially since they've decided their 40 Year Old Virgin-meets-The Bourne Ultimatum (but not as good as that sounds) comedy appears to be targeted directly at you, indie rock friends of ours. In our 'Very Special PREMIERE WEEK EXTRAVAGANZA Of Show Tunes,' we mentioned that the series introduced itself with a sort-of live performance from Foreign Born (playing in a bar Chuck went to) and closed with the spy guy trying to get romantic on the beach to the Shins' "A Comet Appears."
But we forgot to mention Teddybears' "Cobrastyle," Gomez's "See The World," and Beck's "Cellphone's Dead."
Then to episode two, where they played Spoon's "Don't Make Me A Target" something like four times, and closed with another faux-romantic scene set to the tender sounds of the New Pornographer's "Challengers."
But really all this only became a post when it was on (in the background, promise) last night, when we heard Chuck running from dangerous people to some new Band Of Horses -- "Lamb Of The Lam (In The City)," wethinks -- and closed to...
...the National's "Slow Show." Believe that's the first time we've heard the National on a sitcom (congrats guys), but Chuck's sorta sucked the fun out of it; at this point we're half-expecting for them to spin Animal Collective's "#1" based solely on AC's decision to play it on Conan ("For Revered Green" would be better if you're reading, Chuckleheads).
The big take-home, though? Chuck's ratings are declining every week, not the sorta thing that makes the peacock proud -- or happy. The connection between "hip music" and valuable-demo dominance was a big deal after The OC etc., but maybe now the networks are learning it'll take more to hook you than a scroll through your iTunes and a hero that looks like Jim Halpert. But we do thank them for trying.
[And just to explain ... there's nothing else on at that time and we really need to unwind to something mindless, and so we watch. Also, we were watching to research this post. Also ... yeah, out of excuses.]
Posted at 6:19 PM
Tags: Band Of Horses | Beck | Chuck | Gomez | Spoon | Teddybears | The National | The New Pornographers | The Shins
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Nothing else on? You need to jump on the amazing show-wagon that is How I Met Your Mother.
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It could be it's competing time slot with Prison Break and Dancing with the Stars. NBC has a problem with pitting it's good shows against proven winners and watching them get destroyed in the ratings. And what's wrong with indie rockers getting play on network shows? Would you rather they played Nickleback and Hinder instead?
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I've only ever seen the last minute or so before Heroes comes on. Other than that, it's Prison Break at our house, sorry Charlie.
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"Would you rather they played Nickleback and Hinder instead?"
At least then the quality of the music would better reflect the quality of the show, so yeah...
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All the new shows this season suck. The fact that Chuck plays music I listen to couldn't matter less to me. The only thing that's gonna make me watch is something I haven't seen before, which it's not. Personally I'd like to hear less of the music I like on TV shows. Plus, Chuck is losing ratings because it's boring. Not because it's failed to reach it's key demo.
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Chuck is very obviously aimed at the itunes generation (ironic considering the NBC/itunes drama) but it's not original or remotely entertaining. It's just a massive steaming pile and I can't wait until it's canceled.
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"teddybears' cover of robyn's cobrastyle"? other way around...
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Oh, yes, Brad is right. Robyn covered Teddybears. Even then, I wouldn't watch that show.
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I like Chuck.
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I blame this lousy trend on the WB/CW whatever they call themselves.
DwD
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Good Luck, Chuck.
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Must watch TV box...can't think of anything better to do...must...sit still...and watch...passively.
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Chuck don't suck, ya fuck.
The girl's hot, the guy's funny, and the sidekick almost looks like Seth Green.
You folks are the sub-30 equivalent of the oldsters who claim they only watch PBS...
hip-holier-than-thou.
TV doesnt have to be alternative, transgressive or ground-breaking.
It just has to fill the hole between work and sleep in an audio-visually-pleasing way.
The soundtrack choices are gravy, not deal-breakers.
-budd
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Forget Chuck, who saw the freak book on Curb Your Enthusiasm last Sunday? LOLZ!
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I liked the pilot of "Pushing Daisies" a lot, tho.
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pushing daisies was indeed awesome. cavemen, not so much.
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How I Met Your Mother is the best program (for this demographic, anyway) on television. And they spin the indie hits, too, only it's more organic.
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man, chuck is great. you are all terrible at watching tv. what exactly is it copying that makes it is so unorginal? i haven't seen that show, apparently.
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MEthinks it was Band of Horses- "The General Specific" and Chuck is just fine for mindless entertainment, sometimes it's nice to turn off your brain and watch a goofy dude try to woo a beautiful secret agent.
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All I see when snippets of Chuck roll by during commercials is that Adam Baldwin has another ass-kicking character, and it makes me miss Firefly all the more.
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yeah dudes! kill yr tv..its cutting into yr blog commenting time!
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"Chuck" isn't all that bad, though I'm already finding the whole scenario boring and overplayed. I'll sum it up in three sentences:
Chuck sees something. Random images flash which link some object to an evil bad guy plot. He and the secret agents foil this plot with seemingly hilarious banter along the way.
I'm calling a Beirut song next week. I have faith the producers can shamelessly fit "Nantes" in somewhere.
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Forget Chuck, watch Friday Night Lights, ends last season with a cover of Daniel Johnston's devil town, and is soundtracked in the season premiere by T. Rex and Wilco's 'Muzzle of Bees'
The actual series is even better than the music they play
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Burn Notice is clearly the better secret agent comedy (I'm a huge loser).
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We love Chuck. Giggles, action, fun. It's the OC meets Alias - and what's wrong with that? However, i see your point - the plot needs to move forward, but all the characters are likable and that's okay, no?
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the first episode doesn't close with the shins. it closes with "the missionary," by the brothers martin.
who are awesome.
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"See The World" & "Cobrastyle"? I could name at least 15 shows that have had both of those songs on at one point or another, making that declaration utterly un-newsworthy.
Agreed that HIMYM is a terrific show to unwind to: a bit mindless, funnier than it should be and full of those indie hits that make these type of useless posts type themselves. Plus NPH - need I say more?
Also agreed that there's NOTHING that has premiered this season that has been worth my time or DVD-RW space.
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chuck is produced by the same two guys who produced/wrote the oc.
hence the hip music.
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The show is rather mediocre and when the Spoon song first played I was pumped, yet confused to hear it again and again for mere moments at a time. Do producers think shoe-horning popular indie songs into a show will make the hip kids tune in or do they just like the songs? Death Cab wasn't about to get me to watch The OC and I'm as hip as the kids come.
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What's Chuck? Oh yeah, that show I don't watch that comes on before Heroes.
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"Also agreed that there's NOTHING that has premiered this season that has been worth my time or DVD-RW space."
i take it you haven't seen pushing daisies
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I mean i guess you can expect this from the producers of The O.C. Chuck is pretty much that hipster-esque kid who complains all of the time
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loved the premiere of 'pushing daisies.' very curious to see if the fairy tale shtick will wear thin, but that was a great first ep!
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could there PLEASE be a late night post about fucking RADIOHEAD?
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Forget this Chuck noise, the In Rainbows links have been sent.
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Fucking retards! Kill yourself before your T.V. does.
T.V.'s A nickname and nicknames are for friends and T.V.'s no friend of mine!
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i completely agree. i have to be honest though, i thought the premiere wasn't that bad actually but when i saw the second episode, ....i felt like i was watching the oc all over again. josh schwartz kind of needs to realize that lots of hip music, when crammed in one episode like that, can make a tv show very pretentious.
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The premise is ridiculous, but the show is actually really funny. And yes, the girl is fantastic looking.
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I like Chuck. And I like Journeyman too. So there.
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Um, you should have fired your complaints about music choices years ago when Alexandra Patsavas, music coordinator, started providing music for the OC - that's when she really got her feet wet. She makes the exact same music choices for every show she does. I doubt you'd be bold enough to attack her music choices on Grey's Anatomy, even though they are the exact same.
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My show is terrible. You should flip the dial to CBS for "How I Met Your Mother" and then the CW for "Alien In America" instead of sitting through my awful show for an hour. If none of that floats your boat, you could, I don't know, actually turn off the TV and read. I hear books are like TV shows, except without the pictures and all.
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Chuck's just deece. It's sorta mediocre, that's it's worst problem. It's a strange feeling, being directly marketed-to with good music.
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Chuck is ok, but I'm with kpang - everyone should watch Friday Night Lights!! It's far and away the best show on television right now. No gimmicks, just excellent writing, acting, character development, etc.
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The best new show of the season is definitely Reaper! I thought it was going to be awful but it has completely won me over--even without a strategically chosen indie-rock soundtrack. I highly recommend it! Pushing Daisies kind of disappointed me.
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I had SportsCenter on in the background Saturday night and I could swear that I heard a Sufjan Stevens reference during the Wisconsin-Illinois highlights...something about "all things grow, all things grow". Yeah, yeah, ILLINOIS!, I get it. Lame.
Also, "Young Folks" again on the opening of the show after FNL (Las Vegas, I think).
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Considering that most TV is garbage, I actually enjoy Chuck quite a bit. Some of the writing is very clever, and the characters are well acted and incredibly endearing. It's tough believing that they could stretch the premise of the show into a successful series, but I'm still having a blast watching it.
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I miss "recorded live in front of a studio audience" sitcoms.
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"Adam Baldwin has another ass-kicking character, and it makes me miss Firefly all the more." Can I get an amen? And I'm afraid I'm tending to agree with "the sub-30 equivalent of the oldsters who claim they only watch PBS...
hip-holier-than-thou." Its not high art but I think its really entertaining. I don't know if the series really has any room to go, but right now I think its a blast. Its weird, because its primarily a comedy but impersonating an action show like alias. I don't laugh at TV much (office/conchords/arrested excluded) but I laugh quite a bit at this show. Hope it sticks around.
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what's not to love about this show? It's sewing up the geek demographic together with spy fetish! There's a slightly-lovable underdog to root for, and there's a smoking-hot blonde chick who not only knows martial arts, but also fills out a Weinerlicious uniform quite nicely.
But more importantly, it's a great "concept" show that can go different places instead of a simple "human drama" like Grey's Anatomy or Desperate Housewives, or an even more mindless reality show like Dancing with the Stars or some shite. If I have to watch another night of Deal or No Deal because Chuck gets chucked I'm gonna turn back to books for entertainment, I mean it!
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I feel funny defending Alexandra Patsavas, but her selections certainly don't sound the same. Have you watched Mad Men? Or Rescue Me? I think maybe for indie snobs, the link between them all might be the description 'pedestrian,' but to say they sound the same is a bit off base.
The first two episodes of Chuck were kind of lame due to what appears to be network-forced pilot mentality, ie, over explain and introduce the characters. By episode three, it hits it's stride (of course, by then... too late).
Side note: Reaper, a similar show over on CW is having the same struggles, and last week they featured Grizzly Bear's "On a Neck, On a Spit."
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Heroes sucks
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