Ever think the guy driving the Geek Squad car could be a government agent? NBC explores just that possibility with the new comedy-action series "Chuck."
Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) is just your average Nerd Herd employee, trying to work his way up at Buy More Electronics. Meanwhile, he is struggling to re-enter the dating scene after his college buddy stole his girlfriend and got him kicked out of Stanford several years before. He hasn't heard from that former friend, Bryce, since their college days.
That is, until he gets an e-mail from him encrypted with thousands of images containing top secret government information. As it turns out, Bryce was a rogue CIA agent, not an accountant - so much for that all-important college major.
Now Chuck is essentially a walking computer, full of confidential information and being chased by the CIA and NSA. CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) flirts her way to Chuck to discover that he has the super-secret images. Through a convenient plot device meant to showcase Chuck's kind heart and charity, he valiantly helps a little girl whose father failed to record her ballet recital. With that, the conflict between Sarah's duty to the CIA and her blossoming love for Chuck begins - nothing we haven't seen before. She's also got some emotional baggage from a past relationship, which (surprise!) is probably Bryce.
Chuck, armed with an abundance of knowledge that he has no clue how to use, finds himself in situations in which he gets lucky and, for example, stops a bomb. These situations are never fully explained, and the audience never completely gets the back story of who is being targeted and why, though "Chuck" may attempt to explain in later episodes.
The plot is far-fetched and the concept not especially original. Let's face it: the average guy who fights crime, saves the world, or has a secret identity is nothing new to anyone familiar with just about any superhero comic. The action sequences are also frequently cheesy. In the opening scenes, Bryce pulls some moves that even Spiderman might find challenging.
"Chuck" tries to combat this, however, by pairing the action sequences with a dose of silly humor. But the overall effect is that the comedy-action combo in this case makes the action scenes less authentic and the comedy less amusing. The show just doesn't strike the right balance between comedy and cinema-style action. It's a bit like trying to combine "The Office" and "James Bond." In other words, "Chuck" is a tricky mix.
At times, Levi himself makes the comedy work, mostly when there's no action element involved. The opening scenes are some of the funniest in the episode, as Chuck attempts to escape from his own birthday party and avoid the crowd of single women that his sister invited for him. With just the right combination of earnest, goofy, and sweet, Chuck is a likeable and pretty attractive "geek." Levi certainly has charm, but even so, the jokes are not fresh enough and the story and humor begin to feel too predictable. "Chuck" is just a new show using the same old tricks.
Many of the minor characters do prove to be surprisingly chuckle-worthy at times. Chuck's best friend, Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), is adequately awkward and video game-obsessed.
Some of the funniest moments are created by even more peripheral characters. For example, Captain Awesome, the boyfriend of Chuck's sister, gets a ridiculous name and so few lines that they can be counted on one hand, always delivered with a fittingly macho voice. Chuck's coworkers also have potential for real humor. The competition between Buy More employees is intense, and the few scenes mocking the epic power struggle between Chuck and his coworker Harry are some of the more memorable ones.
Even with a relatively likeable cast of characters and what the producers believe is a wholly original concept of a comedy-action television series, "Chuck" doesn't really surprise or impress. If procrastinating on a problem set or trying to avoid writing that English paper, it might be worth watching, but don't schedule around this one.
