Chuck Series Finale - Tonight On NBC

Tonight Chuck, one of The Blot’s favorite shows, ends its five year run on NBC with a 2 hour series finale! Normally I’d be really sad to see a show I’ve loved for so long come to an end, but Chuck has been living on borrowed time for years. The last two seasons have definitely been a gift from NBC (and Subway) to Chuck’s loyal fan base, even with a shortened 13 episode Season 5. Who knew a Twitter campaign around $5 footlongs could really save a show!?! Knowing this would be the show’s final season has allowed the writers of Chuck to give each character closure to their individual storylines and helped Chuck’s fan base prepare for the end.

I just hope tonight’s series finale sends Chuck, Sarah, Casey and the rest of the Buy More crew off on a high note. I have no idea how the series will end, but I’ve got a feeling a “and they lived happily ever after” is in order.

The two hour series finale of Chuck (“Chuck vs. Sarah” and “Chuck vs. the Goodbye”) airs tonight, Friday, January 27th, on NBC at 8/7c.

Chuck Season 3 Television Poster and Sunday Season Premiere on NBC

This Sunday marks the official start of the 2009-2010 television mid-season, and The Blot is super excited because it’s also the night two of my favorite shows return from very long hiatuses! First up is NBC’s Chuck, a show The Blot fought very hard to have renewed at the end of last season. On the bubble of cancellation just a year ago, Chuck’s ardent fan base united on Twitter, Facebook and in Subways around the US in an effort to show their support for Chuck and his Nerd Herd. Thankfully, NBC listened and this Sunday Chuck is back better than ever (and hopefully with even more Jeffster)!


Chuck has been consistently good since it debuted two seasons ago, and The Blot has a feeling this season will be even better after shocking ending of Season 2. If you’ve never seen Chuck before, it’s not too late to pick up Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD and catch up over the weekend just in time for the 2-hour season premiere this Sunday. Trust me, you’ll be thanking me later!

And to all the Chuck fans out there: this Sunday be sure to wear your Jeffster and Buy More t-shirts, grab a $5 footlong from Subway for dinner and get ready for some action, because Season 3 is going to be, as Ryan McPartlin’s Devon “Captain Awesome” Woodcomb would say, awesome. Chuck stars Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, Adam Baldwin as Major John Casey, Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker and Joshua Gomez as Morgan Grimes.

Chuck kicks off Season 3 with a 2 hour season premiere Sunday, January 10th at 9/8c on NBC. After that, Chuck moves to its regular time slot of Monday nights at 8/7c.

Chuck - Jeffster Raglan Baseball T-Shirt

Since it’s all Chuck all the time here at The Blot Says… today in honor of the show’s season finale, I thought I’d spotlight one of my favorite Chuck tie-ins: The Jeffster Raglan Baseball T-shirt. The Jeffster Raglan T-Shirt is available now for preorder at the NBC Universal Store for $25 and comes in sizes S-XXL. What better way to show your support for Chuck (and help show NBC why Chuck needs to be renewed for a third season) than by purchasing this awesome black, white and grey tee!


The amazing wedding band Jeffster made their world television premiere in “Chuck vs. The Best Friend” a few weeks ago and fans have been craving more ever since. The band consists of the Buy More Nerd Herd’s dynamic duo Jeff and Lester (hence the band’s name Jeffster) and are horrifically Awesome! Week in and week out Jeff and Lester make a strong case as the best characters on Chuck, and if you’ve ever seen the show you know why. They are so awkward and ridiculous it makes for truly great television.


The Chuck Season 2 Finale airs tonight, Monday, April 27, 2009, on NBC at 8/7c. For helpful ideas of what you can do to help Save Chuck click here and/or here!

Chuck Season 2 Series Finale Airs Tonight on NBC

Tonight, Monday, April 27, 2009, is the season finale and possibly the series finale of one of The Blot’s favorite television shows, Chuck. I can’t get enough of the weekly exploits of Chuck, Sarah and the rest of the crazy Buy More Nerd Heard crew. If you follow The Blot on Twitter then you know there is currently a huge campaign led by fans of the show to help convince NBC to give the show a third season. If you’re not following The Blot on Twitter yet what are you waiting for? Head here and sign up today! But I digress….


Chuck is one of the most consistently entertaining shows on television, but it needs help from fans like you! Although the hour long spy/action/comedy series seems to be on the proverbial bubble, NBC is giving off strong indications they could be persuaded to give the Nerd a Third. NBC has even posted on the official Chuck website “if you love Chuck, show your support by watching this Monday’s finale at 8/7c!” (link)


Tonight everyone is encouraged to stop by your local Subway and purchase a $5 Footlong for dinner before going home to watch the Chuck Season Finale at live on NBC 8/7c. Subway is a big sponsor of Chuck and their Footlong subs have been featured prominently in recent episodes. While at Subway be sure to fill out a comment card to let Subway know you’re participating in the ChuckTV.net campaign to save NBC’s Chuck (of which Subway is a product placement sponsor). This is a great way to show NBC and all of Chuck’s sponsors the value of renewing the show.


If you’re interested in finding out other ways to help with the Save Chuck campaign click here! ChuckTV.net has some great suggestions, including a letter writing campaign to NBC Co-Chairman Ben Silverman. Make sure to include a package of Nerds with your letter to drive home the point to give a Nerd a Third!

Make sure to tune in tonight, Monday, April 27, 2009, to watch the Chuck Season 2 Season Finale live on NBC at 8/7c.

Lost Wednesdays - Season 5 Trailer and Other News

Lost Wednesdays is back! It’s The Blot’s first Lost post of the 2008-2009 Television season and I’m more than a little excited about it. We’re still months away from the season premiere of Lost, but it’s never too early for some news and spoilers. There’s one bit of information that even The Blot won’t post about, but if you don’t care about spoilers and need to know right away then click here to watch a very spoiler filled video interview. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you!


Next up is the first teaser trailer for Lost’s upcoming Season 5! We haven’t had any new Lost in a really long time so even these brief glimpses of the upcoming season should be a real treat for Lost fans worldwide:



Secondly, I thought everyone would be interested in knowing that the titles for the first six episodes of Season 5 have been revealed. (link) Now the real speculation can begin! The titles are:

Episode 5.01 – Because You Left
Episode 5.02 – The Lie
Episode 5.03 – Jughead
Episode 5.04 – The Little Prince
Episode 5.05 – This Place Is Death
Episode 5.06 – The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham.

And lastly, a quasi cross-over that has The Blot really excited! Everyone’s favorite deceased Lostie, Charlie Pace, will be appearing in an episode of NBC’s Chuck! Well maybe it’s not Charlie exactly, but Dominic Monaghan has signed on to play “a free-spirited British rock star targeted for death by a shadowy group of evildoers.” (link) If that’s not Charlie then I must be going crazy! If you’d like to find out more about Monaghan’s upcoming guest-starring role on Chuck then check out this exclusive interview with the former Lost star by Michael Ausiello.

Chuck has quickly become one of The Blot’s favorite TV shows and I really wish more people were watching it. So, if you’re a devout fan of all things Lost then do The Blot and yourself a favor and tune in to Chuck on Monday, February 2nd at 8/7c on NBC for Dominic Monaghan’s return to television as Charlie Pace Tyler Martin.

NBC To Pick Up 9 Additional Episodes Of Chuck

In other NBC news…as what can only be seen as a huge vote of confidence, NBC has decided to “pick up nine additional episodes of its sophomore drama Chuck” before the show’s second season has even begun to air. (link)


As you may remember, while Chuck had a solid freshman season it was cut short due to the writers strike. (link) According to The Hollywood Reporter, “it’s understood that NBC executives have been impressed with what they’ve seen from the first six episodes of the show’s second-season order and decided to hand out an early full-season pickup.” (link)


I believe NBC initially ordered a shortened season to try and gage whether or not Chuck’s creators could maintain the high quality of storytelling and on screen chemistry they established in the show’s first season. It appears that NBC’s primary fears have already been quashed when Teri Weinberg, Executive Vice President NBC Entertainment, announced yesterday, “We couldn’t be more excited with the creative direction Josh (Schwartz) and his team are executing on Chuck. This show has really hit its stride and deserves a full-season commitment to carry out the producers’ vision for this unique series.” (link)

Honestly, that is like music to my ears. I loved the first season of Chuck and believe the show has the incredible potential to build upon last season and become an even better all-around show. With a great ensemble cast and just the right mix of action, comedy and mystery, Chuck might be the early breakout hit of the 2008-2009 season.


Chuck, starring Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin and Joshua Gomez, premieres its new season on Monday, September 29th, at 9/8c on NBC.

Hellboy Invades NBC - New Hellboy II Television Promo Ads

Tonight at midnight marks the official release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army and I’m already scoping out movie times to try and avoid the crazy opening weekend crowds that come with every new movie that debuts over the summer. Universal, who is producing and distributing Hellboy II, has come up with some really creative television promotional advertisements for the movie and The Blot can’t get enough of them.

A few years ago NBC and Universal merged to create the aptly named NBC/Universal, so it should come as no surprise that Universal would utilize the NBC family of networks to promote their upcoming movies. First it was a promo ad involving Hellboy on Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio (which you can see here), and then on Sunday I saw a USA Network “Characters Welcomed” ad that featured Hellboy. Now the internet is abuzz with new Hellboy II promo ads featuring two of NBC’s most popular freshmen shows, Chuck and American Gladiators.

I don’t know who came up with the idea to have Hellboy interact with other properties’ characters, but it really is ingenious. The first video below features Hellboy playing video games with Chuck’s Zachary Levi (a.k.a Chuck Bartowski) and the second shows Hellboy visiting the set of American Gladiators where he runs into Gladiator Wolf (played by Hollywood Yates). There’s also a great retro “The More You Know” public service announcement starring Hellboy. I’m hoping there are a few more crossovers out there, but in the mean time check out these three new NBC Hellboy II TV promo ads below:

Hellboy on Chuck


Hellboy on American Gladiators


The More You Know PSA with Hellboy

NBC Announces Its Fall Series Premiere Dates

I think this is utterly bizarre! We’re not even into June yet and already NBC is announcing when their television shows will debut/return this fall. (link) I can’t think of a reason why they’re doing this now, besides maybe just trying to get a little early publicity while the other networks are off doing other things, like getting ratings. Again, NBC was fourth this year in the television season ratings rankings. (link) I guess at this point any early publicity for their scripted shows is a good thing.


Since NBC’s decided to share the dates scheduled for the launch of their 2008-2009 television season, I thought I’d pass along the info to all of you. Check out the season premieres of returning shows and the debut of brand new shows below:

NBC's Fall 2008-09 Premiere Schedule (all times ET):
(link) New Programs in UPPER CASE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
AMERICA'S TOUGHEST JOBS
Series Premiere - 8-10 p.m.
Returns on September 19 - 8-9 p.m. for five weeks
Then Resumes from 9-10 p.m. on October 24

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Heroes Clip Show - 8-9 p.m.
Heroes Season Premiere - 9-11 p.m.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - 10-11 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
KNIGHT RIDER - 8-9 p.m.
Lipstick Jungle - 10-11 p.m.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
My Name Is Earl - One-Hour Premiere - 8-9 p.m.
The Office - One-Hour Premiere - 9-10 p.m.
ER - 10-11 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
Chuck - 8-9 p.m.
MY OWN WORST ENEMY - 10-11 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3
Life - 10-11 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
KATH & KIM - 9:30-10 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
CRUSOE - Two-Hour Premiere - 8-10 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
30 Rock - 8:30-9 p.m.

Chuck Returns This Thursday

For all of you Chuck-fanatics out there, or just the average television audience dying for some new, entertaining scripted television, NBC has just the thing for you this Thursday, January 23rd. The peacock channel will be airing two brand new episodes of Chuck to lift you out of your reality TV doldrums. Unfortunately, the airing of these two episodes also marks the end of Chuck’s freshman season since no other episodes were produced before the start of the WGA strike.

For some reason the two episodes aren’t being run back to back though. That means set your DVRs so we’re not all subjected to watching an episode of Celebrity Apprentice. The first new episode of Chuck airs at 8/7 Central, then a one hour Apprentice: Celebrity Edition, and then the second episode of Chuck comes on at 10/9 Central. I know the second episode has a pretty substantial secondary story centering around Chuck’s sister’s boyfriend Devon (a.k.a. Captain Awesome), so I’m especially excited for that episode. After that it’s anybody’s guess whether or not new episodes will be produced for any scripted shows this year or if we’ll all have to wait until the start of next season to see what’s in store for Chuck, Casey, Sarah and the Buy More crew.


Also, don’t forget that this Saturday, January 26th marks the Season 2 premier of Torchwood on BBC America at 9/8 Central. The new season kicks off with a bang with special guest star James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Spike).

Chuck vs. The World

This week’s recommendation is the one hour action/comedy Chuck (Mondays @ 8/7 Central on NBC). Unfortunately one of this season’s best new shows just happens to be on at the same time as the previously recommended How I Met Your Mother. Thankfully, with the invention of DVR/TiVo no one has an excuse to ever miss either.

Here’s a quick recap of the show’s premise: The main character Chuck Bartowski, played by Zachary Levi, is just your average geek working in the Nerd Herd section of a Buy More (which looks remarkably like Best Buy and its Geek Squad department) until he subliminally downloads all of the U.S. Government’s spy secrets into his brain's subconscious. How does one do this you might ask? It happened while viewing a series of pictures in an email sent to Chuck by his former college roommate turned spy just before the ex-roommate is killed. Now don’t let the fact that Chuck is a spy show scare you off. While the spy missions are a pretty large element of the show, it’s not what makes Chuck so great. The show is really about Chuck trying to find his way in the world, while coping with his new responsibility of safeguarding all of our country's secrets. The fact that Chuck was saddled with data by the aforementioned former college roommate who also stole Chuck’s college girlfriend and then got him expelled from Stanford seems to make him pretty resentful of the responsibilities thrust upon him.

Once Chuck has been officially drafted into government service, he is assigned to work with and be protected by CIA agent Sarah Walker and NSA agent John Casey. Newcomer Yvonne Strahovski, who plays Sarah, already has already developed some great on-screen chemistry with Levi and you can really feel the will they/won’t they vibe every episode as the two try to pass off their cover as a romantically involved couple to Chuck’s friends and co-workers.

But my favorite character on the show has to be NSA agent Casey played by Adam Baldwin. Baldwin may have found his greatest fame as mercenary Jayne Cobb in the short lived television show Firefly and subsequent feature film Serenity, but I will always know him as Ike from Poison Ivy. And no, I’m not referring to the 90’s skin flick Poison Ivy staring Drew Barrymore, but instead the 80’s instant classic starring Michael J. Fox and Facts of Life’s Nancy McKeon. If you haven’t seen it I definitely recommend finding a copy on eBay right away!

But The Blot digresses…what is also really great about Chuck is all of the recurring minor characters in the show’s cast. The three nerd herders on Chuck’s staff are hilarious and are always there for some good high jinks at Buy More with Chuck and his best friend Morgan. One character I can't get enough of, who unfortunately isn’t in every episode, is Chuck’s sister Ellie’s fiancé Captain Awesome. In case I have to explain where Chuck's nickname for him comes from, his response to pretty much everything is “Awesome.” It’s a really awesome concept for a character don’t you think?

Besides the entertaining stories and characters, the music on the show has also been surprisingly good. The show is definitely going for the hip indie vibe using songs from The Shins, Jet, Gomez and Spoon to name a few. We’re only a few episodes into the first season, so it’s definitely not too late for everyone to start watching. Before every episode there is a brief recap of the season and after watching a full episode you should be up to speed with every going on in the show. In no time flat you'll be a Chuck-a-holic too.