Good news everyone!  ABC picked up Chuck for a 4th season and V gets a second one.

I've been enjoying watching both shows.  With their season end approaching fast I had concerns whether they would get a next season.

This is a good time for those not watching V to get back into the show.  The first few episodes are slow and it's difficult to get into the characters but they build so that by mid season all of the set up pays off and the intrigue gets really good.

Both Chuck and V are available streaming online.  Watch them below.

Chuck

V

(via SCI FI Wire)

In life all of us have to wrestle with love, family, and our purpose in life.  When on the right path one finds everything moves smoothly and when not one finds difficulty.  I’m really enjoying the third season of Chuck and their representation of those real struggles.

By using the intersect and chuck's ability to access it as a symbol of chuck's spiritual compass we get to clearly see when his life is out of balance.  Like in life, when one gets so out of balance, there comes a time when a spiritual adviser comes along to put one back on the path.  For Chuck this was the Tao of Morgan.

Chuck Verses the False Choice

Chuck’s purpose in life is facing a false choice between the old Chuck verses spy Chuck.  Unfortunately by working within the confines of labels he is unable to see how both choices are wrong.  Old Chuck denies how he is very capable and spy Chuck denies his emotions which is his source of strength.  He has to find the real Chuck.

To protect Chuck’s family he made a false choice to keep them at a distance.  This false choice is causing great problems in Chuck’s life because it is his family that grounds him.  To protect them he need’s them close and to keep a distance between himself and his spy life.

In love Chuck made a false choice by believing Sarah is not an option.  This false choice is preventing him from finding out what kind of romantic relationship really exists between them.  He is left with unresolved emotions that also prevents any future choices.  Thus the relationship with Hanna is not able to move forward because Chuck has not resolved his position with Sarah.

With all of those false choices Chuck is left lost and out of balance.  This manifests it’s self by his inability to access the intersect.  Then enters his spiritual advisor to put him back on the path.

Tao of Morgan

Chuck reveals his spy identity to Morgan.  One might expect two years of lying to hurt the friendship but not in Morgan’s case because he understands the way.  I love how out of all the people in Chuck’s life Morgan is his spiritual guide.

The Tao of Morgan:  Follow your bliss and be true to yourself.  This is the real secret to our purpose in life and it is a path not a destination.

The Real Chuck

The real Chuck is a very capable person who cares to do the good and protect innocent people from harm.  He draws his strength from his emotions which is directly tied to his desire to do good and protect innocent people from harm.  This is why Chuck’s emotions play such a vital role.

He gets back on the path of following his bliss and being true to himself after putting Morgan back into his life.

The Struggle Continues

Now we must see how chuck resolves his false choices that lead him off the path in the first place.  I don’t see him finding his true self right away since it is his peers that keep perpetuating the false choice between being a spy or being his old self.  Sarah sees the real Chuck but is unable to clearly tell him because of the unresolved feelings between them.

Will Chuck find his true self?

What kind of relationship do you see Chuck and Sarah having by the end of season three?

[reus name="Chuck"]

What do you think of Chuck’s potential new love interest Hanna?

Kristin Kreuk did a great job on Chuck vs First Class as Hannah.  She delivered a likable yet sharp character who has and internal strength.  I really like how she is able as a character to stand up to Sarah making Hannah a viable temptation for Chuck.

What I wonder though is she a spy or a civilian?

Hannah has demonstrated some viable spy characteristics.  She had a lengthy conversation with chuck without revealing any real information about herself.  She has a keen eye for discerning who people really are and their intentions.  She was willing to move from Paris, France to Burbank, California to be with Chuck.

If Hanna has been placed to be close to Chuck do you think Shaw could be behind it all to put an end between Chuck and Sarah?

Zachary Levi sat down for an interview about season three of Chuck.  Some of the answers were most amusing and others were quite revealing about what we can expect in season three.

• The 13 episode arc is tightly written and wont be changed


• The 6 additional episodes will be a mini arc in it’s own.  Informed by the previous arc but not part of a bigger arc.


• There will be some international travel in season 3.


• Chuck will be more a part of the action like a Neo from the Matrix but he is a flawed superhero.  He will kick butt at times but the intersect can fritz out when Chuck’s emotions get the better of him.


• They will play more with who Chuck is.  I love the tension between Chuck the good guy and the spy who has to lie and do darker things.

One of the cool things in the writing is that it’s noted that Chuck is becoming better and better at lying, which is good and bad. He’s losing himself in this world of espionage a little too well sometimes. Much to the chagrin of Sarah, who really likes Chuck for Chuck and doesn’t want him to lose who he is. I don’t think Chuck wants to lose who he is either, although he does want this spy life because it’s something that gives his life meaning and purpose outside of fixing people’s computers.

(via Slice of SciFi)

Some great news, Chuck season 3 returns early January 10th for a 2 hour premier!  Watch the announcement and a preview of a scene from the premier in the video above.

I can’t wait to see where season 3 will take us:

• More Chuck Me! action


• Chuck taking charge of some missions


• The Buy More gang is back

The scene looks great I laughed watching Chuck trying to play in a band.  They show him accessing his internal intersect or as a Matrix fan I like to say getting an upgrade from the operator.

The best is the dancing laser security scene which will rock.  I laughed so hard at the few second flash I can’t wait to see the whole thing.

[reus name="Chuck"]

Robert Patrick will guest star on Chuck next year!  He is to play Col. Keller in "Chuck Versus the tic Tac" episode 310.

Col. Keller is from Casey's past so I expect someone with a lot of combat and heavy arms training.

Do you think he is looking for this boy?

Chuck season 3 will premier in March 2010

(via Slice of SciFi)

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone, but NBC is holding off on showing new episodes of "Chuck" until March at the earliest (Airlock Alpha).

WTF?!?  It was bad enough we were going to have to wait to January, but March?  I might loose my mind over this...

NBC didn't give a reason for this move, so I am lead to believe they feed on tears and frustration.

I am not sure if we need to get active about this or not.  Why?  I doubt NBC will care.

What do you think we should do about this?

Jeffster exploded onto the music scene with their big break through wedding gig where they played Mr. Roboto for Ellie's wedding.  Now watch them explode on the stage at SDCC as "Sam Kinison and an Indian lesbian play Fat Bottom Girls" live.  Watch the video below

What an amazing, energizing way to start off a panel.  Once again Chuck has inspired me and broke me free of my box, the ideas flow for the structure of my next panel...

For those who missed it... what were you thinking and for those like me who can't get enough of this video, Check out Jeffster's performance of Mr. Roboto below.

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More good news!

NBC has renewed Chuck for a 13-episode third season, striking a deal with Warner Brothers Television to bring back the cult show with a smaller production budget, Variety reported.

The renewal haggling between NBC and Warner over the past few weeks has centered entirely on cost-cutting issues, insiders told the trade paper (SCI FI Wire).

Unconscionable Abuse of Fandom

I can understand the long debate over Dollhouse's renewal.  That was a new media vs old media fight that we are going to be seeing happen more often in the future, but to tell the fans that the show they love could be canceled when you are bickering over money is just bad form.

The network and production company should have been upfront with the fans that they were arguing over such a petty issue.

In the future, I hope they are more honest about their issues so we know who and what the problem really is.

Review of:  Chuck 222 Chuck Versus the Ring 

Overall Rating: 10

On Ellie's and Awesome's wedding day, everything has to be perfect.  This becomes increasingly difficult when Roark crashes the party wanting the intersect cube.  Watch the episode streaming online above.

Chuck Versus the Ring is the best episode of the season.  The writers did an amazing job by wrapping up the loose story arcs, while maintaining the tension of and bringing to the forefront the main story arcs for season three.  The acting from everyone is just spot on and they even raised the bar on the music front.

The music throughout the series amazed me.  In this episode they introduce a new best fight scene to music and get to feature Jeffster’s cover of the “Mr. Roboto” by Styx.  I think that Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky actually sang a cover and did a really good job with it.  Their cover starts 14:53 in and below watch the music video of the Styx singing the original.

Do you think Orion is ambidextrous?  He wears his cool wrist brace on his left arm operating it with his right hand suggesting that Orion is right handed yet he threw a left hook in a fight with Ted Roark favoring the left hand.

I really enjoyed how they brought the whole Chuck you are a hero motif to an apex in this episode.  Throughout this season Chuck wrestles with what it means to be a hero.  He learns what it means but still doubts that he is one.  His father gives Chuck his final boon and sets him off down the path.  Yet even with that Chuck still doubts his own awesomeness, but when the moment comes he makes the hero’s choice and puts together everything he learned from the series.

This episode is the best argument for another season of Chuck.  If you haven't already voice your opinion here

Likes

• It was just great to watch all of the cast acting so brilliantly in this episode


• Bruce Boxleitner as Awesome’s father ruled.


• Jeffster returns!!!  Their singing of "Mr. Roboto" by Styx rocked.  I think that should be an MP3 for sale I would have bought it.


• They fill in the Brice storyline


• They fill in the rest of Orion’s storyline


• The advancement of Chuck’s storyline by concluding his questions and concerns from this season and setting him up for next season.


• Best fight sequence to “Mr. Roboto”


• Introduction to the Ring and a brilliant set up for a season 3


• Casey’s facial expressions in the last scene were classic!


• Nice homage to the Matrix.

Dislikes

• This was a minor concern but I did have to stop and justify to myself on how Casey’s team was so easily taken out in the castle.

Favorite Quotes

• “There is no need to curse.  You know damn well what I want.”


• “If you don't deliver that Cube within a half hour, 40 minutes tops with traffic...”


• “Kevin, why are you letting Sam Kinison and an Indian lesbian wreck your wedding?”


• “Hmm, a real shotgun wedding.  Just think that terrible pun is the last thing you will ever hear.”


• “Oh chuck me!”

For More on Chuck click here

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Get your copy of Chuck - The Complete First Season from Amazon here. and Chuck: The Complete Second Season here.

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Spoiler Alert

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I loved that they revealed Orion having the intersect in his head.  It helped to explain how he was able to stay one step ahead of everyone for so long.

It was a nice touch to give Brice an honorable conclusion.  First they reveal that he was not the jerk he was originally portrayed to be, that in fact he was working with Orion to help protect Chuck.  Even towards the end he did not try to steal Chuck’s girl.  I was kind of sad to see him go.

The Ring is brought to the forefront in this episode.  First, the name of the episode having a double meaning was not lost on me, I loved it.  Fulcrum is revealed to only be a part of the Ring which has different goals from Fulcrum.  The Ring also appears to have even better quality spies which should make for a very interesting season three (fingers crossed and letters sent) upping the stakes for Chuck.

To coincide with the added challenge from The Ring , Chuck moved from a hero to a superhero.  I love how season 2 was all about Chuck learning how to be a hero and in this episode they move him into being a superhero.  He gets Orion’s arm brace allowing him technological access to almost all systems and he gets an intersect upgrade allowing him to pull a Neo from the Matrix.  The combat flash was awesome, especially that they finished the scene with chuck giving an homage to the matrix and my most favorite quote of the season: “Guys… I know kung fu.”  I hope that season three will open with some kind of scene where a Morpheus type character (ahem… Casey) steps in and asks Chuck to prove it.

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