Ok, it's still Sunday night here on the west coast, but soon it will be Monday and then it will be Monday at 8pm. What should you do about that?
If you're a Nielsen family you should watch Chuck live and DVR House and anything else on at 8pm you want to watch. If you're not a Nielsen family, realistically it probably doesn't matter, so watch it however you feel like watching it and enjoy yourself.
While Bill is on vacation I have toyed with the idea of giving TVbytheNumbers.com an Extreme Makeover to a "Save Chuck!" fan site, but it's just not in me. I hope NBC renews Chuck for a couple of reasons. One, I'm a fan of the show and enjoy it. But that's not the primary reason I hope they renew it. I'm selfish. I don't want to see and wade through all of the blog comments that will ensue if NBC doesn't renew it.
The situation for those who haven't been paying attention is that although under normal circumstances, based on its performance it would be renewed. But because NBC is whacking hours out of the prime-time schedule that used to be available for scripted dramas in favor of Jay Leno, it seems like Chuck is on the bubble where NBC might want to renew it and might not.
I think, ultimately it will come down to a couple of things:
1.) Will Warner Brothers license it at a price where NBC says, "Oh hell yeah, we'd be crazy not to take that deal!" Ok, so that's an exaggeration. More realistically it's can Warner Brothers license it at a price that makes a lot of sense NBC while still making sense Warner Brothers.
2.) The unknown factor is what NBC thinks of the other pilots it has ordered. For more info on that see Julia's post with links to The Futon Critic on all the networks' pilots. The good news (from a Chuck fan perspective) is because NBC cut five hours out of the schedule for Jay Leno they only ordered up about as many pilots as FOX. FOX doesn't broadcast nationally from 10pm-11pm so it makes sense that it has a lot fewer pilots ordered than ABC and CBS. But with NBC having Leno on from 10pm-11pm it makes sense for NBC to have fewer pilots, too.
Several people have asked me what I think will happen. The truth is, I really don't have a good feel. I'm leaning towards renewal simply based on the numbers, which are about average for a downtrodden NBC. Unfortunately the numbers don't jump out at me in a "NBC would be crazy not to renew this show!" fashion and I really could see it going either way.
What I hope will happen is that at minimum NBC orders up 13 more episodes and goes from there. There is definitely a case to be made for doing that, but how strong that case is I think will be impacted by what the licensing fees are and how NBC feels about its other pilots. If NBC winds up not loving most of its pilots (and networks typically only pick up a relative few of the pilots they order) that will make the case even stronger.
But hope isn't the same as knowing.
I know fans feel like they need to do something but I recommend against filling out petitions and sending stuff to the network. That might make you feel better, but it probably won't make a difference and at this point if you send a bunch of crap to the network, it might just tick them off. Besides you want to keep that TRON poster on your wall rather than sending it to NBC anyway. But there are a few things you can actually do that will at least help:
1.) watch the show
2.) tell all your friends to watch the show
3. BUY THE SEASON ONE DVD. One thing I'm pretty sure of is that if 500,000 people went out and bought the season one DVD in the next couple of weeks, Warner Brothers would figure out how to price it in a way that NBC would want it.
For now, we have at least three more episodes of Chuck to enjoy and a little over three weeks of waiting before we find out what NBC does. I know a lot of you want to jump to moving it to cable or the CW, but I'm content to wait and see what NBC does before jumping aboard those trains.
I gather from this article that you want people to watch Chuck.
Oh Robert, you’re looking for trouble on this one
All the Chuck-a-holics and the haters are gonna have a field day…
Sadly, I already own the season one DVD…and I doubt buying it in Canada would do much good LOL.
I really do hope this show gets renewed though. I love it!
lol, well Robert at least you shouldn’t* be hearing anymore of “I hate all this doom and gloom! It’s obvious that everyone on this site hates Chuck and wants it to fail! I bet you all have never even seen the show or else you would know it’s the only good thing NBC has right now! These headlines are here simply to get website traffic! NBC needs Chuck!”
*shouldn’t, but I’m sure will.
This is getting sad.
Aww. Com’on Robert, join the “Save Chuck” campaign, like other bloggers and critics have been doing.
I already bought my season one dvd (I actually have the Blu-Ray set too!). I’m here hoping NBC would at least pick up 13 episodes so that the show would get a proper ending, if it gets (god forbid I say this) cancelled later. Let’s hope for the best….
We’re not a Nielsen family but we did buy the season 1 DVD set last fall, and before that we bought all the episodes on iTunes. Will they look backwards and count either of those purchases?
Yea, you should join other critics and bloggers in the ‘Save Chuck’ campaign!
I hope fan letters are an exception to this “I know fans feel like they need to do something but I recommend against filling out petitions and sending stuff to the network. ”
Don’t forget to buy a 5$ sub from Subway!
What will it take for you to turn the site to a “Save Chuck!” fan site? Come on, everyone (and by everyone I mean all the cool sites) is doing it…
Thanks for doing your part though! Yeah, and don’t forget about the subs on the 27th!
Chuck?? Come on, lets first focus on LIFE, then Chuck. Life Life Life!!!!!
LIFE is gone. CHUCK is still here and will be renewed. Warner has made NBC an offer they cannot refuse.
Everyone just watch chuck!
I have already REcruited a crap load of my friends to start watching the show…picked up season 1 from target a few days ago.
CHUCK IS AWESOME. LIFE IS AWESOME. BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CHUCK THAT MAKES MY WHOLE FAMILY WANNA’ TUNE IN EVERY WEEK. PLEASE, SAVE THIS SHOW NBC. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. WE WILL CONTINUE TO BUY DVD AND BLURAY COPYS AND CONTINUE TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THE SERIES. DO THE RIGHT THING NBC. SAVE CHUCK.
Chuck caught my eye just the other night for the first time while I was channel surfing, and I saw the Quantum Leap guy. And I loved Quantum Leap as a kid, but I could never really get into his show on Sci-Fi, so seeing him on network TV was a HUGE step up for his career again.
I watched it, and I was fascinated and hooked. Now I hope they don’t cancel it!
If NBC cast him as a guest star on Chuck to try to get new viewers, then it worked (at least for me) because Quantum Leap is one of the best loved shows of all time and the actor who played him is familiar to most audiences young and old and has mass appeal.
Isabel, Quantum Leap guy will be on the show until the end of this season. Stick around.
Hehehe, I know, “Quantum Leap guy” hehe. That’s right, Scott Bakula is his name, I totally forgot, I guess that’s what happens with celebrities, I knew his name before, but if they don’t stay relevant in the public eye, people will forget…
Yeah, Robert, see, if you did an “I love TSCC, they should renew it” post, all the TSCC fans would now love you!
Right.
Actually, no, you’ve just re-iterated that Chuck is at risk, so you’re back in the doghouse. I assume you like being there since this post strikes me as totally unnecessary! LOL!
Remember – all I care about is more video clips and pics of Yvonne Strahovski going up on Superiorpics.com.
Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap fame also commanded the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: Enterprise from 2001-2005 as Captain Jonathan Archer.
WATCH IT TMRW PEOPLE.
Jack: “LIFE is gone. CHUCK is still here and will be renewed. Warner has made NBC an offer they cannot refuse.”
What have you heard Jack? Lower license fee that’s tempting for NBC? Something else? Please spill =D
Forget Chuck. Watch MEDIUM, people!! THAT’S the best show that NBC has on its network right now. They’d be crazy not to renew it. Why aren’t there more posts about that show, huh, Robert?
As for Chuck, eh, if I had to take it or leave it, I’d leave it.