Network picks up back nine episodes

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

NBC is giving an early vote of confidence to “Chuck,” picking up the back nine episodes of the sophomore skein.

“Chuck’s” full-season order comes more than a month before the show’s Sept. 29 premiere date. Exec producer Josh Schwartz called the pickup “unexpected.”

“It’s an incredible show of faith by NBC and so amazingly nice to get based on the work alone,” Schwartz said. “We’ve had a great partnership with NBC since day one on ‘Chuck”… to have the cast and crew’s hard work already rewarded is a great gift and truly inspiring. Now we have to work harder to prove it was a great idea.”

Peacock execs said they were pleased with the first six episodes of “Chuck’s” season two order, and wanted to keep the momentum going.

“This show has really hit its stride and deserves a full-season commitment to carry out the producers’ vision for this unique series,” said Teri Weinberg, exec VP of NBC Entertainment.

“Chuck” launched last year but was cut short by the writers’ strike. Rather than bring it back in the spring, NBC opted to hold the show back and relaunch it this fall.

Schwartz and Chris Fedak created “Chuck” and exec produce with McG and Scott Rosenbaum.

Zachary Levi stars as Chuck Bartowski, an electronics store clerk who accidentally downloads government secrets into his brain - and must now deal with assassins and terrorists. Adam Baldwin, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky and Julia Ling also star.

Warner Bros. TV is behind “Chuck,” along with College Hill Pictures and Wonderland Sound and Vision.

Posted: Wed., Aug. 27, 2008, 5:15pm PT

Source: Variety

The Hollywood writers’ strike crippled much of the entertainment industry. But for the creative staff behind NBC’s freshman action comedy “Chuck,” which returns Sept. 29, there was one bright side to the lengthy layoff.

“Unfortunately, the strike impacted the show when we were hitting our stride creatively and really building momentum,” says series co-creator Josh Schwartz.

“But while we were on the picket line, we discussed a lot about where we wanted the show to go. The time off allowed us to reflect and come out of the gate really focused on making a better show.”

The hybrid action/comedy/romance drama stars Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, a hapless computer geek who becomes a spy after a top-secret database is downloaded into his brain.

“Chuck’s” hybrid story lines makes it difficult to peg.

“It’s a tough show to act, perform, write and shoot,” Levi says. “It’s an ambitious show. Fortunately, there aren’t other action/comedy/dramas in (our time slot). That’s definitely one of the strongest things going for us — we’re different.”

“Chuck” had middling ratings but was gaining audience with each of its last few episodes before the strike. Two more episodes aired after the strike began — 13 in all — but nine additional shows were never produced.

“It was tough,” Levi says. “The last episode that was aired really wasn’t a finale. It didn’t tie up anything. So we’re starting fresh in many ways. Hopefully, we’ll be able to have a full 22 shows.”

Season 2 will keep Chuck on weekly missions and in danger of being eliminated by government operatives. But the romantic chemistry between the title character and comely CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) will be explored as part of a season-long story arc set in motion at the end of the second-season opener.

Schwartz also promises more action and insight into the show’s central characters.

“Romance is something we’re really owning and putting at the forefront of the show,” Schwartz says. “Zach and Yvonne have great chemistry. They’re terrific in romantic scenes. We always knew there was going to be that romantic yearning. But we want to go after that in a really significant way.”

“Chuck’s” first-year growth also allowed for bigger budgets this season and has made it more attractive for guest stars.

Michael Clarke Duncan, four-time Emmy winner John Laroquette, Jordana Brewster, Melinda Clarke and Nicole Richie are slated to guest star. Richie “surprised everyone by how terrific she was,” Schwartz says. And “Arrested Development’s” Tony Hale joins the cast as a supervisor at Buy More, Chuck’s daytime gig.

This article was written by GARY STRAUSS of  USA TODAY

Source

Title role means he’s always ‘on’ — and he’s having a blast

The days of keeping a low profile at industry events are all but over for Zachary Levi, star of the NBC action-comedy Chuck.

But, like just about everything else, the 27-year-old actor has a good sense of humour about it.

“When I was on Less Than Perfect, I had the luxury of being able to sort of skim through the red carpet, take a couple of pics, do a few interviews then I’d be on the dance floor all night long,” he said recently. “But now I’ve got 10 red lights in my face which, by the way, I’m all about.”

That’s because on Perfect, which ran for four years on ABC, he was part of an ensemble cast that also included Sara Rue, Sherri Shepherd and Andy Dick. On Chuck, he’s the title character and there’s nowhere to hide.

It’s safe to say there is no other show on television like Chuck, which returns for its second season Sept. 29, Zach’s birthday. He plays Chuck Bartowski, a computer whiz whose life suddenly gets far more interesting — and complicated — when a college friend who is now a rogue CIA agent sends him an encoded e-mail with all of the world’s big spy secrets. It’s the only remaining copy and it gets imbedded into Chuck’s brain!

While he keeps his cover job at a computer store, Chuck is now a spy and the actor said we should expect to see him getting a little better at a role he was never trained for.

“He evolves a little bit,” he said. “I think he starts to find a little more confidence and a little more footing in this new world of being a spy. But he can’t get there too quick, otherwise there’s no way to go.”

And the job at the store (he’s part of the Nerd Herd at his local Buy More store — a parody of Best Buy’s Geek Squad) is as important to the character as using his newfound knowledge to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists.

“It really is the perfect cover job,” Zach said. “It really allows for so much of the comedy on the show, the other odd employees and the boss. Last season they were all sort of episode-to-episode and it’s nice when you get to have these guys who you spend so much time with, to be shown a little love. They’re in the opening credits now.”

But it’s not just Nerd Herd members who will be getting some screen time in the new season.

“There’s lots of great guest stars: Michael Clarke Duncan, John Larroquette, Ben Savage, Nicole Richie. Tony Hale is doing a multi-episode arc, Jordana Brewster’s coming on for an arc. It’s very cool,” Zach said. “As an actor, it means the world to me that other actors that I respect look at the show and go, ‘Yeah, that’d be fun to do.’”

Zach is hoping for a nice, long run on the show and wouldn’t mind squeezing in a movie during the summer hiatus.

“One of the things that I love about this show is the action and I hope that if I do it long enough, film producers will think, ‘Hey! Maybe he can do an action movie?”‘ he said.

“I want to do everything. I want to do action movies, I want to do comedies, I want to do romantic comedies, I want to do drama. I just think the world that I get to work in is such an amazing place.”

Source

The days of keeping a low profile at industry events are all but over for Zachary Levi, star of the NBC action-comedy “Chuck.” But, like just about everything else, the 27-year-old actor has a good sense of humor about it.

“When I was on `Less Than Perfect,’ I had the luxury of being able to sort of skim through the red carpet, take a couple of pics, do a few interviews then I’d be on the dance floor all night long,” he said recently. “But now I’ve got 10 red lights in my face which, by the way, I’m all about.”

That’s because on “Perfect,” which ran for four years on ABC, he was part of an ensemble cast that also included Sara Rue, Sherri Shepherd and Andy Dick. On “Chuck,” he’s the title character and there’s nowhere to hide.

It’s safe to say there is no other show on television like “Chuck,” which returns for its second season Sept. 29, Zach’s birthday. He plays Chuck Bartowski, a computer whiz whose life suddenly gets far more interesting - and complicated - when a college friend who is now a rogue CIA agent sends him an encoded e-mail with all of the world’s big spy secrets. It’s the only remaining copy and it gets imbedded into Chuck’s brain!
While he keeps his cover job at a computer store, Chuck is now a spy and the actor said we should expect to see him getting a little better at a role he was never trained for.

“He evolves a little bit,” he said. “I think he starts to find a little more confidence and a little more footing in this new world of being a spy. But he can’t get there too quick, otherwise there’s no way to go.”

And the job at the store (he’s part of the Nerd Herd at his local Buy More store - a parody of Best Buy’s Geek Squad) is as important to the character as using his newfound knowledge to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists.

“It really is the perfect cover job,” Zach said. “It really allows for so much of the comedy on the show, the other odd employees and the boss. Last season they were all sort of episode-to-episode and it’s nice when you get to have these guys who you spend so much time with, to be shown a little love. They’re in the opening credits now.

“It’s a really beautiful thing.”

But it’s not just Nerd Herd members who will be getting some screen time in the new season.

“There’s lots of great guest stars: Michael Clarke Duncan, John Larroquette, Ben Savage, Nicole Richie. Tony Hale is doing a multi-episode arc, Jordana Brewster’s coming on for an arc. It’s very cool,” Zach said. “As an actor, it means the world to me that other actors that I respect look at the show and go, `Yeah, that’d be fun to do.’ I guess we’re doing something right.”

Zach is hoping for a nice, long run on the show and wouldn’t mind squeezing in a movie during the summer hiatus.

“One of the things that I love about this show is the action and I hope that if I do it long enough, film producers will think, `Hey! Maybe he can do an action movie?”‘ he said.

“I want to do everything. I want to do action movies, I want to do comedies, I want to do romantic comedies, I want to do drama. I just think the world that I get to work in is such an amazing place. I hope I get to do it for the rest of my life.”

Source

ZACHARY LEVI AND YVONNE STRAHOVSKI CHUCK, NBC

Driving home from a nmorning of shootingm, Zachary Levi-star of NBC’s romance-comedy-drama-aspirational nerd hit Chuck-sounds like the happiest guy on the planet.

Levi, for instance, has a golf cart for negotiating the expanse of the Warner Bros. studio lot. “Everybody’s got their own golf cart, and I was like, ‘I’m not going to be the only one without one’” says Levi, who won the role after his part on a sitcom called Less Than Perfect ended with the show’s cancellation. “The finances were kind of coming to an end, and I was like, I have a lot of bills to pay, and I’m going to run through my money,” he says. “A, I needed a job; B, I needed a paycheck; and C, I’m an actor, and I wanted to do good work.”

Along came Chuck-bringing with it the promise of a better life not just for Levi but for the millions of World of Warcraft-playing guys who wouldn’t entirely mind if they were suddenly drafted into action by the CIA- or provided with the opportunity to fight evil alongside Yvonne Strahovski’s Sarah, one of a recent wave of assassin-defying female TV characters. “I can do a one-handed cartwheel now,” says Strahovski, who promises “double the romance, double the funniness” in the new season. “There’s a sense of wanting to make it bnigger and better.” This-and the promise of, at last, a new work uniform for Sarah-should please her fan base endlessly.

“I do get some interesting mail from people who are quite complimentary,” she says. “It’s different, but I guess it comes with the job.”

Thank you ChuckTV.net!

From Galaxie Magazine:

CHUCK BARTOWSKI IS PROBABLY THE coolest nerd on TV. A computer nerd-turned-spy, Chuck has the respect of his fellow nerd friends, a drop dead gorgeous woman as his CIA partner and the thrill of being a government spy. As a result, Chuck the TV show, with its mixture of action and comedy, has attracted quite a following over in America. Zachary Levi, who plays the title character, tells Evelyn Teo over the phone from Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. why it’s cool to be a nerd now, how he channels his inner nerd for his character and more.

What do you make of the fact that you have been listed as one of the sexiest men on TV thanks to Chuck? Clearly I’m fooling somebody if they think I should be one of the sexiest people! It’s one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever gotten especially being the nerdy, drama geek in high school. People do realise that we live in a different world now where the hero isn’t necessarily a big hulking bulk of a man. A lot of the time now, the guy who is bailing you out is the guy fixing your computer. And there’s something sexy about that.

How would you rate your nerd factor in real life right now on a scale of one to 10? I would say a solid 7. I play a tremendous amount of videogames and that’s a key factor in nerd-dom. On top of that, I love my electronics, my gadgets and gizmos. I’ll geek out about videogames for hours, talking about the differences between Super Mario1, 2, and 3. It’s pretty ridiculous.

Did you find it hard to switch gears from uptight, overachiever Kipp Steadman in Less Than Perfect to the charming, geeky underacheiver title character in Chuck? [Laughs] Well put! It wasn’t hard because there was about a year and a half or so between when we stopped Less Than Perfect to when I got Chuck. There was time to decompress from Kipp and move into Chuck. I am much more Chuck than I am Kipp. I always wanted to do a role like Chuck even while I was playing Kipp because it’s a little bit more loose and organic. (With) Chuck, I get to be me.

When you were a kid, did you ever dream of becoming a spy? Oh yeah! I’m still dreaming about becoming a spy.

Hey, maybe they’ll contact you! I’m waiting for the CIA to call me up one day and be like, “Listen, I don’t know if you’ve heard about our special celebrity mission. You know, we have actors in Hollywood that are our spies around the world.” That would be fantastic for me!

See full size scan of article HERE.

8/8/2008
Posted by ColliderStaff

Written by Rachel
Now for Part Three of Chuck at Comic Con.

If you are just now joining this, check out what the creators of the show had to say about all the cool guest stars, what the characters are in for in season two, and how at least one of the writers keeps attempting to throw poor Chuck out of an airplane HERE, otherwise, here is the continuation of the cast and crew interviews.

Or you can check out Part Two, where Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin bicker with each other, talk about cool new fight moves, and tell how season two might involve some characters’ pasts coming back to haunt them. Check that all out HERE.

Now check out what Zachary Levi, who plays the star, Chuck Bartowski.

As soon as he sat down he and I promptly proved our Comic Con worth to each other and geeked out over our iPhones, pulling out our Lightsaber applications and having a duel over the table. We talked for a bit about how great the iPhone is, the differences between the original and the 3G, and the Lightsaber application and how it’s a must have. He even told us about an epic iSaber war between the background extras and cast and crew on set. Then, after proclaiming that Apple needs to start paying him if he talks anymore about the iPhone, we get down to business, namely…

Q: Chuck!

ZL: So Chuck, let’s talk about Chuck.

Q: So what’s new this season?

ZL: Oh gosh! Well, there is a really big horticulture scene . . . No, I’m kidding. You know, I wish I could say that . . . Well, there’s a lot of great guest stars, I’m sure you heard about most of them, Michael Clark Duncan, John Larroquette, Melinda Clark, Nicole Richie, Ben Savage. Tony Hale’s come on to do, like, three to five episodes, he’s a freaking genius. Jordana Brewster’s come on to play my ex-flame Jill, for like thirteen episodes, actually more, cause we talk about her in the first couple of the season, and it’s this whole, “infamous Jill,” “infamous Jill,” “infamous Jill,” and now we meet her! She’s so lovable, and it’s ridiculous! So that’s great, and she’s going to be in like three episodes, and we’re halfway through with her first one, and lots of really cool stuff. But aside from that . . . I don’t know how to say . . . It’s not really all that different, I mean, it’s the same, but in the best ways. I think, unfortunately a lot of television shows or movie sequels or video game sequels or whatever. The problem inherent with the success with your first iteration is you feel like you have to make the second iteration better, but you lose the heart of, you lose what made the first iteration so good. And what I’m happy about is that they haven’t done that, they have, like, re-launched Chuck 2.0 wear, like, all of a sudden everyone’s dressing a little differently and hairstyles are all sorta, you know, you pick up and you’re like “that’s the Chuck I knew and loved from the first season.” With like, little differences here and there. Yvonne’s character, Sarah, no longer works at the Weinerlicious, which is good because that was very Austro-Hungarian, it didn’t make very much sense. She works at this PinkBerry-kinda place called the OrangeOrange, which is all blue, which I find to be hysterical! With orange highlights of course, cause you have to work that in. And she’s got this cool, very much-more-functional-for-fight-scenes outfit, although I am sure a lot of the fanboys and girls would argue that, “no no, we loved the dress with the bustier, that was great!” So you know, little changes there, new set pieces I think people will dig.

Q: Are their any fun scenes at the Buy More?

ZL: Oh there are some great scenes at the Buy More! Tony Hale comes on as this guy who’s like Buy More Corporate, who comes in to, like, examine this delinquent branch of the Buy More. Cause that’s what we are. And he’s very, you know, put together and very, you know . . . At first he thinks . . . Cause everyone’s selling him “Oh Chuck’s the guy, Chuck’s the guy who really keeps things running.” So he thinks “Oh, I’ve found the one guy who can help me fix this place.” But I’m constantly running out to these spy missions, and he doesn’t know why, he thinks I’m a shmuck. And so then he’s like my nemesis, and that’s awesome. So there’s a lot of great stuff with that. We’ve got a couple scenes where we’re all just kinda lined up, like all of us, and he’s like Patton, walking up and down, telling us what’s up. And great spy scenes, you know, we’ve blown up a couple cars now and that’s always fun. That’s probably my favorite. It’s like “What can we blow up now?!” And some great wire-work. I think I get dropped off a building at least three times. We’re only at episode six and it’s like “I’ve dropped three times, how many times can I fall?” How many times? Trust me.

Read entire article over at Collider.com