Monday, Nov. 03, 2008
Chuck
It was a tough year for primetime comedies, in part at least because of the writers' strike, which threw some sitcoms off their game in the spring (30 Rock) or forced them to compress their stories (The Office). So it's worth recognizing one comedy that came back from the strike tanned, rested and recharged. This spy comedy always had a meringue of a premise (an electronics-store clerk becomes a spy after an email turns his brain into a supercomputer). But season 2, following an eight-month hiatus, developed the show's characters and romantic heart while still keeping the funny. On the strength of Zachary Levi's nerd-babe appeal, the title character became a more competent supernebbish while retaining his everygeek charm.
(NBC)