Triumphant blog return!
After a productive and successful break, I’m happy to be back. Also happy to report that it looks like this whole TV business is going to be in my life for a while, so this blog becomes an increasingly useful place for keeping track of gut reactions, first impressions, and the occasional Dickens musings. For that reason, the List of Giant Things will probably be a continuing presence, and in the absence of interesting new episodes to talk about, I anticipate doing more casually analytic thinking about shows on a broader scale.
In the immediate and more extended future – it’s sweeps season! Final episodes of Lost! Mad Men returns July 25! Wacky summer TV season is nigh!
And, of course, the long coda to Chuck season three, which is currently well under way. Both last week’s “Chuck vs. the Honeymooners” and last night’s “Chuck vs. the Role Models” were a welcome return to that joyous, fizzy, spy-thriller romp mode that Chuck stand-alones do better than most other shows on TV. My question all along has been how Chuck would transition out of a pseudo finale and then back into an abbreviated six-episode arc, and the answer so far appears to be, “first we’re going to watch Chuck and Sarah do it on a train, then we’ll get Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz to show them the pitfalls, and then we’re going to do an arc about the Ring.” Which is fine by me. After what everyone now agrees was an unnecessarily long WTWT Chuck and Sarah stasis, it felt appropriate that the show would let them revel in it for a while.
The possibilities of a spy couple provide the show with some interesting traction; it’s well-worn territory, but largely because it can work so effectively. The last few episodes have made some explicit references to the healthy tradition of crime-fightin’ lovers, including what I am certain was a reference to The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora Charles in the “Mr. and Mrs. Charles” alias on the train and the Hart to Hart spoof in Morgan’s dream from last night. It may just be me, but I was also feeling some ‘30s screwball comedy vibe from the introduction of the tiger last night – but maybe singing “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby” only works on leopards. Clearly this screwball/romp/spy-thriller will be quickly modulating into something else, a move signaled by the cute Doctors Without Borders guy whipping out his Ring phone at the very end of last night’s episode.
But even inside of a larger save-the-world plot arc, this element of Chuck and Sarah as a couple does have interesting implications for the future of the show (if there is one, fingers crossed, knock on wood). The news hit yesterday that NBC has picked up a pilot from J.J. Abrams called Undercovers, about a husband and wife spy team, and I’ve seen thought about how this might affect Chuck going both ways. On the one hand, it’s obvious that this could work as a replacement show, a fun spy show made by a guy with a big name and a history in this genre. Ditch Chuck, and replace it with something bigger and buzzier. (That is definitely a word.) Conversely, if aired together or marketed as a pair, this could be a boon for Chuck, bringing it an audience it’s been sadly lacking since its premiere. Obviously I’m hoping for the latter scenario, but until NBC gives a firm signal about Chuck’s future, it’s all speculation.
Once again, I’m happy to be back blogging, and am looking forward to filling in the gaps of what I’ve neglected in the past week – most notably, Treme. Before I leave off with the meta-commentary, though, I do want to note that although I anticipate a long life for this blog, its immediate future may continue to be irregular for a little while. The default schedule will continue to be a post every weekday, but with an asterisk that reads, “every weekday, unless I’m driving/flying across the country, or someone is getting married, or I’m moving,” in which case it might be a little hit-or-miss.