If You Want To Save Chuck, Buy Subway Monday

J.P. blogs at Time that Chuck viewers plan to eat at Subway en masse in an effort to save the show.

 

I've written before about how much I love Chuck.  I think it's a smart, funny show.  Is it going to change the world or make me rethink my positions on philosophy and religion?  No.  Are there TV programs that do that for me?  Yes.  But when I want to be entertained, Chuck is a great go-to show.  It's fun, it's weirdly innocent, and the characters are charming and hopeful and wonderfully affirming. 

 

I'm a little concerned that if it's renewed it will struggle a little next season.  Its concept is becoming labored, and you can see the writers trying to negotiate their way out of the box that made the show entertaining and trying to prove that it can be entertaining in a new and different space. 

 

I dearly wish that we lived in a world where writers had the opportunity to solve problems, rather than being told, "wow, that concept that made us green-light your show is now a hurdle, so we're gonna have to let you go."  A clever show like "Pushing Daisies" could totally have risen to the challenge of providing something that no one else on TV was giving us if they'd been given a chance to get over the inevitable hump that a witty concept presents its creators with around season two.  Writers do some truly awesome work when they're solving problems.  I understand that there's this vogue for shows that are (or at least look) planned to the nth detail from the word go, and I admit to being wholly seduced by this idea.  But I'm a fickle, fickle viewer, and I'm perfectly happy to be equally seduced by an innovative solution to a tricky problem.

 

I think Chuck has the potential to solve this problem where a show like Prison Break has failed.  I think J.P. has it right--I can find a better deli any day of the week and it would be awesome, but I'm willing to buy a sandwich on Monday on the off chance that it sends a message to the humans who have a real say about whether or not Chuck airs.

 

I'm not sure how much pull imaginary readers have as a demographic, but if any imaginary readers want to join me on Monday, I'd be happy to have you.