No, it's not a breakdown on one of my favorite Echo personalities from Dollhouse (Taffy, just in case you weren't following my train of logic), but a very thoughtful, very well-written look into whether or not Chuck fits the formula for being one of USA's shows, like White Collar or Burn Notice.
Aardie, for example, makes the argument that
I believe that we’d have been better served had Chuck been picked up for its third season by USA Network rather than NBC. It’s even arguable that, overall, we’d have been better off if Chuck had originated on USA Network.
And if that's not enough to convince you...well, this might help:
Go do yourself a favor and read it. You can ogle that picture over on Aardie's blog just as well, since that's where I stole it from.
Good post, Aardie!!
:)
Frea
Read his article and it was very well done. I actually just responded on the GG to it.
ReplyDelete*ogles*
That's just awesomely nice, Frea. Thanks for the kind referral! You rock, etc... ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd mxpw, your insightful review made me think carefully about what I wrote, and things don't get much better than that. Thank you as well.
Very interesting read. Article brought up some nice points and generated some stimulating posts
ReplyDeletein GG [sorry just a lurker there]
urge people to take a look at the "review" or "rebuttal" from some of the posts there and some great points were raised for and against the premise.
I for one don't think it would be the same show we have now or started with if it originally was on USA (Budgetary reasons mainly - (no big ensemble cast to begin with)
The writing may have been sharper with shorter seasons and less writers if the main writer after Fedak was Adler but you may end up what NBC new show Undercovers will probably be like
Chuck never got some breaks early on with the strike and the Presidents speech preempting it, NBC down in the dumps and for that it may have caught on more widely but was always fighting an uphill battle
But I am all for moving the show if we get an extra season echoing one of the posts
mx - Not gonna lie, I put that picture up there for you.
ReplyDeleteAardie - no sweat. I really did like the article and I thought it had a lot of great things to say. I do think the difference between NBC Chuck and USA Chuck would be the caliber of the writing vs. the satisfaction of the Charah relationship, which seems to be what everybody else is saying. Plus, the style of humor would change dramatically--no way the USA people would let Fedak et al make as much fun of their hero as they have.
dnm - what do you think Undercovers is going to be like? I've been watching promos and I...just really don't see the long-term appeal of that show.
This is why I keep coming back, Frea, because you keep doing such nice things for me.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think I'm all talked out on the idea of what might happen if the show was on USA. So I'm not going to say anything more, as it's all be covered on GG.
Undercovers for me hinges right away on the main characters, if they have the chemistry then it could be pretty good. Don't know anything about the actors so waiting honestly with not much conviction that it will fly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about long term appeal unless they delve properly into their history and create depth to them
As it always does with chuck fanatics I think I have to say this.....I have a feeling a lot of chuck fans will be lamenting that this is where they would like the Chuck/Sarah relationship to evolve more instead of concentrating on the angst in a relationship.
Because the show will be a cross between Alias/Mr and Mrs Smith with heavy on the smith part. The action will be fast paced and there will be humor. All things chuck fans want to see more of but without true angst. I think we will run out of seasons before we get to that stage of Chuck.
Undercovers pilot will be great (sustainable after that?) and unfortunately picture our beloved spies in that role and it could have you salivating to what if Chuck writers had gone there sooner in Season 3
I don't think a Chuck on USA would be quite as...silly as the one we have. USA shows will do sardonic and sarcastic and sometimes some physical humor, but I can't imagine the sheer absurdity of Jeffster existing on that network, or even Armand Assante's madly over-the-top dictator. I'd hesitate to call the USA shows more "realistic", but they're definitely less stylized than Chuck is.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it does feel weird to say that a network is taking more stylistic risks than a cable channel is. :P