TV shows

My wife and I enjoy Chuck, the TV show about a computer nerd who gets sucked into the world of spies and intrigue when a secret government "superfile" gets implanted in his brain. It's kind of retro; a little bit Get Smart, a little Mission:Impossible. But the characters are all well-played--even those that started out two-dimensional have developed into interesting people. Now I hear that Chuck is in trouble. Not the character--the series. Viewership is off.

This happens to us on a pretty regular basis. We loved Space-Above and Beyond, a show back in the eighties (I think) that was sort of like a 40's war movie set in the future. And Cop Rock--a "drama" where cops and robbers would burst into song. It featured several new songs every week, and was actually a lot of fun. And Firefly, which was cancelled and evolved into the movie Serenity, which also stumbled. Eli Stone was a recent casualty, and while I read that the producers knew it was going to be dropped in time to resolve the story lines in the characters' lives, no final wrap up episode ever appeared.

There have been others over the years, and they always seem to be the slightly quirky ones. While The Bachelor and According to Jim last for years, our beloved little favorites seem to frequently fizzle out before their time. When we hear that one of our new favorites is in danger, we're torn between making sure we see every week to enjoy it while we can, or trying to break free before the end. We always wind up sticking with it, though, watching the final episode with a feeling of frustration. Of course, we know this was a good show and the public at large was mistaken. No show we ever like is really mediocre.

I'm not complaining to teach a lesson or make a point. It's Friday and I just feel like complaining. Well, maybe there is a point. Watch Chuck. Chuck is charming, Sarah the spy is sexy, Casey the other spy is wonderfully irascible, and the various secondary characters are a wonderful ensemble. I've thought of copying down the names of all the sponsors' brands, then writing to tell them I bought their products because I saw them on Chuck, but that would just be more frustrating if the show is canceled, because then I will have wasted extra time for naught. Tell you what: if you don't watch Chuck, please write to the sponsors for me. That way, it may save the show and you'll have done a good deed. Thank you.