Blogger Threatens to Talk About Chuck Non-Stop

That’s right, folks, if the ratings for Chuck don’t see a dramatic increase, HoboTrashCan.com’s Joel Murphy is going to start talking about it non-stop. Scared yet?

I saw an alarming story on Entertainment Weekly’s website this week, one that gave me pause:

“Life wasn’t NBC’s only letdown, though. Chuck continued to struggle, averaging 5.9 million viewers at 8 p.m. (an 11 percent decline from last Monday’s disappointing premiere), and Heroes tallied just 8.2 million at 9 p.m., a loss of about a million viewers from last week, and well below last year’s 11.6 million average.”

Now NBC struggling to get ratings is nothing new and isn’t really something to get worked up over. And certainly, I’m not surprised that Life and Heroes are struggling in the ratings. No one outside of my podcast co-host Lars has ever even heard of Life and Heroes is still trying to find its way back on track after a lackluster second season. But the one thing that surprises me is the disappointing ratings for Chuck.

It was just last week that I was saying “Chuck is a show that I genuinely look forward to watching every week,” so it is worrisome to discover that Chuck is struggling to sustain an audience. Honestly, I can’t understand why the show isn’t more popular. With so much crap on TV these days, why aren’t people latching on to a show that is quirky and genuinely fun to watch.

And what exactly are people watching instead on Monday nights? Apparently a show where quasi-celebrities ballroom dance. Dancing With the Stars averaged 18.8 million viewers this past Monday and was the highest rated show of the night. Even Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Big Bang Theory had better ratings than this past Monday’s episode of Chuck.

All I can say in response to that is – what the fuck are you thinking, America? A ballroom dancing show, really? What could possibly be the appeal of that show, unless only 90-year-olds in nursing homes are watching television on Monday nights? And why would a remake of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and a poor man’s Weird Science outrank a fast-paced, funny, original show?

Seriously, what’s going on here? Can someone out there explain to me why you aren’t watching Chuck? All of the writers that matter here at HoboTrashcan love the show (i.e. every writer except Ned Bitters, but he hates Bob Dylan, so you can’t exactly trust his opinion). Plus, it’s written by Josh Schwartz, that guy who created that O.C. show you kids all loved so much until it shit the bus and got too ridiculous to follow.

(read the rest of Murphy’s Law here…)