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The Hollywood Reporter (by way of TV By The Numbers) reports that when NBC Universal head honcho Jeff Zucker kicked off his presentation at Goldman Sach’s “Communicopia” event for media investors, he presented a video including key brands in the NBCU lineup which will be integrated into Comcast once the merger is complete. THR noted that Chuck was featured alongside 30 Rock, Syfy, USA Network, and other brands in the presentation.
This is the third “vote of confidence” for Chuck that I’ve heard/seen in the last couple of days. When I was on set yesterday, everyone was pretty positive about Monday night’s ratings given that most of NBC’s ad dollars had to go to new shows. Sure, they’d like to have seen higher numbers, but an increase over the end of season 3 was a happy event in everyone’s eyes. Additionally, Warner Bros. has now placed a Chuck billboard on the side of the studio in Burbank, CA, a privilege generally reserved for successful, long-running shows (I was told it usually doesn’t happen until a show’s fifth season, so read into that what you will). I took a photo of the billboard as we drove by last night, but didn’t get a great shot. If another fan wants to take a better photo and send it, that would be awesome!
Updated 4:40PM: Thanks to @talesoftvaddict for snapping a photo of the billboard and sending it in.
Just another vote of confidence: someone at Comcast must really be a fan of Chuck. They use(d) Zac in their commercials, they’re using it in their business presentations, WB could be offering it on the cheap. 😀 Good stuff!
Doesn’t really surprise me. Consider NBC’s primetime fall schedule this year. Once again, as in recent years, mostly new shows. Besides Chuck, SVU, The Office, 30 Rock and reality tv staples like The Apprentice and The Biggest Loser (which definitely won’t go anywhere soon), everything is either brand new or only a season or so old (Community, Parenthood).
So, NBC has few shows that have a clearly established fanbase to even build on. Not getting behind Chuck at this point would be dumb.
Great great news!! I NEED Chuck to live!!
A great way to end my workday! 🙂 Glad Chuck is finally getting some long-overdue love!!
While I understand the use of ad dollars you mentioned, but I really have a hard time believing that they couldn’t get the football guys (or the commercials) to say, “The Envent, new show premiering at 9 Eastern after Chuck”. C’mon, just two words would have been worth a lot in the night before promotion.
(and yes, I thought the numbers were great considering the DWTS kickoff and the premeir of “Huddy” on FOX)
I heard from a reliable source that WB will ensure that NBC takes CHUCK for a 5th season even if they have to throw $$$ at NBC. It has something to do with the minimum number of episodes to get into syndication, I think. Don’t panic, but keep spreading the word.
Thanks for the info, Mel!
By the way, Agent52 might be right, since if I am not mistaken a show has to have at least 100 episodes to go to syndication (in the USA), which usually happens on the 5th season. And I guess all the actors have contracts until the 5th season.
Let’s just hope the ratings improve constantly so that we have a chance of a 6th season 🙂 (I am very optimistic, aren’t I?)
Yeah, I’m pretty sure 100 episodes is the line to cross. If I did my math right, after these 13, the number will be up to 67. So this season would need to get a back 9, in addition to a full season 5 (22 eps). Still a bit of a tall order, but syndication is a big motivator.
The standard is 100 episodes, especially for half-hour shows because they tend to air daily in syndication. Hour-long shows often receive syndication orders with fewer episodes because they air weekly. For example, HBO is already shopping around True Blood syndication rights with just 36 episodes in the can. We don’t know the magic number for Chuck to go into syndication, but the more episodes available, the bigger the revenue stream for the various stakeholders.
Yes, but by that logic they would still be short. With the 13 episodes now scheduled for Season 4, they’d have 67 … so unless Season 5 is 33 episodes (unlikely) they’d need a 6th season.
Awesome about the Billboard but if you read the article it says NBC would own. So currently NBC pays a licensing fee but as of today Chuck is a WB brand not a NBC brand. But Chuck going to NBC is a huge win.
Yes, rumors abound that NBC wants to purchase Chuck from WB so all revenue streams come to them. Whether or not that happens, Chuck is still an NBC-branded product.
I agree it is a NBC branded product but they don’t own it. So I took the THR article as NBC is looking at Chuck as an acquisition.
This is the quote I was talking about. Zucker’s appearance kicked off with a video package that highlighted key brands that a combined NBC Uni-Comcast would own. “Chuck,” “30 Rock,” G4, NBC Sports, Versus, USA, Syfy, Bravo and Universal Pictures were among the brands that made an appearance.
Yes, I read the same article, Richard, and one way of interpreting it is that NBC wants to purchase Chuck outright from WB and produce it themselves. However, they already own the broadcast rights, so technically it is an NBC asset, which is my interpretation of Zucker including Chuck in the highlight reel. I have a feeling Zucker was also including the Chuck fanbase as an asset.
Thanks Mel, every bit of positive news helps. The overnight numbers for the premiere were disappointing, it was unfair that the new and other returning shows have so much promotions and exposure (e.g. Zach & Yvonne as Emmy presenters would have been nice) and Chuck has none while at the same time it was in the toughest possible time slot. Also what boggles the mind was the crazy numbers for the reality shows and some other shows which, imo, are inferior to Chuck. How does one become a Nielson viewer?
Thanks for this update…it seems like things are looking better for Chuck than Monday’s ratings might have indicated. That makes everything better. 🙂
So after reading the full artcile, my understanding is that NBC/Comcast wants to buy Chuck who currently is owned by Warner Bros? Very interesting, especially since Chuck is in its fourth season. Ill look at this as glass half full and say this is awesome news.
Hopefully this means and extended season 4 and a least a few additional seasons in the future. As long as Chuck and Sarah are together permanently I am a happy camper (fan). No angst!!
Good news/Bad news: Glad that NBC believes in the show, puts up billboards, etc. Not so sure about NBC buying the show. NBC will have input as to content, style, treatment of personnel. Right now people are used to answering to Schwedak. Which actors, writers, directors will bristle the moment the suits start telling everyone how to do their job?
WB put up the billboard, not NBC.
I’ve always thought someone really high up at NBC (or several someones) had to be a huge Chuck fan, given all the last-second saves that seem to have miraculously come up for the show.
Good to hear that some higher-ups at Comcast may like it, too! 😀
That bilboard looks BADASS!!!!
Good to hear they consider Chuck a key brand. Deservedly so.
Would just like to point out that the Chuck billboard has been there all summer… it was put up soon after the Season 3 finale. It was not just placed recently.
that’s great news! chuck deserves to be recognized. it is a great show! pls. nbc renew chuck up to 10 season or more!
Wow! That is awesome news. Finally the recognition they deserve. Long live Chuck! Can’t wait until Monday.
So glad to read good news! I love Chuck and I hope we have many more episodes, well-deserved Emmy awards, and eventually syndication. Chuck just keeps getting better and better!
This is pretty good news. I interpret it as NBC finally starting to realize, at long last, how important Chuck is to them. For the Comcast thing, yeah, Comcast must definitely be a big fan of the show. I live in the Easy Bay Area, southeast of Oakland, and I’ve seen a ton of Xfinity commercials featuring Zac.
For those of you who are saying the 2.1 rating was disappointing, I disagree a lot. I think it was pretty good considering the competition the show was up against: record-breaking ratings for DWTS (it’s appalling that this reality garbage gets such high ratings), House and Cuddy getting it on, 90210, and HIMYM. Oh, and let’s not forget one HUGE thing that wasn’t a concern last season since the show premiered mid-season: Monday Night Football. Considering the competition it was up against, I’d say the show did pretty darn good. I read an article the other day that was published during season 3 that described NBC as being its own worst enemy. One of the examples was that NBC doesn’t know how to schedule its shows correctly. Hm, now doesn’t that sound familiar? An example I can think of immediately is that NBC’s smart enough to keep renewing Chuck (thank god), but it’s also not smart enough to put Chuck in a time slot where it can actually break out and get some exposure. At least this is a positive sign.
Also, a few questions for Mel or whoever knows a lot about ratings. Firstly, why the heck don’t they count the DVR ratings? I’ve known for a while (and I also wasn’t surprised to hear) that Chuck’s ratings improve a lot when the DVR ratings are included. Secondly, how do you get a Nielsen box? If it will help improve the ratings, then we should all get them. Thirdly, I’m pretty sure this is right, but syndication is when other channels air reruns of a show, like how Spike and A&E air reruns of CSI and CSI: Miami, right?
Anyway, this is pretty good news. I’m glad to see NBC’s finally realizing how important Chuck is to them. It certainly took them long enough.
You can’t get a Nielsen box, the Nielsen box must get you.
Nielsen puts it’s boxes in different demo groups, different parts of the country, & probably more in heavily populated areas than in sparsely populated areas.
Nielsen, through this sampling, is trying to come up with numbers that actually represent what the entire population of this country is watching.
It’s a matter of debate whether they are achieving that goal.
They don’t count DVR ratings for the most part because ratings are all about advertisements and ad sales. When you DVR a show, you fast-forward the commercials, which is pointless to companies willing to place ads and pointless for the actual company airing the show.
The main reason why ratings even matter in the first place is not just for the popularity of the show but for advertisements as the main form of revenue.
the only “strange” thing to me is why season 4 didn´t get a new image.
they still using season 3 image…
but hey, a few seasons ago, can we imagine that kind of love around chuck, from those companys?
mel, really happy for you. hope you have a lot of fun visiting chuck set :))
As I said, this wasn’t just put up recently. This was put up right after the Season 3 finale. At that point, they wouldn’t have a new image made for the show yet.
Good to hear that the higher-ups at NBC and Comcast see Chuck and its passionate fan base as an asset. Clearly there are no fans like Chuck fans!
As for not having enough ad dollars to spend on Chuck I still think it wouldn’t be too much to ask to have Chuck related interviews on NBC’s Today, Tonight Show, Late Night and Last Call shows. After all they are part of the same network.
Aside from having a featured dancing scene each week or an episode of Chuck taking out someone who wants to burn a holy book, what can be done to get people’s attention since Chuck finally seems to be hitting its stride?
Please let this mean that we will get a season 5. *fingers crossed*
Breaking News. NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, the subject of this article, is resigning his post. How this will come to bear on the entire entertainment division remains to be seen. How much of NBC’s commitment to “Chuck” was Zucker’s doing? I’m a praying man, and I’m getting straight to work.
Who knows, it would be ironic if lots of people are getting excited about Comcast taking an ownership share in Chuck and it was being driven by Zucker who has now been binned by Comcast (no way was this his idea to leave).
I also suspect 67 episodes might be just enough to syndicate Chuck (or a further 6 or 9 would tip into syndicatable territory). So if Comcast/NBC Uni were to purchase the rights to the show from the WB whats to stop them from ending the series?
Don’t get me wrong I’m interested in the possibiliy of Comcast taking a greater stake in the production of the show from the point of view of the show continuing to be made as they would make more money from the show and thus be more inclined to keep it around.
You bring up the key point, Eagle. If NBC buys “Chuck” and then undergoes a change of management, they could kill the show by refusing to schedule it for NBC airtime, and by dismissing it as a bad investment unworthy of their efforts in lining up licensing arrangements with other networks or affiliates. At least Warner Brothers would be free to shop the series around if NBC bails, but only if WB still owns it.
When I heard the news, I was wondering the same thing. What does this mean for “Chuck?” I am hoping Comcast treats “Chuck” right and listens to the fans as well as Zucker did. Anyone with me?
See You On Monday And Bring Your Friends,
John
Indiana Buy-Moria Embassy
All Chuck Fans In The Midwest, Let Me Hear You!!!
(No, really. If you’re from Indiana, say something.)