Happy Chucktember From The Zone!

Timm McCoy hosts The Zone, the #1 podcast on iTunes, and he just happens to be a new Chuck fan! With 10 million subscribers, he has the potential to reach a lot of new viewers, and he’s decided to do just that by focusing on Chuck for the month of September, naming it Chucktember. His latest episode is called “Spy School” and features spy music, old and new, plus a special guest appearance from our own Gray from Chuck vs. the Podcast. Here’s the synopsis:

It’s back to school time and it’s also back to NEW TV Shows! My new obsession is NBC’s “Chuck”. This episode of “The Zone with Timm McCoy” is geared to Spy music old and new. We have as a special call in guest, Graham “Gray” Jones of www.chuckpodcast.com and www.tvwriterpodcast.com from Ontario, Canada! We tell you about our “Chucktember Marathon” on our internet radio station “WTFR” as well as playing some back to school songs for you. Also the “Onion Radio News” and this time, our “Geek & Nerd” Zone Top 3″ requests. So, put down that Buy More catalog and get ready for Spy School.

Spy music? I’m in! Check out Timm McCoy’s ode to Chuck on The Zone.

SPOILERS: Episode 4.01 Short Synopsis

MSN has a brief synopsis for the Chuck season 4 premiere, “Chuck vs. the Anniversary”:

Chuck and Morgan search the globe for Chuck’s mother (Linda Hamilton); Casey and Sarah track an operative (Dolph Lundgren) of the mysterious Volkoff Industries; Ellie shares big news.

Expect a longer synopsis from NBC in a few days. In the meantime, does “search the globe” mean Chuck and Morgan have been traveling the world all summer? Or are they searching via the Interwebz?

NOT A SPOILER: The Couple Getting Engaged Is…

…not Chuck & Sarah. Both Kristin from E! and Ausiello from EW confirmed today that the couple from Grey’s Anatomy are the ones tying the knot in the much-hyped spoiler. But…didn’t that news come out weeks ago? Whatever.  It’s not our couple, so moving on.

A Look Ahead To Chuck Season 4 – Part II

Where Things Seem Headed At The Start of Season 4

Spoiler Warning! This article is based on spoilers that have been released to date. If you do not want to spoiled then do not read past this point.

Based on the spoilers that have come out since shooting has started the following details about each character has been made known:

1) Season 4 Storyline – is the search for Mama Bartowski played by Linda Hamilton.

2) Chuck

• working at the BuyMore in some capacity
• lying to Ellie
• Chuck/Morgan Spy Team
• Chuck and Sarah together as a couple

2) Sarah

• still with CIA
• doing couply things with Chuck

3) Casey

• still with NSA
• continuing to connect with his daughter

4) Morgan

• working at the BuyMore in some capacity
• Chuck/Morgan Spy Team

• continuing growth arc
• finding that growth in relationship with Alex

5) Ellie & Devon

• she is pregnant and unaware of her father’s legacy
• Devon will be obsessed with becoming the most Awesome Dad

6) BuyMore = NoMore

• BuyMore is back as a CIA base
• owned and operated by the CIA

7) Better Spy Mythology/Recurring Villain – Shaw?

• will be an individual as opposed to an organization – Timothy Dalton?

In Part II of the Season 4 articles, attention will be focused on the professional and mythology aspects of the season. In the concluding Part III, the personal implications will be the subject.

Chuck may be trying to stay out of the spy world officially in terms of employment but Orion’s Legacy has thrown that promise to Ellie out the window. Chuck discovered that everything his father did was for Mary Bartowski and that he and his loved ones are in danger.  Chuck has no choice.  He has to go back to the spy world. A great set up of a very promising arc for the season.

Just because Chuck no longer works for the government that does not mean he will no longer being using his spy skills. In fact with everyone’s life on the line, including his mother’s, he will be pushed harder to use those skills to protect them all. Doubly so without the backing of the government. For if Chuck brings General Beckman into the loop all his father’s Intel will be confiscated for National Security. Losing the information stored in the Orion Cave(OC) would take away Chuck’s database to protect his family and find his mother. So Chuck remaining autonomous and having not to answer to anyone but himself is vital. As well, Chuck standing alone, acts as the propellant into the next stage of his character arc down the hero’s path.

Chuck remaining autonomous also bleeds into Sarah’s professional relationship with him. With Sarah still an active agent, Chuck will fear that Sarah will feel duty-bound to tell Beckman about the OC if he confides in her. This is another reason why Chuck not falling back into government employ is important. It will create ongoing tension between Chuck and Sarah as they both wrestle with their personal and professional lives. For Sarah, staying a CIA Agent will further prevent her from becoming an appendage of Chuck. Her job will allow her to retain her individuality.

Back to the revelation that everything Orion did was for his wife sets up a potentially interesting parallel for Chuck and Sarah. Chuck is most likely to feel like he has stepped into his father’s shoes in this regard. Since we know that MamaB will be played by UberMom, Linda Hamilton, and that she was a spy, history repeating itself definitely comes to mind.

On the comedy potential for this setup, the idea of Chuck and Morgan trying to run with this is rife with possibilities. The bromance was broken in the pilot and never came back until Chuck Vs The Beard. The growth arc of Morgan as a character is arguably the one that has travelled the furthest out of anyone in the series. In many ways Morgan is the Chuck of the series now and in a refreshing and more humorous way. Morgan is totally gung-ho and innately impervious to the dangers of life in the spy world. Instead of having to be goaded into action, a horse bit usually has to be put in Morgan’s mouth to reign in him. Chuck and Morgan as a subteam, in appropriate doses, should provide a lot of laughs.

At some point the original Team Bartowski needs to be brought together. Their absence as a unit for most of the third season was one of the big issues. Whether you consider TeamB the original trio or include Morgan in it now; they need ample screen time together. How the show will do this without the government finding out about the OC is one of the more intriguing elements I look forward to see how the show will handle.

It all seems to revolve around the BuyMore. Yes, it is back. And yes I still stand behind the belief that its removal, and the attendant characters, would streamline the show. It would give the prime characters and the main storyline more room to breathe. With the addition of Beckman as a fulltime cast member and Casey’s daughter Alex as a recurring character; the cast of Chuck is becoming increasingly unweildy to manage. Never mind the guest stars and Linda Hamilton’s stint as MamaB!

Would it be a bold move to remove a signature part of the show? Absolutely. But sometimes for the betterment of the whole show tough decisions have to be made. The primary basis for my stance on this comes down to whether or not the BuyMore was relevant any longer. Either to the storyline and to the growth of the characters, particularly Chuck. It became increasingly difficult to make it so with each passing season.

So if the BuyMore is to stay, how to make it relevant again? The show’s solution is brilliant. Make it a CIA base of operations! Now it is automatically incorporated into each episode’s storyline. A near perfect solution. Sharing of screen time with such a large cast is still an issue but if it brings Beckman off the screen and on to the set on a regular basis then that is a big win from my perspective. Especially if Beckman would take part in a mission or two!

Also we know that Chuck and Morgan are back at the BuyMore. I am speculating that this has something to do with the Greta character. Perhaps Morgan and Chuck have new jobs with the government assessing the retail capabilities of field agents as a field cover?

Which leaves us with MamaB and the Big Bad for Season 4. We know this time it will be an individual instead of an organization. With the recent casting announcement of Timothy Dalton the money has to be on him for filling that role. There is little to work with here from a professional aspect. I am leaning towards both of them having been spies back in the day. Their paths have obviously crossed but were they always adversaries or did they work together at some point? Or even more? Could Sarah or Casey ever crossed paths with either of them? Interesting possibilities. And that is just on the professional side. Things could get even more intertwined when the personal side of things are explored.

But that, and more, is for the next article. Till then!

SPOILERS: Episode 4.06 Title & Update On Couple Getting Engaged

Spoiler TV reveals that the title for Chuck episode 4.06 is “Chuck vs. the Aisle of Terror”. Another marriage reference? Are they just screwing with us now? On top of that, Kristin at E! has eliminated one more couple from her “who’s getting engaged?” spoiler, leaving Christine & Owen from Grey’s Anatomy and…yes, Chuck & Sarah. She promised to reveal the couple here at 9AM PST tomorrow (Tuesday). Try to get some sleep tonight!

Former 007 Timothy Dalton Confirmed for Multi-Episode Arc (SPOILERS)

Wow, the casting news for Chuck season 4 has been amazing already, and now comes word from several sources that a former James Bond will be joining the show for multiple episodes. Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill) will join Chuck later this season in an as yet unannounced role. Will he take the place of Roan Montgomery as Chuck’s mentor? Is he one of the mysterious and constellation-named agents Orion kept intel on in his basement? Is he this season’s uber-villain? Stay tuned!

Updated: And just after we hit “publish”, the NBC release arrived in our inbox. Dalton will play “a mysterious stranger who has a history with Chuck’s mom.” So probably one of those constellations in the basement, eh?

Updated Again: Ausiello brings further scoop in the form of squashing the rumor that Dalton’s character is Chuck’s father. He also confirms that Dalton’s first episode will be 4.07, titled “Chuck vs. the First Fight”.

Chuck Writer Lauren LeFranc Answers Fan Questions

Gray recently hosted a fan Q&A with Chuck writer Lauren LeFranc. A variety of questions came in, some of which have since been answered via other outlets, but there are plenty of new nuggets to be found here.

Something she’d change from S3 if there was a rewind button

• Well we all know how everyone feels about Shaw, but everything that was done in Season 3 was important for all the characters’ growth.  And who knows if Chuck and Sarah would be together if Shaw hadn’t been around… Okay, they probably would be, but still!

Will Lauren be writing any Sarah backstory this season?

• There should be some Sarah backstory coming up, but not sure if Rafe and I will get to write it.  Though every writer, no matter who’s writing which episode, is involved in breaking the story.

Will she and Rafe be writing solo as well as together?

• Rafe and I are a writing team so we are sort of a package deal, as we’re hired together.  So you’ll probably never see a script with only one of our names on it =)

Did casting of Linda Hamilton change how MamaB role was originally conceived?

• Linda Hamilton was perfectly cast for the role of Mama B.  Enough said?

(Read the rest of the Q’s and A’s here…)

Chuck To Have Less Than Perfect Reunion

Bah! Scooped by Ausiello! We’ve been sitting on this story for a couple of days waiting on confirmation for an item, but Ausiello got there first. I guess that counts as confirmation.

Before he was Chuck, Zachary Levi was ambitious, snarky Kipp Stedman on ABC’s Less Than Perfect, starring Sarah Rue. ChuckTV.net has learned that Zac will reunite with one of his Less Than Perfect co-stars this season when Eric Roberts (who played anchorman Will Butler) guests on Chuck. He’ll be part be part of Casey’s former Special Ops team referenced in this spoiler from TV Guide.

Also part of the team are Squintern, filmmaker and Zac’s BFF Joel David Moore and WWE superstar Batista. I imagine Casey and Batista will be the grunting part of the group while Moore and Roberts are the “I’m a PC” and “I’m a Mac” duo (so NOT Justin Long and John Hodgman). The trio begin filming on Monday, August 30.

But wait, Roberts has even more connections to Chuck! He can currently be seen on the big screen in The Expendables, co-starring with Steve Austin (Hugo Panzer from season 3 and returning in season 4) and Dolph Lundgren (guest starring in season 4). Check out the photo of the three Chuck guest stars together at a screening of The Expendables earlier this month:

NOT A SPOILER: Will Chuck Get The Back 9?

Ausiello didn’t reveal any Chuck news in this week’s Spoiler column, but he did ask Schwartz and Fedak about the prospects for a back 9 pickup. Basically it’s what we’ve been saying all along: too soon to tell. Also, the word “epic” is spoken. Drink!

Question: What are the chances Chuck will get a back-nine order? I’m freaking out over here! —Eric
Ausiello: I assumed exec producers Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz would be too. But they’re not. As Schwartz points out, “We never started a season with more than 13 episodes. Like last year, we will hope for the best, plan for the worst, and be ready to have an incredible final episode 13 if need be with a contingency plan to keep the season going.” Adds Fedak: “Episode 13 no matter what will be epic.”

Yvonne Wins Tubey Awards

Voting in the annual Television Without Pity Tubey Awards has come to an end, ballots have been tallied, and Yvonne Strahovski represents Chuck with two wins! She won Favorite Character and Best Badass. Congrats, Yvonne and good job, Chucksters!

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