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Linda Holmes who writes the Monkey See TV blog for NPR has a post directed at Chuck fans in particular today that’s sure to spark even more comments. Here’s an excerpt:
When you like a show, you’re effectively on a bus with everyone else who likes it, and you’ve got to let the driver do the driving. You can comment on the view, you can point out the pothole he’s about to hit, you can ask him to turn up the air conditioning, and if you want, you can always get off at the next stop and hope you can get a better ride. But if you get up there with everybody else on the bus and start trying to grab the wheel, you will find yourself tumbling down the side of a ravine, and at the bottom of that ravine, there will be nothing to watch except Deal Or No Deal.
Let us now beat our little bus metaphor to death: You don’t know the route. You haven’t seen the map. You don’t even know where you’re supposed to be going, let alone where you’re actually going. You could, at any moment, go around a corner and see entirely different scenery. Certainly, obviously, when you think it’s not worth it, you can hop off.
But if your reason for hopping off is that you find it an affront that they won’t let you drive — this is the “of course it’s a bad episode; the NBC boards are irate!” argument, which amounts to a demand for majority rule — then you don’t understand that drivers drive and riders ride. And if you can’t relax and enjoy the relative powerlessness of your position from time to time, you will deprive yourself of the best possible outcome — which is that somebody is going to take you somewhere you didn’t even know you wanted to go.
Here’s the thing: If you, the viewer, are going to get everything you want at the moment you request it, then you might as well write the show yourself. If every line is going to be what you want to hear, if every step is the same next step you would have chosen, then there’s absolutely no need to watch the show. You might as well just take a shower and imagine the episode in your head while you’re washing your hair.
Wow, what a *^%*@!
Of course Chuck doesn’t BELONG to us! Just because one guy on a blog suggested a boycott (that 99.9% of Chuckers will never support) doesn’t mean we’re “bad fans.”
The diehards weren’t upset about Chuck and Sarah seeing other people, they’re upset about last night’s episode conflicting with everything we know about the characters’ personalities. We got people and situations forced down our throats without suffiencient development. I LIKE the “slow burn,” as she called it. And it DOES create a great payoff (god, remember the motel scene? I actaully screamed!), and I’m SURE Josh&Chris have a great plan.
That doesn’t mean I thought last night’s episode was good. If Chuck gets a season 4 I will do a naked dance of joy in my living room. But if this is going to be it for us, I just want every episode to be right on the money. And last night felt forced to me.
That’s all.
and if that’s wrong, then COLOR ME ENTITLED!
-K
Katie, you toally miss the point of the article. Like Mel said, it’s not just one guy. The overreaction to last night’s episode speaks volume.
So what? So what if there’s an overreaction? What about the people (like me and others) just didn’t like how forced the whole situation felt?
In the context of one season this would’ve been fine. This is season 3. DO we need to see this stuff yet again? And again, and again, and again?
I’m not going to boycott the show or anything, but I wonder, is it REALLY that difficult to believe this reaction if you didn’t have inside knowledge of what’s going to happen over the next 7 episodes like Mel?
I disagree with you Compleatly
Last night eposode was great
i do enjoy the Chuck-Sarah relationship but the show is called Chuck not Charah
when Charah works out i think that that will be the end of chuck.
we worked to save this show and a lot of us are proud of the show so far but it is you people that keep complaining about it.
i love this and i am sure that 100% of chuck fans are glad to have a season three even if they are disapointed with it.
It’s not just one guy on a blog, that’s the problem. I’ve been getting emails since spoilers started leaking in July from people demanding that the storylines be changed (as if I had any control). Before we’d seen a single frame of season three. Linda is right, there are some fans who feel a sense of entitlement, and it’s gotten out of hand. I’ll be if you look back at the Jericho fans in season 2, after they saved it from cancellation, you’d see a segment of that fanbase doing the same thing. It’s embarrassing.
I agree with Linda and Mel. Let the writers do their work.
First off, everyone is talking about what we know about the characters… That all changed when chuck became some sort of souped up intersect and did what he did to Sarah. everyone thinks there “love” was unconditional” when obviously it wasn’t. Sarah realizes that Chuck is different now and she does not need to protect him and judging by how she acted all through the beginning of season 3 I would say it makes sense that she would let go of Chuck and admit that she will have to leave, seeing she asked twice to be removed this season.
So everyone should stop dragging what they knew into this cause this season changed the field and the writers, imo, are doing a great job to clearly calculate each characters actions and emotions.
yeah, just have fun and enjoy a light, fun show! i am!
The trouble is, it isn’t a fun show any more. They’ve sucked the joy out of it. They seem to be trying to create Moonlighting.
They are, of course, at liberty to create the show they wish. But I don’t see that there is anything wrong in giving polite feedback. And given that people are pretty disappointed, perhaps the showrunners could be just a little more circumspect in the way they speak – maybe it isn’t particularly clever to imply that those who don’t like it don’t get it, and are fools that can just get knotted. It is not clever, or funny to deliberately upset or insult your audience.
But some people are not being Polite though
yes but alot of us are, just because we didn’t like one episode doesn’t mean we don’t get it, yes there working to a bigger storyline, but can’t the whole story be good not just parts?
If Season 3 was funny and light that’d be great. Chuck is dark and brooding. Sarah is all over the place. Casey has been reduced to a few wise cracks.
Characters that have their name in the opening credits disappear for several episodes at the time in order to save some money so they could hire Brandon Routh for most of the (original) season. They could have saved a lot of money and hired a no name actor down at the actors guild and at least gotten someone who can act.
I have Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD which I continue to rewatch. If the rest of Season 3 continues like it has through Episode 7, I will not own Season 3 on DVD.
Why is it that the entitled fans (in any fandom) represent such a small percentage of total fans, but complain so vehemently that the entire fandom is painted in a negative light? I didn’t like the episode last night, and I don’t like Shaw at all, but maybe I’m not supposed to like him. I’ll never know if I quit watching. All the fans complaining in an over-the-top way really need to do as Linda Holmes suggests and just sit back and enjoy the ride until you don’t any longer. What’s the point in potentially ruining something for the rest of us just because things aren’t going the way you envisioned them to?
I’ve been saying it all along…In Ali (et al) we trust. This staff knows how to write. Let them do it. Our job is to watch,laugh and cry. We do that well.
I normally enjoy Phil’s stories. However, The Mask left a lot to be desired.
Of course several things could have affected that show. 1) JS/CF tried to put too much stuff in the show so it felt rushed. 2) Maybe some of the main actors weren’t on their mark for that show. 3) Poor job of editing. 4) Poor writing.
In anycase, I hope Ms. Addler was up to the task when she wrote Ep8 which airs after the Olympics, because there is a lot of junk on the floor in the aftermath of The Mask.
Everyone who watches the show is entitiled to their opinion. Personally, I could care less about the ship issue. The real issue is I just haven’t liked where the creators are taking the show. Last night was a very disjointed episode with characters showing strange behaviors. The closest situation we have seen in the past was Beefcake/Lethal Weapon. Season 2 never recovered from the lost viewership. The feeling out there on this one is worse. There was a 39% viewer drop from the first half hour to the second. If we see that contiuation for ep 8, it will get ugly. I hope NBC does some major promotion over the Olympics.
39% viewer drop? Um, no. It went from 6.753 million to 6.456 million, which is a 5% drop in total viewers. The demo, however, rose from 2.2 to 2.3 at the half-hour mark.
Please go read the article on the front page about ratings
We are entering the nail bitting part of this season’s story line, that’s all! Something is about to hit the fan (and fans), the NOT knowing what, who or when is the BEST part of it! I love surprises! 🙂
Angelique is correct, I believe we are NOT supposed to like Shaw and some episodes are MEANT to be dark for a reason! BUT REMEMBER the most important THING about Episode 3.07 …. Casey didn’t get to blow up anything and HE didn’t quit!! 🙂
Hello All:
I don’t usually give too many personal opinions about the show I just watch it, but think it might be warranted after seeing some of the comments last night. It is important to remember that this is a television show. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but we must respect differing views on all sides and not do personal attacks.
I thought this episode was pretty good. I admit that the last 10-15 minutes were a little confusing to me, but I respect the writers, producers and creators choice to craft the show how they envision. I don’t have to like every episode on the show. If I really don’t like the direction of how the season is going, I can simply not view it.
However, I think we have to not attack other fans, writers, producers and the actors. Ultimately, this is their creativity and they all put in the effort for this show. We don’t know the destination as this article states. Of course, you can give an opinion, but it is important to do so in a respectful manner.
That is the spirit we should always try to remember when we communicate. Ultimately, this is just a television show.
Exelent way of putting it!!!! there are some “fans” that really dont enjoy the show thaen thats there problem.If you dont like it get off the bus.but for the rest of us who really true hartly love the show we will just enjoy the ride.It seems that the people who have problems with the show are irate and slam chuck on all of the online blogs.For what?if you have stopped enjoying the ride the doors right here.I think the biggest problem for Chuck is all the spoilers that come out months before the episode airs it just makes the peolple who are “fans” (not the true fans)angry with the storyline because they dont think its going the way they want it to go.Linda Holmes has said what we all real fans have thought all along, thanx Linda.
Everyone step back for a moment – chill out – amd try not to stew in these juices for too long… there flamable and could potentially ignite everything around you… you dont want that now do you…
i cant really claim any entitlement, i wasnt around when this campaign for season 3, i was just discovering Chuck on Virgin1 around sept 09, so after my 5 blissful months of pure chuckness this is kinda harsh to see…
And im thinking this is not the last of this angst train, i dont even think yesterday was meant to be angsty… i wonder how people reacted to Cole/Beefcake… who i thought was a Don… ahhh im finding this all a little too enjoyable 🙂 Cheer up, its not the end of the world… and hell there may even be a pay-off at the end of this season
I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Yes there’s a very vocal minority that’s threatening to boycott the show, but I’m getting rather tired of everyone who doesn’t like how they handled the PLIs in this episode being lumped together with the crazy shippers. The end of the show was rushed and that’s when the PLI’s were handled so they too were insanely rushed.
Now, we’re all aware there is a sizable chunk of fans that are solely or largely invested only in the Chuck and Sarah relationship. Schwartz and Fedak are certainly aware of this. These individuals are never going to be fond of things like Chuck and Sarah breaking up, or seeing other people. There’s an even larger group that’s invested in the characters of Chuck and/or Sarah, or need these characters to by sympathetic and likable to enjoy the show to the fullest. Knowing this, one would assume the writers and producers would take extra care to handle the Chuck and Sarah relationship, particularly break ups and PLI’s, with the greatest of care lest the first group stop watching and the second group become less engaged. They have not. The relationship has arguably been the weakest link of the entire season.
I don’t feel sorry for JS and CF. They were aware of the shippers. They should have known to handle the relationship deftly. They messed with the Bull, now they get the horns. The problem is that the shippers, JS, and CF may cost the rest of us a season 4.
This is one of the few posts that have hit the nail on the head as it relates to overall show. Anyone who want’s the shipper minority to bail and shut up will get the same result as the crazy’s asking for a boycott, cancellation. The disjointed way Season 3 has been going is the real issue creating the fuel and real wild swings in episode 7 just lit it off. If any one on the creative staff thought there would be any other result than the last few days, must be living in a dream world. I am hoping that some damage control and promotion will put the fan base back on track. We cant’ afford to lose anyone. However, JS & CF’s interview only set it off further with their take it or leave it mentality. Those boys need a PR minder.
The way I view the Chuck/Sarah situation is that they are supposed to be together and they will be together…eventually. I don’t mind the PLIs this season because they are helping to further develop the dynamic between Chuck and Sarah. If past seasons are any kind of indicator then I think Shaw and
Hannah will be done as far as love interests for Chuck and Sarah within a few episodes and the Chuck/Sarah relationship will emerge with renewed intensity. With that said, people that are so engrossed in the will-they-won’t-they aspect of the show are missing out on some of the other wonderful parts of the show. There are so few tv shows(or any other forms of entertainment for that matter) that can mesh drama, comedy, and action so well. It’s unfortunate that so many people focus solely on the Chuck/Sarah relationship and cannot take the good with the bad when they don’t get exactly what they want with the show.
^Agreed, Chuck Fan. But even if Chuck and Sarah DON’T end up together, I trust the writers will come up with something that makes sense. Yes, I’ve enjoyed this ride very much so far, I enjoy all the aspects of it, and I think this season is very good. Can’t wait for rest of the story to continue (the creator’s story, not mine. Mine would be very boring because I ALREADY KNOW IT in my mind)! Oh, and I also enjoyed last night ep. It was a little rushed, but the developments really made sense to me. I like both Shaw and Hannah so far.
MEL SAID,
“It’s not just one guy on a blog, that’s the problem. I’ve been getting emails since spoilers started leaking in July from people demanding that the storylines be changed (as if I had any control). Before we’d seen a single frame of season three. Linda is right, there are some fans who feel a sense of entitlement, and it’s gotten out of hand. I’ll be if you look back at the Jericho fans in season 2, after they saved it from cancellation, you’d see a segment of that fanbase doing the same thing. It’s EMBARRASING.”
Sigh, IT IS, Mel. :/
Ok let me start this off by saying that I want Chuck and Sarah to begin a relationship just as much as the next person. In fact, it was one of the things that first drew me into the show. But, as I started watching the show every week, I saw that there was also humor, action, adventure, and family life in the show. I understand that as viewers we feel we are entitled to a say in what happens on the show because we keep the show going by getting views for the show. But leave the writing job to the professionals. They know what they are doing. They know what is going to happen at the end of the show and know how to get there in the most satisfying way. Also, keep in mind that Kristin Kreuk and Brandon Routh are only guest stars. They will be leaving the show eventually, thus leaving Chuck and Sarah. So, relax and just enjoy watching the BEST show on television!
awww… it’s just a show guys.chill out. stress can make you sick or feel sick. one contributing factor that some has these type of reactions is because there’ll be 3 weeks without chuck! we have to admit that we want to get over the last episode and see what happens next. we just can’t wait. it’s like the long wait we had for this season 3. if all of us waited for this season and fought for it, what’s 3 weeks or maybe an episode that we don’t go for…and may i add guys, this show helped me a lot during my battle with the big C and just this january, about the same time this season 3 aired i’m in remission… it pains people like us to see fans bickering and attacking the show and each other…remember be heart chuck!
Without going into a lot of detail, which everybody else has covered fairly well, I’m simply going to say overall, at least so far, I feel very disappointed with ALL of the episodes of Season 3. They had all of this time
and this was the best they could come up with? I’ve watched 7 episodes before
commenting simply because I wanted to be fair about it.
The characters have not grown emotionally at all, although Chuck has come
along a little bit in episodes 6 and 7. In episodes 1-5 it seemed to me he
was regressing as an individual coming off as being hopelessly weak and
ineffective as a personality not likeable or loveable with a huge loss of
self respect. I had very little sympathy for him. He simply looked pathetically weak. No woman could ever love a man she didn’t respect so the
Prague thing made no sense to me. there was no credibility to it. In seasons
1 and 2 Chuck had his problems but he demonstrated streaks of independence
and decisiveness that offset his lack of experience which made him come
through in critical moments and were also a source of attraction to Sarah.
She knew she couldn’t push him around or intimidate him once he had made up
his mind about something and yet she knew at the same time he cared about her.
It irks me because even the producers have said this season he is supposed to
grow from boy to man. So far I’ve seen very little of it although, as mentioned before, this seems to be improving in episodes 6 and 7. We’ll have to wait and see.
As for Sarah, the character seems to be inconsistent. The Sarah of seasons 1 and 2 would never have proposed to run away with Chuck as depicted in the
Prague scene. The professional experience would have told her this option
was simply not workable. They would spend the rest of their lives looking over
their shoulders and would be eventually hunted down as occurred in Chuck vs
the Colonel when Casey found them. In addition there is very little reference
to the passing of Bryce which should have affected her deeply but is simply
passed off as just another day at the office.
Morgan sleeping with Carina is just absurd….
Hope this gets better. I will continue to watch the show, thanks.
I actually think people are just upset with the not-so-smooth-played episode 7 (the last minutes of it) and are getting all the crap out of their systems by writing things they don’t really mean.
I’m almost certain that 99.9% of those who said “I’m gonna boycott Chuck and never watch that shit again”, etc. will calm down, if they have not already, and will continue to watch it after the Olympics.
Allthough, I do find season 3 less appealing than it has potential to be (at least so far), considering the huge options and possibilities the season 2 finaly left for it.
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