Fall’s Best Bets: Chuck!

Kristin dos Santos at E! has been counting down the best best for Fall, and Chuck landed at #1 on her list (along with Pushing Daisies):

CHUCK
Premieres: Mon., Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. on NBC

Chuck Dossier: When this series from Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak launched last year, Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), a mild-mannered nerd in the middle of an extended quarter-life crisis, accidentally absorbed the entire contents of the NSA-CIA intelligence database into his brain. That means that now when he sees certain faces or objects, the supercomputer inside his skull instantly sets off alarms in his head and sends him off to fight the bad guys of the world, with his handlers, gorgeous CIA agent Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and grumpy-cool NSA agent Casey (Adam Baldwin) in tow.

More capable than he realizes as an agent, Chuck still lacks confidence in his personal life, despite the undying admiration and devotion of his best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and a series of not-quite-helpful pep talks from his more-secure sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and her perfectly perfect surgeon/dude boyfriend Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin).

Chuck New-Data Download: In the immortal words of Michael Corleone (and Veronica Mars): “Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in.” And that’s probably more or less what Chuck Bartowski is thinking by the end of the season premiere.

Despite the best efforts of the NSA and the CSI, this season Chuck remains the intelligence community’s most important asset, so he must continue to engage in high-stakes espionage while repressing his feelings for Sarah (Yvonne Stra-HOT-ski, as we all like to call her), trying to change his everyday life (the computer service desk at Buy More, believe it or not, is not the happiest place on Earth), and continuing to hide his secret life from his friends and family.

I’ve seen the first three episodes of season two, and Chuck has shaken off any initial, first-season jitters, turning into a confident, supercute (albeit clumsy and underprepared) superagent. Chuck is a totally fun and funny adventure comedy series that you will instantly enjoy, and this season is beefed up with better writing, more fully developed characters and several neat guest star appearances by the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan, John Larroquette, Melinda Clarke and, yes, Nicole Richie herself. This one is worth investigating…I promise. I truly, madly, deeply loved the season premiere—please check it out!

Now, want to know more? Check out the scoop served up the cast and creators at a special installment of the series, an episode I like to call Chuck vs. Comic-Con. (Spoiler alert: Chuck wins!)