I knew all that tv watching would eventually pay off

I asked Alan Sepinwall, tv critic for the Newark Star-Ledger and blogger, a question for his mailbag column, and he answered it for me! Maybe he answered my question first because it was the best (yay!), the worst (boo!), or possibly because I am from the state the paper is based in. Whatever, I found out what I wanted to know. It’s nice to be the one asking questions, for a change.

Two peas in a peacock-shaped pod

This is not the first time that I mentioned Chuck and Life in the same post. On the surface, though, Chuck Bartowski and Charlie Crews couldn’t be more different. Chuck is a 20-something wasting his life at a Geek Squad/Best Buy clone (I can’t believe that BB didn’t think of the name Nerd Herd first) and providing the US government with information that has been encoded into his brain. Charlie is a Los Angeles Police Department detective who was imprisoned for 12 years after being unjustly convicted of the murder of a friend, a fellow police officer, and that man’s wife and son. So how are these two men similar?

• They’re both on NBC, and the future of both shows are unclear. Chuck probably is in a less precarious position, but could still conceivably be ended after this season.
• They’re both named Charles. The fact that they both go by comparatively juvenile nicknames is not an accident.
• Both men had their lives derailed by false accusations; Chuck was kicked out of Stanford for cheating and Charlie spent a long long time in prison.
• They’re (mostly) kept in check by women who are better at focusing on the big picture and playing straightmen (as it were) the the guys’ sometimes excessively youthful behavior.
• Their lives are being manipulated by governmental forces that they don’t understand and can’t really control.
• They’re both in love with women who, for whatever reason, they cannot be with. Chuck’s in love with Sarah, his FBI handler, and Charlie is in love with his ex-wife, who divorced him while he was in prison. Awkward.
• They both accidentally shot people in the leg this year. Chuck shot the guy who made the Intersect that’s in his head (…maybe), and Charlie shot his dad. Well, the dad did refuse to identify himself when Charlie called out in the dark. Bygones?
• They both keep awesomely detailed charts of the players in their particular dramas. Chuck keeps his on the back of his Tron poster (loved that detail), and Charlie has a “secret” room in his house where he keeps his. That room has been broken into so many times at this point that I wish Charlie would use the walls to keep his grocery list or something.

Of course, the two men aren’t twins or anything. Charlie has a distant father and a dead mother, whereas Chuck as a sweet, well-meaning, but ultimately clueless older sister who loves him. Charlie’s friends all turned their backs on him when he was convicted of murder, while Chuck’s friends all stuck by him after his expulsion. Charlie’s stint as a guest of the state netted him millions of dollars, while Chuck is super poor and still lives with his sister and her awesome fiance. Chuck is a total baby about pain and Charlie got shot a while back. Charlie can hardly figure out how to use his cell phone, and Chuck is pretty much a tech genius. Lastly, the music on Life is out of this world good, and Chuck’s scoring is okay, but nowhere near as brilliant.

The other thing that these two shows have in common is how much I love them. These are the only two shows that I came into the season liking that I actually like better now. I really hope that both of them are renewed for season three, because I feel like they’re really starting to hit their strides.

I’m bummed that I won’t see Chuck again for two more weeks, but the previews look really exciting and I cannot wait!

NBC is rocking my world right now

AAH! This week’s Chuck and Life were so excellent, I almost cannot even stand it. I’ve loved Life all along, and so I was surprised when I recently realized that I may actually prefer Chuck to it right now. Of course, that’s like saying I can’t decide between filet mignon and broiled lobster, and really, the one that I choose at any given moment has more to do with my mood than with the object’s innate awesomeness.

I’m really happy that NBC is giving these fine shows a chance, and hopes that it will continue to do so. How good have these programs been lately? TOO GOOD. They have great drama, interesting situations, humor, and not a little moral ambiguity. They don’t tell the audience what to feel, and seem to think that we’ll be smart enough on our own to come to our own decisions (Do you hear that, Heroes??), which I greatly appreciate. I think that maybe in terms of acting chops, Damian Lewis and Yvonne Strahovsky have an advantage over their counterparts (Zachary Levi and Sarah Shahi), but again, when things are this good, quantification isn’t necessary.

I’m just worried about how I am going to be expected to last until freaking February. These shows are really really really really good, and I am going to miss them so much.