Chuck Versus New Premiere Date
Fri, October 9, 2009 
At the start of this year, there was serious concern NBC would pull the plug on Chuck after two not-so-successful seasons. The network handing over the 10 P.M. slot to The Jay Leno Show for five nights a week didn’t exactly help the cause either. But one “Save Chuck” campaign and a Subway sponsorship later, the Peacock gave the thumbs up to Season #3. The catch was it wouldn’t premiere until March 2010. Hey, it was that or nothing. So fans were happy.
Now Michael Aussiello reveals the cult series looks to move up much sooner than originally announced. How soon? We’re talking possibly at the end of October soon. You can thank this on the recent cancellation of Southland (gone before its second season even aired), failures of the much-hyped Trauma and Mercy, and nosedive ratings from long-running favorites like Law & Order: SVU.
This was a move a number of us (including yours truly) saw coming. Hell, I figured this would occur right when the network first announced Chuck’s March ’10 premiere. That’s because the exact same thing happened last year with Law & Order. The network put their high-profile Knight Rider reboot in its timeslot for Fall 2008 with the intention of having the flagship returning in January 2009. “Shockingly,” nobody gave a rat’s ass about seeing KITT revived for the 21st century and it was nuked where upon L&O was quickly moved up to a November ’08 premiere.
So I can honestly say this news doesn’t surprise me whatsoever. Aussiello’s soruce(s) also note that pushing the third season premiere up also increases the likelihood of addition episodes being produced beyond the initial 13 order. Do I think this will happen? Yes, I do.
Honestly though, I don’t foresee a fourth season for our favorite Nerd Herder-turned-spy (who now knows kung-fu!) To their credit, NBC pimped the Hell outta the show since the start and frankly the ratings prove that the average TV viewer doesn’t care. Don’t think I’m crapping on Chuck because I’m not. Whatsoever. I love the show, but the truth hurts. Let’s just be grateful for what we got and enjoy another year’s worth of adventures from Chuck, Sarah, Morgan & Co.
And there is always the chance that I’m proven wrong and a fourth season happens!
Reader Comments (2)
i watched the 2 seasons in 5 days. now i am a huge fan. its a fun show and there is even some action.
i rather have 3 good season then 10 season of which 7 are bad(looking at you smallville. enough is enough. let it go). i just can not see chuck with 5 or 6 seasons. with a guy like chuck you need character development. and if you change hes character then some people wont like it. hard to do. but it could be done.
You are leaving out a key ingredient as to why some of NBC series arefailing and/or falling. They all have bumped around timeslots and days, thanks to Jay Leno. Then, when all the new shows have gone the way of the dinosuar, I still love L&O and the spinoffs but I don't love them that much when they jam up timeslots with weekend marathons later on in the season.
I guess I'd start watching Leno more if it became more like a variety show of yesteryear, y'know, kind of like an Ed Sullivan -Carol Burnett- Donny & Marie sort of thing? No, I'm not on drugs. But I do need some assistatnce getting out of the straightjacket...