Chuck Versus Ratings

Matthew Fry here with an update on this week's two night Chuck premiere. But first I'd like to comment on my out of this world title, Chuck Versus Ratings, I bet no one's ever used that before.

According to our friends over at TVbytheNumbers (whose articles on the two night event can be found here and here) Chuck came out of the gate strong pulling in approximately 7.4 million viewers on Sunday night and 7.3 million on Monday. While these numbers are not great by any stretch of the word, they are just about the best that NBC could hope for. After all, these are Chuck's best ratings since his much hyped 3-D episode following the Super Bowl.

So what does this mean for Chuck's future? So far it is too early to say. But if the ratings hold out (or even fall to Heroes-esque numbers) there is a decent chance Chuck will be renewed for a fourth season. While the numbers are weak by network standards, Leno-Gate will open up five free hours of prime time for NBC. Its a given that NBC will not devote all five of those hours to new programming so it is a safe bet to assume that shows that would normally be cancelled or on the edge such as Chuck, Mercy, and Heroes will return. At any rate TMT will keep you updated on all Chuck developments throughout the season as we wait to see if the little-spy-that-could will survive to see season 4.