**Note there are some spoilers for Chuck and House in this post — now is the time to look away if you don’t want things spoiled at all**
First, we again apologize for the server outages, and I apologize for having to temporarily (probably until 2pm PDT) shut off the comments on Monday’s overnight post. But am posting this to give Chuck and others who feel the need to comment a place to do it here. Why not just leave them on with the other post? The overnight posts get a lot of simultaneous views, that coupled with the commenting cause issues when the server is under duress. This post will not get as many simultaneous views! Anyway…
I’m not a television critic, and I don’t even really fancy playing one on the Internet. I don’t watch TV with an overly critical eye. My general process is probably not that different from the average TV viewer — does it keep me interested and entertained? Everything is on a spectrum and the scale that works on ranges from “completely enthralled” to “I had to turn it off.”
Does Chuck usually have a lot of plot holes? Oh yeah. But I don’t sweat it. I generally find it entertaining. And I found last night’s episode especially entertaining. I loved seeing Chevy Chase and Scott Bakula. In many ways the show is a complete homage to Chase’s 1980s movies like Spies Like Us and Fletch. For a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with, I actually thought it would’ve made more sense for Chase to play the role of Chuck’s dad. But I thought Bakula did an outstanding job in that role (and thought Chase played his role well too).
Sadly, despite being one of my favorite episodes of Chuck, it was one of the worst-rated ever, with a 2.1 rating with adults 18-49. It’s still Chuck vs. the ratings bubble.
Heroes sunk to an all-time low, and coupled with Kings failing (and now moved to Saturdays!) NBC must be a little freaked. Heroes hasn’t been keeping me entertained or interested and I now have about 3 episodes queued up on the DVR. Heroes was a good performer for NBC, especially in the demos, but over the last months it is now merely an average ratings performer, though given all of NBC’s other shows, for NBC it’s still an above-average, though not great performer.
Finally, I didn’t really love or hate last night’s episode of House. I thought it was OK. And while I found promoting a web site on mental health and suicide prevention at the end of the episode appropriate, I thought the whole promotion (and the actual web page) at www.fox.com/kutner was tacky, and a dumb idea.
Great another Chuck article. The people who run this site sure know how to get tons of comments on their articles…. just include the word Chuck.
Here comes Alex.
Last nights episode of Chuck was awesome. I wish more people would have seen it.
Amazing episode last night, not so amazing ratings. At least the good thing is that it’s holding steady in its ratings the last 4 weeks.
I agree with you doug h, however I say that after almost every single episode of Chuck
Heroes rules please cancel Chuck, who wants to watch a whiny big kid pretend to be a spy, NO ONE -> evidence rating suck bigtime. I’m hoping for a knight rider crossover on Chuck in which Kitt runovers man child Chuck Bartowski, hahahahhaha. Josh Schwartz is a hack
Yet again, I will point out that Heroes ratings loss was 24’s direct gain.
I know we like to look at ratings in a relative vacuum, but in both Heroes vs. 24 AND Flashpoint vs. Dollhouse, the real lesson appears to be that network TV cannot support two action shows on at one time. Look at the ratings when first-run episodes are up against each other in both cases: one’s loss is the other’s gain.
Simply put, NBC cannot stay with their current plan of airing all the ‘10 Heroes against 24 – NBC would be better served by airing them against House @ 8pm than another action series.
Last night’s episode was definitely one of the best! LOVED IT! It held steady, I’d love to say it increased. But at this point I’m just glad it’s holding steady.
You know, I have a friend to whom I recommended Chuck last season, as I usually give her a list of shows that seem worth checking out, and while she was watching last night’s episode she contacted me to yell at me about that Chuck rec. Apparently she doesn’t have the ability to 1. remove shows from her DVR or 2. not watch shows that her DVR records. So she said she’s spent the past year and a half watching a show she hates. And the only other show I suggested last year was Moonlight (purely for the Jason Dohring fix) so she told me what a horrible friend I am, but then asked for new show recs. Ah, well. And, sorry Chuck fans, but I convinced her to remove it from her DVR since it causes her such pain, so that’s one 18-34 viewer you lost.
NBC can’t compete on Monday Nights…Period!!!
They know it.
Instead of watching Heroes, people should just read the X-Men comics that their writers blatantly stole from—plus the X-Men comics are a lot better.
“Heroes rules please cancel Chuck, who wants to watch a whiny big kid pretend to be a spy, NO ONE -> evidence rating suck bigtime. I’m hoping for a knight rider crossover on Chuck in which Kitt runovers man child Chuck Bartowski, hahahahhaha. Josh Schwartz is a hack”
And ratings means quality ? ROFL. Chuck consistenly gets better reviews than heroes and even Heroes fans admit the show sucks now, Chuck on the other hand is getting better and better.
Robert when its all said and done, Does NBC renew Chuck for a third season? Do you guys here anything from NBC? Does NBC have many new pilots out for the fall? If you could choose a night for Chuck what night would you choose?
That’s a good point. Many Heroes storylines seem to be taken directly from certain 80’s X men comic books.
When all is said and done, I really don’t think they have decided yet. I believe the show is really on the bubble and NBC will wait to look at all its pilots in development before making a decision.
Robert, you haven’t see the episodes then where Bryan Fuller came in? So Episode 20+? WATCH IT!!! They are great. Really.
Heroes>Chuck, both Heroes’ and Chuck’s ratings are horrible–so I don’t know what you’ve been smoking.
One more thing, I hope there would be a X-Men crossover on Heroes so the real super-heroes (X-Men) can kick the living crap out a the wannabe lame ‘Heroes’ or better known as Zeroes.
Heroes>Chuck says:
April 7th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Heroes rules please cancel Chuck, who wants to watch a whiny big kid pretend to be a spy, NO ONE -> evidence rating suck bigtime. I’m hoping for a knight rider crossover on Chuck in which Kitt runovers man child Chuck Bartowski, hahahahhaha. Josh Schwartz is a hack
Tough talk from someone whose favorite show is bleeding numbers worse than a Gregory House patient.
America has spoken, cancel Chuck, time to make room for Leno. I heard Trump has a spot open on next season’s Celebrity Apprentice for d-lister Zachary Levi. Have fun making Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, sounds like a step up acing with cgi rodents
What are you smoking ? Leno has nothing to do with Chuck. If NBC wants to bring it back than they will whether or not Leno is on at 10 or not. By the by NBC execs love the show and it gets good reviews.
If you don’t like it than just don’t watch but why actually root for it to get canceled ? Did Levi sleep with your girlfriend or something ?
Heroes went down because of the NCAA game, I actually expected more of a drop. It’ll bounce back up slightly next week to still quite bad ratings, but decent for NBC (6.5/3.1) next week.
Seriously Heroes>Chuck, you are just as dumb as the premise of a hero who can create mini black holes.
Robert, here’s a question. Would a pairing of Parenthood and the new David E. Kelley dramedy about the Chicago law firm work as a Monday night pairing? I would imagine NBC wouldn’t want to mess with SVU’s night on Tuesdays, so I gotta believe Tuesdays will be Biggest Loser/SVU. I would think Parenthood and the law dramedy would skew to the older audience, which you might be able to siphon off of DWTS. (not much of it, of course, but NBC can hardly do worse on Mondays). Heroes is bleeding numbers and Chuck doesn’t seem to go lower in its demos than that. But I think Chuck can compete against ABC and CBS on Wednesdays, barring changes to their schedule. The tough part would be its partner show.
It seems like NBC is starting to have made a bad decision regarding renewing Heroes. The quality of the show seems to be improving, but the numbers are dropping fast. (and sorry, the basketball game is no excuse)
I’ve really enjoyed the last three episodes of Heroes and the show has found some of its season one focus and drive creatively and the general rehabilitation of the characters they spent two years destroying is nice to see. For the first time in longer than I can remember I’ve actually enjoyed the Hiro/Ando scenes for example. Admittedly there’s a long way to go until they’re back to season one brilliance but creatively at least there are signs of life once more and momentum is building nicely for the finale. My personal hope is that they opt to cull some of the cast in the finale with some big deaths but I won’t be holding my breath. At this point I would be happy with just Mohinder being axed.
The problem though is that the damage has been done both creatively and especially ratings wise.
I think if the recent episodes are any indication then Heroes might regain a fraction of its audience next year – and by that I mean mid-3’s I don’t however think its ever going to be the big hitter it once was. Regardless of what day it airs or how good it gets. The audience has been turned off with two seasons of terrible episodes and stories that destroyed the characters and most of them won’t come back.
I would imagine NBC wouldn’t want to mess with SVU’s night on Tuesdays, so I gotta believe Tuesdays will be Biggest Loser/SVU
NBC is far less likely to mess with Biggest Loser than with SVU. There’s no way they do anything other than two hours of Biggest Loser on Tuesdays.
Heroes was nominated for emmy for outstanding Drama and best supporting actor for Masi Oka, the academy has spoken: Heroes is outstanding, Chuck is not very good, nerd herders can suck it
to all the Heroes haters i say this: watch out………… Sylar is coming
I keep going through bouts of acceptance that Chuck is a goner, and then episodes like last night’s will come around and I get all determined again that it HAS to get renewed, against all odds. I was really hoping Chevy Chase would have some sort of effect on the ratings, though. :/
Chuck usually gets better reviews than Heroes and has for some time now. I don’t know why you hate Chuck but bottom line is the majority of people who watch it including critics seem to think it’s a pretty good show.
As for Heroes I liked it better the first time around— when it was called X-men Origins.
Heroes>Chuck says:
April 7th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Heroes was nominated for emmy for outstanding Drama and best supporting actor for Masi Oka, the academy has spoken: Heroes is outstanding, Chuck is not very good, nerd herders can suck it
So did Arrested Development. Fat lot of good it did. Love these people who have to justify their show by saying some other show sucks without even coming up with good reasons for why it sucks. Maturity level of some people makes the Mancow Muller crowd seem like the McLaughlin Group.
Yes, Heroes was nominated for blah…blah….but that was SEASON ONE. The show is a shell of what once was….quality-wise and rating-wise. Have you read thr EW’s article on how crappy Heroes has been as of late?
You can hate on Chuck all you want, but don’t say Heroes is a outstanding show—because it is NOT!#!
Patrick I’m pretty sure Arrested Development wasn’t nominated for Emmy for Outstanding Drama…
None the less in terms of quality a show surviving or not isn’t especially a good indicator. If Chuck is axed does that mean it was a bad show? No it just means not enough people watched.
Quality is however a subjective thing and I don’t think throwing Emmy nominations around is any more or less of a ‘good reason’ for saying a show x is ‘better’ than show y then repeating how much critics love a show on an endless loop.
Say what you want about Chuck and it’s crappy ratings but at least the show has a somewhat original plot…. guy gets governement secret computer loaded into his head and flashes on potential threats and has CIA and FBI agents to protect him around the clock, lives with his sister and her “awesome” boyfriend who have no idea what’s going on.
Heroes on the other hand is just X men Origins comics revisited.
Let’s please not start a thread about what show is better again, Heroes>Chuck is just a troll.
And LOL at Julia’s friend who doesn’t know how to remove a show on DVR. How does that work? And are you kidding me? Moonlight? Didn’t that last like 3 weeks?
Uh, since when did this site become a site for bashing shows. Let’s try to act a little more mature people.
NBC will definitely have a new Monday night line-up come next fall. I cannot see it sticking with what it currently has now. It will probably have a new show at 8pm and Day One at 9pm.
Heroes will probably come back in winter 2010 for its final 13 episodes. Chuck, on the other hand, is a toss up. I am guessing Chuck will continue to hover around 6 mil with a 2.1 demo for rest of this season; which may still be good enough for a mid-season renewal.
Hey now, DVR’s are not so simple for us old fashioned folk who are not good with electronics.
And I’d just like to say to that troll that nobody on Heroes or any NBC show comes close to touching the hotness of Yvonne StraHotski.
“And I’d just like to say to that troll that nobody on Heroes or any NBC show comes close to touching the hotness of Yvonne StraHotski.”
Her forehead should have it’s own zipcode.
@Rory: Yes, that’s Ali Larter’s job. As you can see, since she “died”, the ratings have been suffering. So this means Ali Larter = Ratings!
P, she knows how, it’s just too much effort.
“Her forehead should have it’s own zipcode”.
Her forehead does look big when she pins her hair way back but the same can be said about most woman. Bottom line she is super hot.
Okay, a numbers related question for Robert or Bill about the Monday night ratings.
You show the half hour breakdown for Chuck as starting with a 2.0 and then gaining audience to a 2.1 in the 18-49 demo. Does this increase mean it is likely the final numbers will show an uptick in the ratings? Or based on what you have seen do you expect it to hold steady?
the overnight rating factoring in all the 15 minute periods was definitely a 2.1. I don’t really have expectations around final numbers. Going up or down 1/10th wouldn’t surprise me, but neither would staying the same.
If I had to choose, I’d choose to keep Chuck. I find I only like Heroes these days when Hiro and Ando are on. I think Hiro was the reason for the success of the first season, and they kind of lost their original focus and freshness.
Actually the funniest female forehead comment I ever read was a guy quoting somebody who said Christina Ricci had such a huge forehead you could project Speed Racer on it.
the new show on Nbc on Thursday at 8:30 got an great review from the Hollywood Repoter
Heroes makes $$$ for nbc, Chuck makes no $$$ for nbc as it is produced by wb, so that’s why it is gone. No need to be angry, that’s show business
Heroes is bleeding money every time it airs. DVD sales would have to be astronomical to make up for that. I highly doubt season 3 will see season 1 sales.
The only storyline I liked during Heroes season one was the Hiro and Claire storyline. Everyone else was just lame or annoying. I really hated that Nathan character, he is so whinny.
Chuck somewhat benefited from not going up against the game in the east coast. On the west coast, by the time Chuck started UNC was already up 20 points. I hoping for a total blowout like 30 to 40 points so people would tune out.
Julia says:
April 7th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I would imagine NBC wouldn’t want to mess with SVU’s night on Tuesdays, so I gotta believe Tuesdays will be Biggest Loser/SVU
NBC is far less likely to mess with Biggest Loser than with SVU. There’s no way they do anything other than two hours of Biggest Loser on Tuesdays.
Well obviously you want to milk Biggest Loser for all it’s worth, but you still have to stick SVU someplace, and 8PM is not necessarily the best place. Unless you want to pull back on some of its grittier elements to make it fit the more family-friendly 8PM hour. The big problem will be finding another show to pair with it. I don’t know what can be paired with it, other than the David E. Kelley lawyer show. Maybe that’s the plan.
It seems to me that Chuck would make pretty good money for NBC because it cost relatively little to make and besides the commercials there is always room for some well timed product placement in a show that has a lot of technology in it.
heroes>chuck,
Heroes season 2 dvds sold half as many units as it did with Heroes season 1; which was still good. Season 3 will probably do even worst just based on how many viewers have tuned out from the show.
Sorry to pee on your parade dude, but Heroes will get only 13 more episodes next season and that will be the end of it. One more thing, you should just stop trashing Chuck, you won’t win. You’re outnumbered on this site and will just get bombarded if you continue.
“It seems to me that Chuck would make pretty good money for NBC because it cost relatively little to make and besides the commercials there is always room for some well timed product placement in a show that has a lot of technology in it.”
But those only make money if people are watching.
And random question, where does the product placement cash go for Chuck? NBC or WB?
And random question, where does the product placement cash go for Chuck? NBC or WB?
I may be completely off on this, but I think the way it works is that product placement is used to supplement the production budget. So it would go to WB, but be put right back into the show. I think.
Alex says:
April 7th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Patrick I’m pretty sure Arrested Development wasn’t nominated for Emmy for Outstanding Drama…
I know, I know. Just a knee-jerk post reaction to the moron who thinks Chuck sucks and that Heroes makes a huge profit for NBC just because NBC owns it.
That was a good point brought up yesterday, I think it was, about shows that will make cutbacks, even when the network doesn’t own them. I’d have a hard time believing that Warner’s wouldn’t cut the budgets of the shows they sell to other networks, rather than letting those studios remain empty. The question then becomes, how much can you cut from Chuck’s budget to satisfy NBC? A damn fine question if I do say so my damn self. (sorry, my head is full of Chevy Chase lines today)
That might be the way Chuck saves itself. But the numbers last night (at least the overall numbers) do prove that they have to get Chuck off of Mondays. House grabbed a good-sized share of the demos last night, that much is certain.
Alex, it’s usually a split. However CHUCK is a product placement whore. Forget the phones, the BUY MORE does an amazing job of product placement for video games to TVs, to computers.
CHUCK is actually quite profitable for WB and NBC. The show was used as an example of how BS changed the way you could make money off a show with severe product placement. Placing the show in a huge store was a money making brilliant move.
REAPER does the same thing for the CW. Incredibly the Home Depot like store that the reaper character works at recently got a multi-million dollar product placement deal with VooDoo PCs. Why a store like Home Depot would be selling severely over priced gaming PCs is beyond me.
f I were an NBC executive, this would be the right time to hang myself.
They should have Sarah work at a Subway next season. They have already pimped out the sandwiches on the show and have Chuck fliers plastered in Subway restaurants.
They should also have Sarah moved into Hilton/Hyatt hotel next season. This all could help tremendously with production cost.
I was going to suggest changing the Buy More into a Best Buy and Best Buy would never improve of all the zany antics that goes on in the Buy More.
From an interview today with Chris Fedak:
Q: If “Chuck vs. the Ring” winds up being the last episode of the series, how do you think the fans will react?
A: They’re going to burn their living rooms. They’re going to destroy their television sets. There could be chaos across the country.
Yes, NBC, there will be chaos!! But it also makes me kind of sad because Chris doesn’t seem as confident as he did before.
Oh, I don’t know about that. Based on stories I’ve heard about the Geek Squad on Slashdot and elsewhere, I’d say those antics DO go on in Best Buys.
“Yes, NBC, there will be chaos!! But it also makes me kind of sad because Chris doesn’t seem as confident as he did before.”
It’s like that with any show.
Heather, Fedak actually sounds more optimistic than Schwartz did last week.
And by “more optimistic”, I mean in other parts of the interview. He was clearly being sarcastic for the part that you quoted.
Chuck is rather good (i’ve only seen three episodes) and i have liked them, not so much to watch it on the date thought, cuase i forgot, but enough to buy the first season boxset…Heroes has gotten a LOT better, except for that second episode from the three i believe you have in that DVR box, the others were exceptional.
“@Rory: Yes, that’s Ali Larter’s job. As you can see, since she “died”, the ratings have been suffering. So this means Ali Larter = Ratings”
umm no that was Brea Grant
whomever came up with the brilliant idea to kill Daphne should be hanged
i’ve been a heroes fan since season 1, and i do admit volumes 2&3 were total trash…but i do think volume 4 is so much better. i wish they hadnt given everyone of the characters powers, but i still think heroes is a great show and should be running for more than another season
should have never went on strike
Heroes>Chuck says:
April 7th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Heroes was nominated for emmy for outstanding Drama and best supporting actor for Masi Oka, the academy has spoken: Heroes is outstanding, Chuck is not very good, nerd herders can suck it
ROFLMAO. Just because a show is nominated for an emmy doesn’t make it outstanding.
FrankJ, I know he was being sarcastic, I just meant the overall tone of the interview, which I felt wasn’t as optimistic as he’s been in the past. I didn’t hear, what did Schwartz say last week?
Julia,
Per your comment “Heroes is bleeding money every time it airs. DVD sales would have to be astronomical to make up for that. I highly doubt season 3 will see season 1 sales.”
THANK YOU!!!!! I completely agree. Yes, Heroes makes money for NBC because it is produced by NBC Universal, I will be the first person to admit that. But, the money it is shelling out for production, cast & crew, advertising, etc. has steadily increased while the money it is bringing in has gone down. I wouldn’t be surprised if the show is in the red next season.
Heroes and Chuck rule! If you don’t agree with me, your worse than Hitler!
Sam, you forgot the
(At least I hope you did…)
Great episode for Chuck!!!! The ratings are steady for chuck while heroes is declining, at the rate we are going Chuck would have surpase heroes in two months. Go Chuck.
Tony, too bad both of them are ending their seasons at the end of this month.
“Heroes and Chuck rule! If you don’t agree with me, your worse than Hitler!”
you are absolutely correct… there’s one person with a sense of life
To Robert, I’m wondering how much you think NBC’s opinion of Chuck and where it is going will affect its future. From interviews I’ve read, it seems that NBC is very supportive of Chuck and likes where the show is headed (which would include ideas introduced for a potential Season 3). I know you have firmly stated the show is directly on the bubble, but I’m curious if you think there are some extenuating circumstances outside of ratings that could help the show. It seems to me that the ratings obviously place the show in danger, but that the opinions of NBC and critics, along with the show’s vocal and intensely supportive fan base would tilt the scales in Chuck’s favor.
Corey, my sense is that NBC is happy with the show in just about every way, except the ratings. There are a couple of things I don’t really understand on the part of NBC schedulers (like why did the air a rerun a few weeks ago, instead of last night against the NCAAs?)
I’d obviously feel more comfortable with all those other factors tilting things in Chuck’s favor if the recent demo numbers were more in the 2.3-2.5 range. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but one factor I worry about is appearances. NBC has given the appearance of throwing in the towel on a couple of fronts, and I fear that renewing shows with marginal ratings just furthers, and reasonably so, that impression; that the net is giving up and not even trying.
As a fan, I’d love to see them bring the show back, as a numbers guy, I will not be surprised if they don’t.
Woahh Chuck is incredibly overrrated in this site!
i wish i would have watched chuck last night
i was planning on it but i ended up watching the game instead
Daniel: http://www.hulu.com/watch/66600/chuck-chuck-versus-the-dream-job
1. Heroes cost a little over 4 million per
2. Most actors have big heads when seen in person
3. With a show like Chuck the network gives it 12 episodes starting in September and if holds or goes up they order the other 10, not the other way around.If it is not preforming, they replace with a mid season show
4. Pearl- how did you know ?
I’ve heard rumors that Chuck might be moving to the CW next season. Does anyone here know anything about that?
Robert, on what fronts do you think NBC has given the appearance of throwing in the towel? Just curious!
Jenna, Jay Leno at 10pm was a complete towel toss of five hours a week. Effectively its saying, “we can’t compete on ratings, hopefully we can at least compete on profit margin.” The move, while understandable does smack of giving up.
What about Chuck moving to USA to replace Monk when that leaves. A Chuck/Psych pairing would be a good combination.