Photo: Mitch Haddad/Warner Bros. Television
I got an opportunity to sit down with the creative gurus behind NBC‘s new fall “geek” series “Chuck”. It was my first time meeting the trio of Josh Schwartz, McG and Chris Fedak and as I said my goodbyes it struck me how much passion the three had for the series. On a personal note as I was scanning the room as the interviews were going on I noticed each time a female approached the trio they all stood to greet her. Chivalry may be dead throughout most of the country, but it’s good to know team “Chuck” still believes in the little things that seem to have gone by the wayside in day to day life in Hollywood.
“Chuck” Premieres Monday, September 24th at 8:00pm ET/PT on NBC.
Seat42f: “What did you think of NBC moving “Chuck” from its original Tuesday at 9:00pm time slot to its new home on Mondays at 8:00pm?”
Josh Schwartz: “We’re excited and take it as real vote of confidence, but at the same time we are trying to stay focused on the show regardless of the time slot. We’re all really big “Heroes” fans and we feel like “Heroes” is a show that our character Chuck would be obsessed with himself. So it feels like a good fit”
McG: “I think it’s flattering that the network sees it as a good fit to “marry” the two shows.”
Seat42f: “Having watched the pilot and seeing how all the data becomes housed in Chuck’s brain I couldn’t help wonder if there is an element of “Chuck” being able to see into the future?
Josh Schwartz: “No, everything he sees is a trigger of some information that is already in his head. He can’t see the future, he can’t predict things and he can even get things wrong.”
McG: “He can take the clues that he has and have a strong idea of ‘because I saw this blueprint and because I have seen these three images’ I can make an educated guess.”
Chris Fedak: “There’s such an encyclopedia of things in his head so the information can be really old and in some cases(assignments) will involve the older files stored in Chuck’s head.”
Seat42f: Tell me a little bit about the character John Casey played by Adam Baldwin?
Josh Schwartz: “John Casey is working at the Buy More and he is deeply uncomfortable about that. The idea is sort of like Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow have been assigned to babysit Chuck, but Sydney Bristow is working at the Wienerlicious in the mini-mall and Jack Bauer is working inside the Buy More.”
McG: “Which he couldn’t hate more. “
Josh Schwartz : “He was stationed in Afghanistan and now he works in the home appliance section of Buy More and it’s not a good fit for him. In a fun way.”
Seat42f: Are they going to use John Casey to find missions?
Josh Schwartz: “Yes, missions will come to him or he’ll find missions.”
McG: “I think the important thing that his characters brings is efficiency. I like the idea that we are showing Casey killing someone, well, to a point where we see his arrogance in that world. The fun is Chuck responds like we would respond. ‘This is impossible, that stuff doesn’t happen to me’.”
Seat42f: Will Sarah become a love interest for Chuck?
Josh Schwartz: “I think for Chuck, a guy who hasn’t had a girlfriend since college, this woman sort of descends from the heavens and is like ‘by the way I will be playing your girlfriend in the new movie of your life’ so Chuck is like this is UNBELIEVABLE. Of course she is assigned to protect him and the last guy she did love, Bryce Larkin, betrayed her and betrayed the country so she’s been damaged in relationships as well so it’s a complicated romance. But there’s a lot of fun with her posing as his girlfriend and his friends saying ‘WHAT” how did that happen to you. “
