For every freshman hit on primetime television, you can expect a surge of wannabes the very next TV season. When "Lost" became the 2004-2005 season's biggest find, fall 2005 premiered the also-otherworldly "Invasion", "Surface", "Threshold" and "Supernatural".
This TV season is no different. Last fall NBC developed superpowered ratings, thanks to a coterie of unlikely "Heroes". This fall, we have not one, not two, but three new primetime shows about dweebs with magic DNA. Can these newly-arrived geeks survive their cut-throat timeslots, and, more importantly, which nerd(s) will you want to keep on your busy DVR schedule? Hopefully the Dweebtime Update will answer some of these questions, and hopefully with it you won't have to develop dweeb-cancellation heartbreak.
The Most Nerdtastic James Bond Ever
He pairs up his shirts with pocket protectors, and works at an electronics department called the Nerd Herd. And even though NBC's eponymous "Chuck" is played by the totally cute Zachary Levi, the character needs his sister to set him up with women.
Luckily for Chuck, the (not really) geek has two weapons on his side: the law of television that geeks must be secretly awesome, and an email that transforms his brain into a database of CIA secrets.
Whether this unlikely James Bond can survive his first network foray, however, is a question still very much in the air.
The NBC promotional machine is in full throttle for "Heroes", so "Chuck" has to battle by itself against returnees "Dancing with the Stars", "Prison Break" and "How I Met Your Mother" - all established and well-liked shows.
Even its credits read like 'yes, but' assets: even though co-creator Josh Schwartz helmed the wildly popular first season of "The O.C.", these days people are more likely to remember the stinkbombs that were the later seasons. And even though fans of cult favorite "Veronica Mars" may follow "Mars" writer Phil Klemmer to "Chuck", there aren't enough Martians to make even a blip on the all important Nielsens.
The best hope for a second outing, ironically, may lie in the low buzz around the show: if it even gets "Monk" or "Medium" midrange numbers, that should be enough for this second-string NBC agent.
Survival Tip: If you're a Chuckhead (Chucklehead?) or intend to become one, keep this show alive by directing people to Levi's IMDb page: the guy's actually not just dorkily cute, but a full-on hottie kept geek-bound for now. Once you've done that, sit back and watch as "Chuck" kicks ass, thanks to those tuning in in anticipation of hotness.
"Chuck" airs on NBC on Mondays at 8 pm / 7 pm central.
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