+ Okay, it's official -- I'm definitely going to have to start watching "Dollhouse" again. It's been confirmed that the former Terminator herself Summer Glau is joining the cast as a new recurring character. And so's "Angel" alumnus Alexis Denisof who'll play a U.S. Senator. Yep, I'm doing a happy dance.
+ Hey, is your day going too well? Need a little something to bring you down? Then check out this new Japanese trailer for Roland Emmerich's "2012." Honestly, this guy does death and destruction so well, I have to wonder what his dreams are like? All fluffy bunnies and rainbows? Anyway, it's a cool trailer...and we get to see Chiwetel Ejiofor. That makes the end of the world a little better, doesn't it?
+ And finally, I love this new series of "Lost" tie-in posters. In honor of the show's final season, 16 artists who are also fans of the show were commissioned to do special character posters. They're available for purchase and only 300 are being produced. I love the Hitchcock-ian style of this Locke one:
This month’s Nerd Man and I go way back – in the sense that we’ve never met and I just watch him a lot on TV. When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was called “My Bodyguard,” a movie about a kid who goes to a new school and gets beaten up all the time until he hires the troubled, brooding big guy to protect him. As someone who used to get crammed into lockers on a frequent basis, this movie spoke to me…and it didn’t hurt that the brooding guy was kind of hot. His name? Adam Baldwin. And not only did he continue to be hot, he then started starring in pretty much every good sci-fi show and movie produced in the last 15 years, from “The X-Files,” “Angel” and “Independence Day” to “Firefly,” “Serenity” and now “Chuck.” My friends, he was even in the cheesy TV remake of “The Poseidon Adventure,” in which he ROCKED.
And unlike most people who aren’t animated characters on “South Park,” he looks damn good in an orange knit hat. These are just a few of the reasons why Adam Baldwin has earned August’s Nerd Man of the Month honors.
Baldwin’s not just another pretty face. In fact, he’s not very pretty at all. He looks like an archetypal tough guy, all brawn and scowl. But here’s what makes him different, separating him, so to speak, from the Vin Diesel chaff: he’s pretty damn funny and never more so when he’s uttering the words of Joss Whedon. Baldwin’s 13 episodes as Jayne in Whedon’s “Firefly” left an indelible impression. He managed to make Jayne arrogant, ridiculous, cold-hearted, endearing, dangerous and reluctantly good all at once – sometimes all in one scene. He was the menacing funny guy. Only Jayne could have become a folk hero by running away and accidentally dropping all his stolen cash, making the people of Canton believe he was their Robin Hood. And only Baldwin could have conveyed the utter horror and arrogant pride that Jayne felt when he realized just how much all those Cantonians loved him. In fact, let’s all take a moment and reflect on “The Hero of Canton,” a man named Jayne...as sung by Baldwin:
The thing is, nerds love underdogs, too, and in the world of acting, Baldwin seems like the ultimate underdog. He’s never been a huge star and probably never will be. He’s never headlined a movie or shown up on Perez Hilton’s site. Even in his new series, “Chuck,” where he plays a government agent assigned to protect the geeky title character (flashback to “My Bodyguard?”), he’s rarely center stage but he always, always steals the scene. He’s a guy who seems to just work hard, plug along and quietly entertain the millions of people who secretly know he’s awesome. And in the end, well, that’s a hugely endearing quality.
So please join me in doffing our flappy-eared hats and honoring Adam Baldwin with this month’s Nerd Man title. Now let’s go shoot some space guns! It’s what Jayne would want.
As with anything in life, low expectations are the key to happiness. Early on, I’d been looking forward to NBC’s “Chuck” because it seemed like a clever concept, and I’ll watch anything about nerds. (It’s in the nerd solidarity contract.) But recently, my anticipation had lessened because of the endless advertising and because I figured anything I could download for free off the internet couldn’t be that great. (Unless it’s pictures of kittens with funny sayings.) So last night, I tuned into “Chuck” with relatively low expectations, just hoping it would keep me mildly entertained. And that’s really not that big of a request, given that bits of string, colorful paper clips, flashlights and “Family Guy” have all managed to do the trick at one time or another.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when “Chuck” not only met but exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed the show. In case you missed it and the million and one commercials touting it, the premise involves a nerdy Best Buy-style worker drone who accidentally sees a whole bunch of government secrets that are now lodged in his brain. Various government agencies fight over him, including a pretty blonde spy on whom Chuck quickly develops a crush and Adam Baldwin on whom I quickly redevelop a crush. The premise lends itself to a lot of possibilities and the writing is solid, although the spy stuff feels like it’s written by people who don’t know anything about spy stuff but are hoping folks won’t notice. I’m okay with that because really, plot matters very little to me in a TV show. Just give me entertaining characters – and bits of string. Just kidding. The lead actor, Zachary Levi, who I’m just going to call Zach because I feel like we have that kind of bond, is appealing and funny and kind of reminds me of that guy from “Ed” – three things that will earn you raves in my book. I also enjoyed Chuck’s sidekick, Morgan, played by Joshua Gomez, and the ongoing joke of Chuck’s sister’s boyfriend who is known as Captain Awesome because he is A) awesome and B) he says awesome all the time. He was probably on-screen a total of 45 seconds, and I giggled every time.
And more than anything, it’s really nice to see Adam Baldwin on network television again. Not to spoil anything, but the thought of him in the Nerd Herd just cracks me up.
“Chuck” has earned my early devotion, and I’ll be tuning in several more times. I’m just keeping my expectations low. I’ve been burned with new TV show love before….
So, there's a new NBC show called "Chuck." There's a new movie called "Good Luck Chuck." There was a movie out this past summer that I ignored with all my might called "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." One of the female leads in the new Barry Sonnenfeld series, "Pushing Daisies," is named Chuck. Mike White did that "Chuck and Buck" movie.
What the hell does it all mean, and why is everyone named Chuck?
Is this like in middle school when every girl I knew was named Tiffany? Did everyone just realize the word rhymes with a lot of other words? Like buck and duck and Huck, and uh, other stuff. Is it the one-syllable thing that's selling it? Is it a conspiracy hatched by Chuck Schumer? Chuck Palahniuk? Chuck Berry? All of the above?
How will we tell them all apart? What's going to happen to those of us NOT named Chuck? Will we face a new wave of "upchuck and die" jokes? If so, will it be possible to have my ears removed...by a doctor not named Chuck? And really, how much would could a woodchuck chuck if it really applied itself?
For some reason, I've been feeling hopeful lately, like the way I used to feel as a kid before Christmas. I couldn't quite figure out what was provoking this sensation until last night when, bingo, it hit me like a rolled up copy of the TV Guide: there's a new television season approaching with actual scripted television shows, none of which are produced by VH1 or star Bret Michaels. Aside from the usual favorites like "30 Rock," "The Office" and "House" and those favorites that I have to wait until the next century to see like "Battlestar Galactica" and "Lost," I find myself intrigued by a couple of new shows including NBC's new action-comedy, "Chuck."
Now I figure this is either going to be a really fun, entertaining show that's going to my nerdy side a-twitter or...it's going to completely blow. The show centers around a geeky young man named Chuck who works for fictionalized version of the Geek Squad, proffering computer assistance to the technically inept. One day he accidentally sees a top-secret government video that becomes lodged in his big nerdy brain and suddenly he's wanted by a whole bunch of bad guys. The series centers on his efforts to stay alive and learn how to be a crafty spy while never losing his gooey geek center.
Here's a preview:
I figure I've got to give the show a try, despite the fact that it's made by the former producer of "The O.C." For one thing, it focuses on one of our archetypal nerd brethren. I gotta lend my support to that. I also have to watch because "Chuck" co-stars Adam Baldwin. Whether he's playing an alien supersoldier in "The X-Files", wearing his little orange hat as Jayne in "Firefly" or testing my patience in a TV movie version of "Poseidon Adventure," I will watch Adam Baldwin because I'm pretty sure I sold my TV viewing soul to him a few years back and the bastard never lets anyone out of a contract. "Chuck" also wins my attention simply for the fact that it's being marketed as an action-comedy. And boy oh boy, do I like action comedies.
So I'll be tuning in to "Chuck," which debuts at 9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24. If it makes me laugh and if they blow stuff up, I'll tune in again. I'm easy that way.
ETA: Here's a different link that shows the other "Lost" poster released so far. Looks like they'll add additional images as they're released.
