Chuck is an action-comedy television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an “average computer-whiz-next-door” who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working in the CIA;
The message embeds the only remaining copy of the world’s greatest spy secrets into Chuck’s brain. Produced by College Hill Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision and Warner Bros.
Plot: When a twenty-something computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, his former college friend turned CIA recruits him as a secret agent, all while keeping him out of evil hands.
Casting
Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin were the first two to be cast in February 2007 in the roles of Chuck Bartowski and veteran NSA agent Major John Casey, respectively. Fedak always had Baldwin in mind for the role of John Casey and the producers found that the actor was a “perfect fit” for the character during the first casting session. Relative newcomer Yvonne Strahovski, an Australian, was chosen for the female lead role of CIA officer Sarah Walker in the same month. Casting continued throughout March with Sarah Lancaster, Joshua Gomez, and Natalie Martinez landing the parts of Dr. Ellie Bartowski (Chuck’s older sister), Morgan Pace (Chuck’s best friend), and Kayla Hart (Chuck’s neighbor and love interest), respectively. The Kayla Hart character was dropped before filming because creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz found it unlikely and too complicated to the storyline that two women would be pining over Chuck. Morgan’s surname was later changed to “Grimes” and Sarah’s surname was changed to “Walker” as it was previously “Kent”.
Awards
Season 1 of Chuck enjoyed much formal recognition. The program was mentioned multiple times in IGN’s 2007 year-in-review awards. Along with winning the honor of Best New TV Series, Sarah Walker won the award for best TV character, and Chuck and Sarah as a couple won the “Couple That We Rooted for the Most” award. Chuck was also nominated for “Best New TV Comedy Series” at the 2008 People’s Choice Awards, which aired on January 8, 2008, but lost to Samantha Who? The series stunt coordinator Merritt Yohnka won 2007 Primetime Emmy for “Outstanding Stunt Coordination”. Chuck was also nominated for “Outstanding Main Title Design” that year, but didn’t win.
