Media Maven Musings

With Veronica Mars off the air, my one CW slot was wide open for the taking– and after watching last night’s series premiere of Chuck, I think we’ve got a winner. Oh, wait. Did I say Chuck? I meant to say Reaper, but gosh darn it, those two shows might as well be brothers because they are so damn similar. Both are good, but very similar. Here’s how:

1. Lead character — Underachieving nerd/nice guy in the Seth Cohen model. Has a best friend that cracks a lot of silly jokes and provides much of the comic relief, and a love interest whose past baggage renders her romantically unavailable, at least for the time being. He works at a large retail store (Chuck at “Buy More”, a Best Buy knock-off, Sam of Reaper at “The Work Bench,” a Home Depot-esque establishment).

2. Conflict — Forced into a new, more exciting life by circumstances beyond their control, both Chuck and Sam are singularly responsible for protecting others in a way that no one else can. For Chuck, he must use the supercomputer knowledge that his been thrust upon him to save lives. On the other hand, Sam must use certain “vessels” of the Devil (last night it was a Dirt Devil dustbuster), as well as devil induced super-powers (sort of like telekinesis) to capture escaped souls and send them back to Hell.

3. Tone — Both have a jokey, hipster tone that is occasionally tempered by moments of true emotion and interesting character relationships.

There are, however, a few instances where Repear sticks out.

1. Reaper is written by 2 chicks. Awesome.

2. Whereas Chuck pretty much has to go it alone, with the C.I.A. chick and the N.S.A. dude yelling at him from both sides, Sam has the help of his two best buddies, Sock (who is equally parts hilarious and so frickin irritating) and some dude I recognize from a sports movie (maybe Hardball with Keanu?), who had like 3 lines this episode, but did get his eyebrows burned off in a crazy show down with a demon arsonist.

3. The big zinger Reaper has that Chuck doesn’t is The Devil. Ray Wise (a.k.a. Logan’s Vice President from 24) is perfectly cast as Satan, Sam’s boss. He’s smooth and charming, winning you over with his jovial manner and dapper appearance, but as soon as you show a hint of disobedience, the horns come out and he can be one scary dude. Whereas Chuck is forced to help out because his buddy Bryce sent him an e-mail containing all the U.S. secret files, Sam must help the Devil for his entire life because his parents sold his soul before he was even born. Pretty ridiculous situation, as Sam himself noted in last night’s episode.

I also found Sam to be a bit more realistic than Chuck. Chuck is intelligent, good at what he does, has his own place; he’s geeky, but in a way that’s associated with being hip and cool these days. Sam is actually a loser. He has no skills, he’s a college dropout who lives with his parents, he’s bad at his job, but we still like him. I think Sam’s flaws are real flaws, whereas Chuck’s are sort of “tv-constructed” flaws, and as we saw already in the pilot, Chuck really isn’t a nerd. He plays video games and works in electronics, but he’s not awkward and is in fact quite charming. Sam is definitely awkward, definitely not charming, but for some reason, he’s immediately likeable. I think he is a character that a lot of people will be able to relate to, which will hopefully help audiences hook into the program.

My one big worry for the show is that I don’t see how it can be serialized at all. With Chuck, we could see how he’s going to have to deal with small crises each week, but there was always a broader narrative arc we could see extended across the whole season. Aside from working out his feelings for Andi (played by ex-Heroes star Missy Peregrym a.k.a. Candace), I can’t see what the serialzed aspect of Reaper will be. It’s obvious that each week will feature Sam, Sock, and Ben tackling some new hellish baddie, but what else? Is there going to be more to the show than that?

All in all, this was a very good pilot. It was directed by Kevin Smith, which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not you’ve ever seen Jersey Girl (I have, and I’ve lost all respect for Smith ever since). Big name director aside, the real star here is Bret Harrison as Sam. Within 10 minutes of meeting him, you’re 100% rooting for Sam. He’s a down-to-earth, affable guy who is easy to relate to, and you just can’t help but feel bad for the raw deal his parents left him. The action was pretty cool (can’t go wrong with telekinesis), there was plenty of funny dialogue (mostly from Sock), and all the characters are vivid and interesting. I’m definitely excited to see where this show can go, and will most definitely be tuning in next week. Unless you’re one of the gajillion people who watch House, there’s nothing else of interest on Tuesday’s at 9, so help give this show a fighting chance!

Episode: B+ (maybe it’d be higher if my “nerd who gets dressed while “Mixed Business” by Beck plays in background” quota hadn’t already been filled by Chuck)

Series outlook: Very Promising, (especially for a network whose shows continually get bad ratings anyways)

Did you see it? Thoughts? Hit me up!