Friday, September 14, 2007

TV - Chuck & Journeyman



2 Ass Monkey - Average


Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) is a socially awkward twenty-something who works as a computer expert at a "Geek Squad" inspired techbench at his local electronics retailer with his best friend, Morgan Santos (Joshua Gomez). Chuck's sister, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), is a doctor who is constantly looking out for his best interests and wants to help him find a girlfriend. On the night of his birthday party, Chuck receives an e-mail from his former Stanford University roommate, Bryce Larkin, who is now a CIA agent. When he opens it, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data, once only privy to the government of the United States, into his brain. Both the NSA and the CIA want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own, Major John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strzechowski), respectively, to retrieve the data. As Chuck experiences flashes of memory activated by certain subliminal triggers, he must use the knowledge he now possesses to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists, thereby upending his previously uneventful life. Chuck's decision to keep his newfound occupation a secret from his family and friends and to live his life as normally as possible forces Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs. Read more HERE.

Okay 1st thing, Yvonne Strzechowski is HOT!!!!!. Damn. She is reason enough to watch this show. The plot is pretty stupid, but once you get past that it's kinda fun. There is nothing new under the sun here.... I kind of expected more considering it was developed by "OC" creator Josh Schwartz. However it does have a great cast. Sarah Lancaster, who was in last years "What about Brian", is great as Chuck's sister and our buddy Adam Baldwin, who we've all missed since "Firefly", plays a CIA tough. I'll keep tuning in as this could turn out to be a really fun show, but the pilot kind of left me under-welled.

But remember Yvonne Strzechowski is HOT!!!!!

So hot I'm giving her her own 4 ass monkey.


Journeyman


4 Ass Monkey - Excellent


Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd) thought he had it all: a loving wife, a great son and a steady job. But life suddenly throws him a curve ball. Dan finds himself traveling into the past with a purpose — impacting people's lives for the better — and sometimes the worse. While doing so, Dan reconnects with Livia Beale (Moon Bloodgood), his ex-fiancĂ©e, whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash. Now armed with the knowledge of the present, will he be able to save her? What would that mean to his own future? And how would it change a man who thought he had it all. Read more HERE.

Okay now this is what I'm talking about. This is how you do a TV pilot. FUCK!!! There is noting like a good story that pulls you in right from the get go. I know a lot of folks are worried that this is "Quantum Leap" the next generation. Don't get me wrong the premisses are almost the same, but this is a great spin on the whole "man travels back in time" thing. The best part is that this show may even have BALLS. The one thing I hate about time travel stories is that everyone is always worried about fucking up their present timeline, I think this show may have the balls enough to break that stereotype. Another good as aspect to this show is there is no exposition. Dan Vasser doesn't know how or why he can go back in time, and neither do we, this makes the story that much more interesting.

Kevin McKidd is great as the lead. He has a whole Daniel Craig/James Bond vibe going on. He just throws himself into situations without thinking of the consequences. I have to say out off all the TV pilots I've seen over the last few years, nothing as grabbed me like this since "Alias". The sad part is we all know what happened to Alias. However I have high hopes and I'm looking forward to watching the mystery of the Journeyman unfold.

As always let me know what you think.

2 comments:

Sean Rourke said...

Hot.

Definite TIVO material.

Anonymous said...

I saw these guys too as well as "Life" and I have to say "Life" was my favorite of them all. (I also saw Bionic Woman at SDCC, so I'm not counting it here).

I've really been looking forward to CHUCK since seeing stuff about it at SDCC. Unfortunately I've seen SO MUCH stuff about it now there were very few surprises in the pilot. I'll give it a few more looks when it hits.

I didn't dislike Journeyman, but it didn't really jump to me yet either. The dialog was a little stilted, which is often the case with pilots since you have to establish all the characters. His wife really bugged me as did his cop brother to a lesser extent.
And i can't help it, every time I see the main dude I think, "wow is Anthony Michael Hall done with the Dead Zone?"
I'll give it another shot when it starts up.

But check out LIFE and tell me what you think of that.