Adam Baldwin

BLOG Chuck Vs The Network Programmers

Blogger Narin Bahar witnessed Zach "Chuck" Levi make sandwiches for fans at last week’s T1 convention. She spoke to him and co-star Adam "Casey" Baldwin about the rumours surrounding Chuck’s future:

The rumours of Chuck’s cancellation have been getting more and more frenzied in the last few weeks. From whispers that the show might move from NBC to the smaller CW network to a conspiracy theory that Monday’s US-aired finale was the last episode brought about apparently by a web editor’s slip between typing "season" and "series" finale, the outcry at the possibility that we may not see another season of geekdom’s favourite unwilling spy is gathering pace.

While NBC execs remain silent on the fate of the intersect, they are pretty much the only people keeping shtum, with fans of the show running several foodstuff-related grassroots campaigns to get the show renewed (Jericho and their nuts have much to answer for), and the cast themselves joining in to support the fans who are, erm, supporting them.

Taking some time between sessions at the world’s first Chuck convention, Starfury T1 in Birmingham at the weekend, Zach Levi (Chuck himself) and Adam Baldwin (Major Casey) exclusively explained to SFX exactly where the show stands in terms of renewal and why and how they’re throwing their weight behind the fan campaigns.

And then Zach Levi put his money where his mouth was, rolling up his sleeves to make 180 Subway sandwiches for the cause, having led a flashmob of Chuck fans into a Birmingham NEC sandwich shop. Yep, all in all it was a slightly surreal weekend.

Adam Baldwin - a veteran of being part of much-loved sci-fi shows cancelled before their time thanks to his role as Jayne on Firefly - said he remained positive about the possibilities for a Chuck season three. He told us: "I didn’t get wind of the save Firefly campaign until after I knew there was no chance it could come back. We knew it was dead at that point. Chuck is nowhere near that position. I’m cautiously optimistic, but obviously it’s not my call. But I think we’re on the good side of the bubble which is a good place to be."

Scotching those CW rumours, Levi said: "I don’t think it’s gotten as far as that yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Josh Schwartz or Chris Vedak or any of the people involved in those kind of decisions or who would ultimately be the ones to try and make that happen have had off the record conversations with the people who might be involved there. But situations like that rarely happen, we’ve seen two in recent history - and that’s two more than in the last 20 years before that that I know of. Scrubs, a successful show has gone to ABC but that was after quite some time on NBC and Buffy, obviously, made its transition but obviously that was after quite some time of being on the air.

"For a show like ours, which has done one and a half seasons - the first season was a halfie - to start its third season on a new network, stuff like that really doesn’t happen very often. I don’t know if the solution is bringing it to another network where the numbers are statistically a quarter of what we would get on a network like NBC. Big numbers for the CW are a million and a half viewers whereas on NBC you’re getting 7 million viewers."

Adam Baldwin added: "We love NBC. They have treated us very well, they have put a lot of faith and effort and money into our show and they really believe in it, and I think we just need to hold our own and maybe improve a little bit and I think we’ll be okay. But it’s a strange business in a transitional period so it’s hard to tell."

Speaking of the fan campaigns to keep the show going - including one encouraging viewers to buy a Subway sandwich to eat while watching the finale - Levi was adamant it was important the cast joined in with the fans.

"I feel like Chuck has become such a personal thing for me and for a lot of us on the show and it makes it more personal every time you meet even one more fan who the show means that much to.

"That people even take the time to start grassroots campaigns means I feel like it would be irresponsible not to do my part alongside them if that’s how much they care about what we do. There are reasons beyond that - it’s nice to be employed! - but more than that I think it’s a responsibility to fight the good fight and fight for your fans because your fans are the only thing that keep you employed anyway."

Adam Baldwin added: "Keep spreading the word of mouth and goodwill and hopefully folks will keep us going."

NBC will announce the shows they are renewing by mid-May.