AudioShocker

As I noted yesterday, the season premiere of Chuck was last night and Kirsten and I were pretty amped about it. I actually saw a leaked copy last week, but Kirsten threatened to defenestrate me if I let slip any details. So, without any further delays, please enjoy our post-screening rundown presented in glorious AIMcast:

Kirsten: I just want to start out by saying that I was watching Chuck before it was cool.
Kirsten: I actually distinctly remember telling Neal to watch it and him saying that he didn’t think it was worthwhile
Neal: All hail Kirsten, the hipster of Chuck
Kirsten: Thank you
Kirsten: So
Kirsten: Premiere: awesome
Neal: I thought the premiere was suitably cute/dorky/funny
Kirsten: Yes
Neal: Also, do girls really put on their dresses all sexy like that?

Kirsten: Here’s what I was thinking
Kirsten: You know how a lot of guys were all over Alyson Hannigan in the early days of Buffy because she was the nerdgirl fantasy?
Kirsten: Like, both hot and nerdy, ergo, perfect for the viewer nerd?
Neal: Yeah.
Kirsten: Chuck is basically the male version of that for me
Kirsten: Like, were he real, I would so be in Chuck’s pants
Kirsten: Totally hot, also nerdy, also for some reason not covered in competition
Neal: Really? This dude has really weird shoulders — and he wears shirts with epaulets on them
Kirsten: No, so hot
Kirsten: He could use a haircut, but so could Jim Halpert, and it’s really not a problem on either of them
Kirsten: Even the work uniform has a certain something
Neal: I guess…
Neal: Baldwin’s character is frightfully close to being a joke. Like, an outright joke
Neal: Even though he has such great personality like in Firefly/Serenity
Kirsten: Yeah, but he’s so awesome
Kirsten: The shooting gallery scene?
Kirsten: Of course he stops on Reagan
Kirsten: And the end bit?
Kirsten: When he’s on the verge of dismissing this twinkie fiasco but then decides it’s worth seeing?
Kirsten: Adam Baldwin pulls it off better than most actors could, I think
Neal: Yes. The twinkie bit was good.
Neal: The shooting gallery was lame though.
Kirsten: No
Kirsten: Shooting gallery was awesome
Kirsten: Although, I watched it twice and wasn’t sure, did he miss Chuck?
Neal: Yes
Kirsten: Okay
Kirsten: Yeah, Casey totally loves Chuck
Kirsten: I liked how that was a continuation of the season finale’s dilemma
Kirsten: because he’s supposed to be this NSA machine, but he secretly likes Chuck
Kirsten: and he thinks of it as a weakness
Neal: Yes. I like how they basically set Chuck up for life as the intersect. And how the Fulcrum splinter cell fucked up the new one. And, Yvonne Strahovski is just fiery hot.
Neal: and Michael Clarke Duncan was a great choice for a guest star
Neal: Just absolutely great
Kirsten: Yeah
Kirsten: Michael Clarke Duncan is the new James Earl Jones
Kirsten: The voice alone
Neal: Yeah. Kind of.
Kirsten: The thing is
Kirsten: I don’t think Sarah’s that interesting
Kirsten: She’s hot, but not that different from pretty much everybody else on tv
Neal: Wait, hold on
Neal: She’s objectively good looking.
Kirsten: She was more interesting with that thing about bryce, but that’s seemed to have completely faded
Kirsten: She’s just kind of a token hot chick, I think
Kirsten: She doesn’t really have anything setting her apart
Neal: No!
Neal: See, that’s going to come back now
Neal: because Fulcrum blew up the new intersect
Neal: and now Bryce has to come back
Kirsten: Does he?
Neal: Yes.
Neal: Obviously
Kirsten: I kind of think he’s out of it
Kirsten: Well, we’ll see
Kirsten: I think, in a way, this premiere episode was typical of a lot of premieres, in that the main character thinks that they’re going to be free, but the viewing audience knows that the obstacle is the only reason to watch, so it’s fooling no one.
Kirsten: Like, we’re supposed to believe that Chuck really wants to not be the intersect, when it’s actually the best thing that’s ever happened to him
Neal: But it’s campy action television
Neal: You have to like it for that alone.
Kirsten: Oh, I do
Kirsten: I think Chuck is the unofficial heir to Veronica Mars, which was the official heir to Buffy
Neal: Oh Jesus
Neal: Veronica Mars was good for one season
Neal: Please let this not be Veronica Mars.
Kirsten: Shut up, I don’t want to hear it
Kirsten: The network killed Veronica Mars
Kirsten: All the suckitude was the result of network interference
Neal: Not Kristen Bell’s hardassity?
Kirsten: Kristen Bell is awesome
Kirsten: Admittedly, I don’t watch Heroes
Kirsten: but Forgetting Sarah Marshall? comedy silver, if not gold
Neal: Ugh.
Neal: She can be so insufferable
Neal: but I did like that movie
Kirsten: I’ve never noticed her insufferability
Neal: Watch Heroes.
Kirsten: No.
Neal: which incidentally I probably won’t be doing any longer
Neal: because after the initial two this season, I’m not that interested.
Kirsten: No, I have nothing to say about Heroes
Kirsten: I thought Morgan was a lot less irritating this ep
Kirsten: Morgan is a character who is annoying because he’s so realistic
Kirsten: rather than the opposite
Neal: Haha.
Neal: No, he’s not.
Neal: No one can be that cool and that much of a loser at once.
Kirsten: I kind of feel towards him like Chuck does, sort of a mix of genuine affection and pity
Kirsten: In what way is he cool?
Neal: Like, he’s the most awesome best friend you could have
Neal: So committed
Kirsten: He is committed
Kirsten: I want Morgan to have more of a life
Neal: He has a girlfriend.
Kirsten: Yeah
Kirsten: Anna is awesome
Kirsten: If she were more recognizable, she would totally be my Halloween costume
Kirsten: But I kind of want something to come out of Morgan’s past that Chuck-the-intersect has to deal with, something real to make him a bit more three dimensional
Neal: I don’t like Chuck’s sideburns at all
Kirsten: Oh, I do
Kirsten: Yes, indeed
Neal: How can you like HIS sideburns but not MY beard?
Kirsten: First of all
Kirsten: you don’t have Zachary Levi’s bone structure
Kirsten: Sorry
Kirsten: And second of all, sideburns are completely different from all other facial hair
Kirsten: And third of all, the maximum regular facial hair I’ll tolerate is two-day stubble
Neal: Why are you so mean?
Kirsten: Just honest
Kirsten: He has killer cheekbones
Kirsten: An adorable nose too
Neal: How about the Thunderdome thing?
Kirsten: Thunderdome?
Neal: Yeah, two men enter, one man leaves
Kirsten: Oh, that
Kirsten: Awesome
Kirsten: Loved it
Kirsten: Especially the way Anna was hanging on the cage
Kirsten: Nice little callback to the ep where Morgan was locked in the cage with the computers, too
Kirsten: You know what made me kind of sad?
Neal: ?
Kirsten: Chuck never called Captain Awesome “Captain Awesome”
Kirsten: He called him “Devon”
Kirsten: and he only said awesome once, right at the end
Kirsten: I also don’t really see Lester as the permanent assistant manager
Kirsten: I assume Chuck will reexpress his interest and replace him
Neal: What’s with the new intersect running on an old Mac Classic?
Kirsten: Oh, that’s geek stuff that I totally don’t know
Neal: Lester is a shitty character
Neal: but so is the drunk
Kirsten: I like him and Jeff together, but separate them and they’re irritating
Neal: This show will never generate any spinoffs, fortunately.
Kirsten: Well, let’s have a second, strike-free season before we start talking spinoffs
Neal: Spinoffs are so evil
Kirsten: Hey, Frasier was good
Neal: Haha. Yeah
Neal: They did order a full season
Neal: so that’s a pretty good sign.
Kirsten: Yes
Kirsten: Oh!
Kirsten: Did you notice that they used a Flight of the Conchords song?
Kirsten: In the soundtrack, like it was a regular song, not even highlighting it
Kirsten: It was awesome
Neal: Um . . . I don’t watch that show.
Kirsten: Oh, right
Kirsten: You stupid person
Kirsten: Anyway, it was Foux de Fa Fa, when they were introducing Sarah at the yogurt shop
Kirsten: I prefer Yogurt Shop Sarah to Wienerlicious Sarah
Kirsten: Her pigtails bothered me
Kirsten: because her hair is too thin to have pigtails that high
Kirsten: Have them lower or tease them to be bigger
Kirsten: It was weird
Neal: Pff, I love pigtails.
Neal: Did you notice Morgan uses hair gel this season?
Kirsten: His hair’s a lot shorter too
Neal: Morgan is like a shitty Seth Green.
Kirsten: Yeah, he is a little
Kirsten: Although, it’s hard to compare, because Seth Green has had a couple different incarnations, and the only thing I recognize Morgan from is one of the Bring It On movies, where he played a mascot
Kirsten: I think it was the second one
Kirsten: Bring It On Again
Neal: Haha
Neal: Haven’t seen it.
Neal: I’ve seen the first one numerous times.
Kirsten: I’ve seen all of them
Kirsten: Whenever ABCFamily has a Bring It On weekend
Kirsten: I’m powerless to resist
Neal: Okay. Answer my question about the dress
Kirsten: The dress?
Kirsten: Gratuitous underwear shot
Kirsten: Nobody does that
Kirsten: Sorry, man
Neal: *Sigh*. I knew it