LCD
Unrequited love. It's a killer for sitcoms and I might have to leave the "Chuck" ship because of it.
"Caroline in the City" flogged that dead horse until the bones were powder. Richard went from b.s. assistant "straight" man at the beginning of the series to a very sad man who yearned for Caroline to the point of absurdity at the end of season 1 (his cast bio at the above link describes him as "angst-ridden"). I had to stop watching because the go-to shot became Caroline leaving her apartment/studio-thingy with her business-partner/ex-fiance/douchebag Dell on her arm while Richard stood and watched, usually in the dark, usually with a single invisible tear crawling down his cheek. This might work for thematic and dramatic purposes for perhaps a season, but this went on for years. It was agony: an uneven sitcom that imagined itself to be some great tragedy with sprawling moments of "comedic relief" and writing that became progressively worse.*2 Watching Richard pine away was entirely too familiar for me to consider entertainment, so I quit.*3
I like "Chuck". I like its humor, its concept, and the fact that it keeps Adam "My Bodyguard" Baldwin on television. The romantic and sexual tension between Chuck and his CIA handler Sarah was inevitable but has devolved (that's twice now I've used that word this week) into pained looks filled with longing and bad synth that grace every other episode. Didn't we resolve this at the end of last season? Kinda? Why are we back at square one? Did I miss an episode where Chuck's character was switched out for Richard, and if so how much longer are they going to be milking this? With the episode "Chuck vs. Suburbia" I think we've taken Chuck's execution by Adam "Firefly" Baldwin's character completely off the table (which, while an interesting way to frame the first and second seasons, was never a serious threat). It's time to challenge the writers by bringing Sarah and Chuck together and actually, y'know, dealing with it in their universe. Putting it off for too much longer threatens your creative credibility and is little more than the meaningless abuse of your characters.
You're a better show than that, "Chuck". At least I want you to be.
1) LCD = Lowest Common Denominator
2) Kinda like the Star Wars Prequels. "Revenge of the Sith" was basically "Caroline in the City: Season 5".
3) Reading over reviews of the series over on IMDB it seems I made the right decision. It took them four years (FOUR YEARS???) to get together, and once they started dating they fought all the time? A former flame from high school was brought in as a de facto alternate love interest and distraction for Caroline (because that formula worked so well in seasons 1-3, I guess). And apparently there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of season four (whatever shall Caroline do and why should we care at this point?) that was never resolved because the show was taken out behind a shed and shot.
Unrequited love. It's a killer for sitcoms and I might have to leave the "Chuck" ship because of it.
"Caroline in the City" flogged that dead horse until the bones were powder. Richard went from b.s. assistant "straight" man at the beginning of the series to a very sad man who yearned for Caroline to the point of absurdity at the end of season 1 (his cast bio at the above link describes him as "angst-ridden"). I had to stop watching because the go-to shot became Caroline leaving her apartment/studio-thingy with her business-partner/ex-fiance/douchebag Dell on her arm while Richard stood and watched, usually in the dark, usually with a single invisible tear crawling down his cheek. This might work for thematic and dramatic purposes for perhaps a season, but this went on for years. It was agony: an uneven sitcom that imagined itself to be some great tragedy with sprawling moments of "comedic relief" and writing that became progressively worse.*2 Watching Richard pine away was entirely too familiar for me to consider entertainment, so I quit.*3
I like "Chuck". I like its humor, its concept, and the fact that it keeps Adam "My Bodyguard" Baldwin on television. The romantic and sexual tension between Chuck and his CIA handler Sarah was inevitable but has devolved (that's twice now I've used that word this week) into pained looks filled with longing and bad synth that grace every other episode. Didn't we resolve this at the end of last season? Kinda? Why are we back at square one? Did I miss an episode where Chuck's character was switched out for Richard, and if so how much longer are they going to be milking this? With the episode "Chuck vs. Suburbia" I think we've taken Chuck's execution by Adam "Firefly" Baldwin's character completely off the table (which, while an interesting way to frame the first and second seasons, was never a serious threat). It's time to challenge the writers by bringing Sarah and Chuck together and actually, y'know, dealing with it in their universe. Putting it off for too much longer threatens your creative credibility and is little more than the meaningless abuse of your characters.
You're a better show than that, "Chuck". At least I want you to be.
1) LCD = Lowest Common Denominator
2) Kinda like the Star Wars Prequels. "Revenge of the Sith" was basically "Caroline in the City: Season 5".
3) Reading over reviews of the series over on IMDB it seems I made the right decision. It took them four years (FOUR YEARS???) to get together, and once they started dating they fought all the time? A former flame from high school was brought in as a de facto alternate love interest and distraction for Caroline (because that formula worked so well in seasons 1-3, I guess). And apparently there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of season four (whatever shall Caroline do and why should we care at this point?) that was never resolved because the show was taken out behind a shed and shot.