Zap2it Fall TV Preview 2007: Ones to Watch

Zachary Levi
"Chuck" (NBC)

Want to know a little secret? TV networks think that viewers at home want to watch shows about Average Joes, but conventional wisdom says you can't cast somebody who looks like an Average Joe, because nobody will watch. Zachary Levi, star of NBC's "Chuck," is a case in point. Playing a computer wonk at a Best Buy-style super-store, who somehow downloads an entire government intelligence database into his brain, Levi is supposed to be the amiable nerd, the implausible action hero, the Everyman-Only-Better. But Levi, who will only be recognizable to a handful of dedicated "Less than Perfect" fans (and maybe not even to them), doesn't look like an Everyman (breakout co-star Joshua Gomez fits that description far better). He looks like he could be a CW pretty face, only with one key difference -- with his wide smile, appropriately awkward physicality and crack comic timing, Levi is so likeable that you never for a second begrudge him for playing a misfit and resembling the cool kids. Although he's surrounded by a capable ensemble, "Chuck" is Levi's stage and its his untested charm that will carry the show.

-Daniel Fienberg