NBC's New Shows for the 2007-08 Season

Chuck

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 24
Airs: Mondays at 8 p.m.

The Pitch: Seth Cohen meets James Bond, by way of "Jake 2.0."

Big-box store tech-support guy Chuck (Zachary Levi) -- the kind of guy who quotes Tim Burton's "Batman" as second nature -- unwittingly becomes the repository of a huge spy database after receiving an e-mail from a former classmate/rogue CIA agent. The government sends another agent (Yvonne Strahovski) to hunt him down, but she ends up taking a liking to the guy.

What They Got Right: "Chuck" has a great mix of action-movie elements, courtesy of director/executive producer McG, and pop culture-savvy humor, thanks to writers Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz ("The O.C."), that make it a very fun hour of television. Levi and Strahovski have nice chemistry, Joshua Gomez provides extra comic relief as Chuck's co-worker and best friend, and Adam Baldwin is appropriately menacing as yet another government operative keeping an eye on our hero.

What's Oh, So Wrong: Sustainability might be an issue here. How much mileage can Schwartz and Co. wring from Chuck's fish-out-of-water tale? Sarah Lancaster, playing Chuck's sister, also needs more to do.

Recommended If ...: You watched "The O.C." and thought, "This is cool, but I'd really like to see Seth become a spy."

'Chuck' Photo Gallery

'Chuck' Video Clip: 1

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