I should have guessed that an “O.C.” alum would show up sooner or later….

In this week’s Ask Ausiello, someone posted a question about who Rachel Bilson will be playing on Chuck.  I didn’t even know she would be guest starring, but I’m not entirely surprised.  She will be playing a love interest who may not be as she seems.  Here’s hoping for a multi-episode arc that turns into a regular role! 

Chuck…..

Chuck!  no wait, that only deserves a period.  Chuck.  I thought the first segment up to the first commercial break was promising, but somewhere in the middle, I found myself thinking “Is this too dorky/hip for its own good?”  More on that in a minute.  Anyway, getting back to the show, Chuck (Zachary Levi) is a likeable guy who ends up becoming the only living person to have seen the images that translate into Government secrets.  His old roommate and frienemy, Bryce, emailed him these images right before he died.  Bryce is not an accountant as Chuck thought.  It turns out he is a CIA agent that has apparently gone rogue.  Meanwhile back in the real and boring world, Chuck is employed by Buy More and is part of the Nerd Herd  or is it Geek Squad (I can’t distinguish the tv world from reality anymore!) Chuck ends up helping this dad that comes in with his daughter.  It turns out that dad didnt know that digital video cameras required a tape, and because of this, he didnt record any of this daughter’s ballet recital!  mom is going to be pissed, but i wonder how pissed she can be if she didnt even go.  maybe i shouldn’t be too quick to judge though, because for all i know, she has some horrible sickness and is confined to bed rest!  so chuck uses store resources to “re-create” the recital which seemed to appeal to sarah, aka CIA agent, who is trying to get those government secrets inside chuck’s head.  Sarah does her best to appear interested (romantically) in Chuck, but the jig is up not too far into their first date.  I should also mention John (the NSA agent) who is directed to also find Chuck.  Apparently, the NSA and CIA hate each other and can have each other killed.  What?  That makes no sense.  Basically, after some action scenes, a car chase, a car wreck, Chuck ends up saving the General from being assassinated by defusing a bomb with a computer virus that has something to do with porn. 

Back to Chuck being too dorky/hip for its own good….Chuck had enormous appeal to me because he was an everyday sort of guy.  Gregorb described him as a more masculine (and not whiny) Seth Cohen, which should invariably lead to an awesome (not a nod to Captain Awesome because I thought that was Captain Lame) show.  Instead, I felt like something was missing.  I just think the formula could get old.  CIA agent pretending to be an average citizen.  NSA guy who now works at Buy More to keep tabs on Chuck.  Each week something insane happens and Chuck saves the day.  In episode two, instead of defusing a bomb, he safely lands a helicopter by drawing on his experiences with flight simulator games.  We’ll see if I tune in for episode 3.