James Sims - Sofa Snark: Hey NBC, What the Chuck?

James Sims grew up in a working Hollywood family, so his interests were always rooted in entertainment. After working as a TV reporter in the U.S. Air Force (don't ask) he landed a gig with "Entertainment Tonight." Later, he started working as a features writer for the Hollywood Reporter. Next up was his current position as a senior editor for BroadwayWorld.com and a contributing blogger to TheWrap.com. Now that he's finished a Master's in journalism from Columbia University, James has launched an entertainment blog to keep a watchful eye on Hollywood at large.

Make sure to visit http://www.simsscoop.com/blog/ for more Hollywood snark.

If television uber fans have taught networks anything, it’s that they are unwilling to let ratings dictate when a show gets nixed. The CBS series “Jericho” was dying a slow death in 2007 at the hand of Nielsen ratings, but an online movement resurrected the doomsday-scenario drama. Fans shipped bags of peanuts to network executives, an homage to a reference from the series. Such wild behavior actually got “Jericho” back on the air, if only for a short while. It was quickly canceled, once again. Executives must learn from this mistake. Toss a geek a bone and they will beg for scraps every time a show’s fate looks grim.

Case in point is NBC’s hit-or-miss action comedy “Chuck,” starring Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski. When the series debuted in 2007, it attracted more than 9.2 million viewers. It saw a drop of more than a million for the rest of the season, but was pulling in a respectable weekly score, averaging more than 7 million. However, as the second season came, viewers started to jump ship. This season’s opener only had 6.6 million viewers.

So, nerds have started to unite. Chucktv.net is running a letter writing campaign in hopes of squeezing a third season out of the network. The movement urges fans to write letters to Ben Silverman and Angela Bromstad, NBC power players. The site provides an entire list of guidelines fans should follow when writing these pleas for a stay of execution. No complaining about story lines. No threats. And no form letters.

“Chuck” creator Josh Schwartz recently told E! News that he’s a dreamer just like his fan base. He claims to be “optimistic” that a third season is in the cards, yet admits it’s in “the single most competitive time period on TV.”

NBC recently gave a valiant effort in hopes of boosting “Chuck’s” ratings. The network aired a special 3-D episode the day after Super Bowl Sunday. Sci-fi fans appeared to appreciate the move, and thanks to a heavy promotional push, the episode drew a record number of viewers for the season, 8.35 million. But, the stunt didn’t equal retention. More than 1.8 million viewers failed to return the following week.

Now it appears NBC has ditched the experimental route and has resorted to stunt casting. This week featured guest spots from Chevy Chase and Scott Bakula. Promos leading up to Monday’s episode played with nostalgia having Bakula make reference to his NBC days on “Quantum Leap.” Both actors are set to appear in the next few episodes. But neither of them have proven ratings gold since their respective heydays. Star Trek’s failed series “Enterprise” anyone?

While risks must be taken in order to cultivate quality programming, “Chuck” has had its chance. With Jay Leno’s soon to be prime-time show killing an entire hour of programming for NBC, scheduling is more important than ever. Don’t let another bag of peanuts waste precious resources.

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