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(Photo: Sergei Bachlakov/courtesy of The CW (left); Greg Gayne/courtesy of NBC (right)) |
| Chuck NBC; premieres September 24 (8 p.m.). |
Reaper
The CW; premieres September 25 (9 p.m.). |
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| Our Nerd Hero | Chuck (Zachary Levi), a twentysomething IT guy who lives with his sister and toils as part of the computer “Nerd Herd” at a Best Buy–style megastore. | Sam (Bret Harrison), a 21-year-old college dropout (school made him “sleepy”) who lives with his parents and works as a salesman at a Home Depot–style megastore. |
| His Supernatural Transformation | Chuck receives an e-mail from his old college roommate, who, it turns out, is now a rogue government agent. When Chuck opens the missive, it transmits all of his roomie’s government secrets into his brain. Oh, computers! | Sam’s parents sold his soul to the devil when he was born. Now he has to help the devil recapture escaped souls. Oh, Satan! |
| The Slacker Sidekick | Chuck’s friend and co-worker Morgan Grimes. Think Boner from Growing Pains, but shorter. | Sam’s best friend and co-worker, Bert “Sock” Wysocki. Think Kevin Smith, but younger. Which brings us to… |
| The Boldface Backer | Josh Schwartz is a producer and creator—so expect lots of his trademark geek-hipster style (e.g., close-ups of Chuck’s Converse shoes). | Kevin Smith is a consulting producer, and he directed the pilot episode—so expect lots of his trademark stoner-boy banter (e.g., “My parents sold my soul to the devil.” “You lucky bastard. Nothing cool like that ever happens to me, man”). |
| Geek-Appeal Prognosis | High. The whole “video-game nerd turns secret agent” premise will seduce kids who dream of turning Halo skills into real-world cool. Plus Levi’s a dead ringer for Adam Brody, a.k.a. Seth Cohen, The O.C.’s geek extraordinaire. | Questionable. The demon battles and dime-store F/X might draw a sci-fi crowd. But Sam’s more slacker than loser. Nerds aren’t cool, but they aren’t underachievers, either. |
