It was a tough for Chuck at first, dealing with the two agents assigned to protect him, going along on dangerous missions while still maintaining his “secret” identity at home. This year, it’s all going to change. This year, it’s no more Mr. Nice Spy, as Chuck learns that he can actually act upon the info in his brain, turning him into one dangerous weapon. Now, if only he can get rid of those pesky, emotions – then he’d become the US’s number one spy.

Ready for a new season of Chuck? Start by reliving last season with the Chuck marathon on Syfy.

The 8-Hour marathon begins on Thursday, January 7 and runs from 5PM-1AM (ET/PT). It’s all to hail the new season of Chuck, which begins with a two-hour premiere Sunday, January 10, at 9PM on NBC.

The “Chuck” marathon on Syfy includes episodes featuring a wide range of guest stars, including Michael Clarke Duncan (“The Green Mile”); John Larroquette (“Boston Legal”); Melinda Clarke (“The O.C.”); Tony Hale (“Arrested Development”); Chevy Chase (“Community”); Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap”); Morgan Fairchild (“Falcon Crest”); Bruce Boxleitner (“Babylon 5”) and former New York Giants star Michael Strahan.

So the Syfy tie-in is tenuous – but it’s still a fun show with a great mix of action, comedy and drama.

Pictured: Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker, Zach Levi as Chuck Bartowski — NBC Photo: Greg Gayne

Chuck Marathon Schedule, Thursday, January 7

5PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE FIRST DATE” (Season Two Premiere)
6PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE SEDUCTION”
7PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE BREAK-UP”
8PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE SANTA CLAUS”.
9PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE PREDATOR”
10PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE DREAM JOB”
11PM “CHUCK VERSUS THE COLONEL”
12AM “CHUCK VERSUS THE RING” (Season Two Finale)

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Heroes:

Full panel at NBC

Some great photos: Starbright31 on Flickr.

Chuck

Full panel at NBC

MajorTripps69 has some nice photos from the panel and the signing.

Lost

Toastie14 has the Lost panel in several parts on YouTube.

Downbeat has photos of the Lost prop display.

Chuck cast at Comic Con photo: Newscom

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It all started because of a pretty blatant product placement scene in the series a few weeks ago and now fans have claimed the $5 Footlong as their SOS item of choice. It’s actually a really smart move, as it hits home for advertisers – the people who really decide if a show stays on the air or not. (Those ad dollars are important) This also cuts out the cry of “what a waste” that is often heard when fans bombard a studio with items that can’t be used up (nuts).

So go to Subway tonight in support of Chuck. The cast and crew will thank you, Subway will thank you and the mailroom guy at Warner Brothers will love you more than you can imagine.

Click the cut to watch a view of Chuck star Zachary Levi leading a huge group of fans to a Subway in the UK.
(Pictured: Joshua Gomez as Morgan Grimes, Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski — NBC Photo: Chris Haston )

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Helfer will play a secret agent who comes between Chuck and his handler Sarah. Seems the government bigwigs don’t think Sarah can do a good job because she’s fallen in love with Chuck. Helfer plays Alex Forrest, an agent that doesn’t let her emotions get in the way and – oh, the heck with it. Did I mention Helfer’s character goes undercover at a bachelor party?

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According to Variety, Warner Bros. has sold airing rights to to Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 for three of their newest series, Moonlight, Chuck, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

This is great news for all three of the shows but is especially significant in the case of Sarah Connor.  Currently, the show only has nine episodes completed and is sitting on the renewal fence for next year.  There’s be no official wrod in regard to the show’s future, but it’s hard to imagine Warner Bros selling the rights to a show with so few episodes if they didn’t expect to have more in the coming year.

The anticipated debut dates are June 2008 for Moonlight, Fall 2008 for Chuck, and 2009 for The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

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Here are the highlights:

Buffy Reunion.

Thursday, March 20 at 7.00 pm.

Currently scheduled to attend:

Amber Benson, “Tara Maclay”
Nicholas Brendon, “Xander Harris”
Emma Caulfield, “Anya”
Eliza Dushku, “Faith”
Seth Green, “Oz”
James Marsters, “Spike”
Michelle Trachtenberg, “Dawn Summers”
Joss Whedon, Creator

ETA: As of 2/5 – Sarah Michelle Gellar was added to list of confirmed panelists.

Pushing Daisies

Saturday, March 15 at 7:00 pm

In Person:

Kristin Chenoweth, “Olive Snook”
Bruce Cohen, Exec. Prod.
Bryan Fuller, Creator/Exec. Prod.
Dan Jinks, Exec. Prod.

Swoosie Kurtz, “Lily Charles”
Peter Ocko, Coexec. Prod.
Lee Pace, “Ned”
Barry Sonnenfeld, Exec. Prod.

Additional panelists to be announced.

Chuck

Saturday, March 18 at 7:00 pm

In Person:

Adam Baldwin, “John Casey”
Chris Fedak, Cocreator/Exec. Prod.
Joshua Gomez, “Morgan Grimes”
Scott Krinsky, “Jeff”
Sarah Lancaster, “Ellie Bartowski”
Mark Christopher Lawrence, “Big Mike”
Zachary Levi, “Chuck Bartowski”

Julie Ling, “Anna”
McG, Exec. Prod.
Ryan McPartlin, “Captain Awesome”
Vik Sahay, “Lester”
Josh Schwartz, Cocreator/Exec. Prod.
Yvonne Strahovski, “Sarah Walker

Purchase tickets beginning at 9:00 am PT February 7 for Members and February 10 for general public.
Tickets are available online at TicketWeb.com and by phone at 866.468.3399.

For the full line-up, visit The Paley Center website.

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What was the last video game you played?

Zach: Rock Band for Xbox. That way I can get all my friends playing so I don’t feel like I’m alone. It’s like Karaoke on steroids.

Joel: The last video game I played was Assassin’s Creed. I got about an hour into it and went eh, this isn’t my favorite game, so I gave up on it. I’m going to back to a game I left off in New Zealand (where he’s been filming Avatar) called Bioshock for Xbox 360 and it’s phenomenal, a wonderful game and it still lies in New Zealand waiting for me to beat it. I’m going to go back there and kick the shit out of it.

You have $200 to spend a Best Buy. What are you going to buy?

Zach: I going straight for the video game section, but since I already own everything I want, I’d probably buy movies on DVD.

Joel: I’d get every single movie I’ve ever made because screw other people, I’m really happy with my own work so I want to own my movies. I’m going to lay them around my living room on the floor and I’m going to stand on top of my couch like my own proverbial soapbox and judge all others around me.

Captain Kirk Vs. Captain Jack Sparrow?

Zach: Kirk always. 10 out of 10.

Joel: In a cage match, no weapons of any sort, then Captain Kirk, because that guy can fight with his hands better than most of us. He did a lot of hand-to-hand combat. But if they met in a bar, Captain Jack Sparrow would win because he would try to find any blunt object to fight with to get out of the situation as soon as he could. (At which point he begins to ponder the possibilities of turning this into a short but funny video. “In this corner. . . “)

What item have you kept since you were a kid?

Zach: A dresser that belonged to my dad. I’ve held on to that all these years and I plan to hand it to my kid one day.

Joel: I had a Raggedy Andy blanket that I have had since I was in the crib. It literally stayed on the end of my bed through high school and college; it’s somewhere here in LA I’m sure. I actually remember asking my mom where it came from and I think my grandmother made it for me. So I’m going to go put that at the end of my bed after this conversation. (At which point he ponders the idea of bringing his blanket on every movie set from now on. It could be my trademark. I could work under it. My blankie, like the dude on Charlie Brown.)

Zach, tell me something people need to know about Joel.

Zach: He has no concept of time. He has this seven-minute rule. He thinks he can get anywhere in seven minutes. Burbank to Santa Monica in 7 minutes. I’ve learned never to travel with him. We live down the street from each other so it would be convenient to carpool, but I know I’ll be late.

Joel, tell me something people need to know about Zach.

Joel: I have a fun answer and serious answer. This movie is a perfect example of what people need to know about Zach, this is a wonderful character piece and something we wrote for him that can sort of be a catalyst to what I believe he’ll be doing in the future – this kind of drama, acting that’s not always comedy.

On the other side of it, he loves to play hours and hours of video games even when we all need to go and get something to eat and we can’t get him out the door. Sometimes I literally have to drag him out and away from his video games.

And on a more serious note:

What does the future hold for you?

Zach: It’s all about character to me. It’s about entertaining people. If I make them laugh or cry, I want to do it all. I’ll do any role people will trust me with. I also see myself writing, directing, producing. I want to do it all.

Joel: What’s nice about this industry is that I don’t have to choose; I can continue to act and direct. I can write while I’m doing a project. I’ve been shooting a movie all this year and my partner, Jeremy and I are now writing a comedy. So it’s something Zach and I could go and I could direct, if that’s the way it goes.

I definitely will be directing in the future and I will of course, continue to get better unless I get worse. . . . I’ll get a bigger head and get jaded about it and be like, ‘look if you can’t do this get off my set!’

What do you want people to know about Spiral

Zach: We’re three guys that never made a movie before. We worked really hard and we’re proud of it. It’s the real deal and I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they see it.

Joel: The biggest thing we want people to know is that it comes out in a limited theatrical release February 8 then we turn it right around and go into a DVD release on February 19. So check their local listings and if you’re in a city it’s playing in watch this movie in the theater. It’s cinematic and that’s one of the things we’re most proud of.

Spiral opens in select theaters on February 8 and on DVD every place on February 18.  In the meantime, read my interview with the boys over at Film Gecko, then check out the MySpace and Official Spiral Website.

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By Cynthia Boris

In the last frame of the final issue of Supernatural Origins, John Winchester realizes that he is surrounded by darkness and to survive he must find the light. That “light” is the face of 4-year-old Dean waiting for him in the front window. It’s baby Sam, who gurgles and laughs for the price of a tickle. It’s John’s boys, their innocence, which will see him through. And thus the series ends. . . except that it’s really more of a beginning.

This week, I chatted with Supernatural Co-Executive Producer and author of the Supernatural comics, Peter Johnson. We talked about the upcoming Supernatural six-issue comic series, the changes you’ll find in Origins: The Director’s Cut, and about Chuck.

Yes, Chuck.

In addition to his work with Supernatural, Peter is Co-Executive Producer of the NBC comedy/spy series, which he labels as ” breezy, quirky and funny.” NBC recently picked up the “back nine”, which means that Chuck, Sarah and the rest of the Nerd Herd will be around for a full season. With that in mind, Peter hints that there may be comics in Chuck’s future… and that’s information so secret, you won’t even find it in The Intersect!

Right now, however, Peter is spending his time working on the new series of Supernatural comics tentatively titled, Supernatural Revelations.

“The first one was clearly John’s awakening as a hunter, now the second series explores the triangle of the family — of John and the boys.”

In the new series, Sam and Dean will be 7 and 11 respectively. Unlike the first comic series where the boys were left behind, Sam and Dean will be active characters. But active doesn’t mean that all three Winchester’s will be going into battle together. It’s more a time of discovery as the boys begin to understand the truth about John and their own family history.

“Dean in particular will probably be a little more active in this series. We’ll explore his first hunt and how that shapes up. The training of Dean and the issues that will cause as John is treating the two boys differently, why he’s doing that, and what effect this has on Sam.”

It’s all about taking the real issues of everyday life and parenting, and ramping them up ‘Winchester style’.

“Eric [Kripke] and I have always wondered what that was like for John, juggling the demands of his job while trying to be a single father, which is fraught with fun issues, emotional issues and lots of dark comedy. For example, we’re thinking about a story that will have the Winchesters temporarily trying to live a normal, suburban life, which is just disastrous. John is late for the school play because he’s off chasing down something evil, then he arrives at the school with blood and guts all over him. It’s a heightened metaphor for the demands of a single parent raising two boys.”

Another issue the comics will deal with is the potential influence of a maternal figure in the boys’ lives.

“In the first issue, we have John happening upon a town that is curiously populated with a lot of young women. We’ll find out the supernatural reason for it, but we’ll also use that story for exploring the potential influence of maternal figures for the boys as John’s trying to protect them. Where we can, we want to tie in some of the evil forces they come up against with the family metaphor.”

And speaking of mother figures, the mystery of Mary will deepen as John digs a little further into the life of the woman he loved.

“He’s going to want to know more about Mary herself. Why Mary? Is there a key in her past that could help him understand why she died? That’s the drive going into this thing, and it will take a crazy twisted turn toward something more sinister.”

With Supernatural Revelations in the planning stages, Peter is also putting the finishing touches on what he calls “Supernatural Origins: The Director’s Cut“.

As some of you may recall, Peter caused quite a stir when he joined me for a question and answer session back in June. He was bombarded with comments from fans who were unhappy about the comics’ inconsistencies and breaks in Supernatural canon (those facts that come straight from episodes of the TV show). The biggest complaint was the story behind the Impala. In the comic, John claims the car after he unwittingly gets Mary’s uncle killed on a hunt. To this fans cried foul! They claimed that John has always had the Impala, and that it can be clearly seen at the end of the pilot teaser. The fans say that the car was the only consistency the boys had after the fire, their home on wheels, and which explains Dean’s deep attachment to the vehicle.

Peter has thought long and hard about everyone had to say and his response is this:

“I can confirm we’re going to restore the Impala to the beginning of the [comic] series. We’ll redraw the required panels – and the continuity things, everything will be correct and that much better.”

This “corrected” version of Supernatural Origins will be released as a trade paperback in April 2008.

One other bone of contention fans had with the original series was the style of the artwork. The work was made of broad, blocky images with little detail. The faces of the characters showed no expression, with their eyes drawn as hollow sockets and shadows masking their profiles. It was a stylistic choice, but one that didn’t fit with the highly emotional nature of the show.

“We made a stylistic choice on the first go-round and this time we’re going to try something a little different.”

While Peter is still looking for something edgy and extreme, he’s also looking for more details in the art. And more details include more facial expressions from the characters: animperative given the new storylines. If we’re going to be shown Sam’s hurt reaction from seeing his Dad giving Dean all the praise and attention, then we’ll need eyeballs in those hollow sockets!

“We want to do a family drama, so that again is the reason for going in a new direction. Sam and Dean need a lot of expressions,” says Peter but don’t read that to mean it’s going to be a monthly soap opera. He says to watch out for, “scattered body parts and gore and maybe some sex. We want to do things that only the comic can do that we can’t get away with on the show.”

And the way he says “scattered body parts and gore”. . . so much glee. . .

With work on the first issue of this new arc just starting, Peter is cautious about predicting where the series might go.

“We’re looking at this as the second of an initial trilogy that explores the Winchesters’ back story. The third part of the arc would be anchored in the kids that much older. Maybe even ending at the day before the beginning of the pilot, before Dean goes to get Sam. I’ve also been thinking about ways to bounce between different time periods. We could have a story that would anchor the arc of the first story, maybe the time period is literally the night before Dean goes to Sam, but then bounce around to explore through different periods of their life that resonate with the story.”

With twenty-two years to explore between the pilot’s teaser and where the pilot truly begins, there’s more than enough story fodder to keep Peter writing for a good long while.

“It was John’s story in the first one, the family story in the second one and more Sam and Dean in the third one bringing it closer to the series.”

Hey, all you have to say to me is “more Sam and Dean Winchester” and I’m all over it.

Look for Supernatural Origins: The Director’s Cut in early April and Supernatural Revelations later that month.

Supernatural airs on The CW, Thursdays at 9:00 and Chuck is on NBC, Mondays at 8:00.

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Chuck and Moonlight have been nominated in the comedy and drama categories respectively, and I want you to go there right now and cast your vote! Both of these shows have totally captivated me this season and I can’t wait to see where they take me.

Chuck is a quirky, comedy spy series about a computer nerd who becomes a spy by accident. Moonlight is a cool, noir-style private detective show whose lead happens to be a vampire! Both leads have charm and charisma in two entirely different ways but they’re both long on action with a side of romance.

Watch Chuck, Monday’s at 8:00 on NBC and Moonlight Fridays at 9:00 on CBS. But before you do, click the Vote Now pic and cast your vote for these fun and fabulous new shows.

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