SPOILERS: Rundown of the "Chuck" Panel at C232

[JamesG]

"Chuck" Cast and Co-Creator Talk Bachelor Party, Guest Stars, Cliffhangers and More
by Maureen Ryan
posted Mar 21st 2011


"Chuck" co-creator Chris Fedak and cast members Joshua Gomez, Ryan McPartlin, Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky came to Chicago over the weekend for the C2E2 convention, where yours truly had the pleasure of hosting a "Chuck" panel on Saturday.





Many "Chuck" adventures past and present were discussed, but one topic in particular caught my attention: Chuck Bartowski's bachelor party, which will be depicted in the 22nd episode of the season.

"Just like any good 'Chuck' episode, you think you're going one place, but there are little detours" for those attending the bachelor bash," McPartlin said in the press room after the "Chuck" panel.






What's below is a list of of topics that came up at the "Chuck" panel and in the press room afterward. I've actually divided the intel into two different bullet-point lists: One has spoilers and one doesn't.










First up: non-spoilery "Chuck" info from the panel:


• A fan asked if they'd ever contemplating doing a musical episode.

Fedak said it was something they'd thought about, especially because star Zachary Levi can sing, but the producers had never quite worked out the logistics of how to do a true musical within a "Chuck" episode.

A more practical idea they'd considered is having Jeffster! as balladeers who sign throughout an episode.






• Asked by a fan if they would ever do a 'Chuck Versus the Comic-Book Convention' episode, Fedak said they'd thought about doing that many times, but that kind of episode "never seems to line up" in terms of timing -- the comic book conventions they could film at don't overlap with the show's production schedule.






• The original idea with Captain Awesome was that he'd be revealed to be a Russian spy or some kind of operative, but the producers enjoyed Ryan McPartlin's performance so much that they dropped that idea a few episodes into season 1.

"It's a good thing, because I can't do a Russian accent to save my life," McPartlin said.






• Asked if he felt positive about the show getting a fifth season, Fedak acknowledged there's "always a bit of uncertainty" but added that "we're really hopeful and really excited" about what the finale sets up for a potential fifth season.






• McPartlin frequently joked about Awesome's "diaper duty" this season, but also said he drew from real life for his depiction of Awesome's pre-birth jitters.

He said the first time his wife gave birth, he was so "green" that a nurse had to sit him down and give him juice.






• Gomez said one of his favorite episodes of the season was 'Chuck Versus the Couch Lock,' in which Morgan got to participate in a mission to Iran

(a mission that was, of course, filmed on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank).






• How does it feel to have his character frequently be "bad guy bait"?

"It's fine, as long as I get out of the Buy More," Gomez said.


Another of Gomez's favorite moments -- and the mention of this got a lot of applause -- was the Chuck-Morgan "split-up," which of course involved the division of their Han Solo and Chewbacca toys.






• Sadly, a Jeffster! world tour does not appear imminent, nor will we see the release of a Jeffster! album any time soon.






• For Sahay and Krinsky, their favorite Jeffster! moment of the season was "absolute, frenzied, insane whacked-out mania" of their rendition of 'Push It.'

Krinsky also said he enjoyed Jeffster at the start of the season, when they were "on the run."














Spoilers ahoy! From the panel:


• Fedak confirmed that the title of the season 4 finale is 'Chuck Versus the Cliffhanger.'

It'll be a "big, epic finale" that will wrap up a lot of stories but also have a "super-huge" cliffhanger.






• As Fedak indicated in a recent interview, we won't meet Sarah's mom this season.






• A fan asked if the creation of an "Intersect Army" is theoretically possible (as we saw last week, two spies have already gotten the Intersect download).

"Absolutely," Fedak said. "That was Fulcrum's plan in season 2."






• Will the Buy More stick around?

You may recall there was some nervousness about whether the Buy More would return after it was destroyed at the end of season 3.

But there are no plans to torch it again, Fedak said.






• I asked if Jeff and Lester would ever come out of their haze long enough to notice that the Buy More had become a CIA substation and that Chuck was a spy.

Fedak said it was still important for Chuck to have a non-spy life that does not, if you will, intersect with his spy life.

But he said "more people will find out" as time goes on -- possibly even this season.

"Not us," Sahay joked.






• A running joke developed about Sahay and Krinsky never getting to work with guest stars and indeed, rarely getting to leave the Buy More.

Fedak joked that some guest stars had "no Jeffster! scenes" written into their contacts.






• There was a running joke about Fedak wanting to kill off Jeffster!
(It was very much a joke, don't be alarmed.)


The actors pleaded to be allowed to ride their van over a cliff, if that day ever comes. Fedak was on board with that, but said that if Jeff and Lester go over the cliff, they'll be seen landing on a ledge just below the cliff.






• Asked if Morgan would pop the question and get engaged to Alex, Gomez said, "I hope so. She's amazing with chocolate," he joked.






• Timothy Dalton will be back in an upcoming episode






• Dream casting mentioned by fans and heartily endorsed by Fedak included Bruce Willis and Bruce Campbell.

Fedak actually said he knows Matt Nix, the creator of "Burn Notice", and Fedak has asked Nix about borrowing Bruce for an episode, but that hasn't come to pass yet.

He'd also love to get William Shatner but he's obviously busy with "$h*! My Dad Says!".






• The clip reel shown before the panel showed Chuck and Sarah (in normal, "work" clothes, not wedding clothes) with a wedding cake.






• The show will soon revisit the story of John Casey's former fiancee, Alex's mom.














From the press room:


• More on that bachelor party

"It's the worst bachelor party in the world," Fedak said. "Everybody's going to be there. It's going to involve camping."


"We have wilderness. We have guys being hog-tied. We've got Casey, who brings guns," McPartlin said.


"We have someone who is ... chemically altered due the ingestion of some, er, fungal vegetation," Gomez said. "Take a guess who that is."


Technically, Morgan is supposed to be in charge of planning the bachelor bacchanal, but he "palms that duty off on Captain Awesome", Gomez said.


"I think I commandeered it," McPartlin said. "I'm sure he shot down all your plans."


"It starts in a party van, that's all I'll say," McPartlin added.





I wondered how Jeff and Lester had managed to tag along to the bachelor party, let alone apparently mold it in their twisted image.

"Whether or not it's designed by us, wherever Jeff and Lester go ... there will be chemicals. Somehow, someone will be hog-tied," Sahay said.









• I asked Fedak if we'd ever seen Chuck and Sarah discuss whether they want kids.

"We haven't had that conversation," Fedak said.

"You never know, though -- Sarah has a tendency to surprise you. But it's also like, how do you have a pregnant woman in an action scene? But the fun thing about our show is that it's a skewed perspective on action-comedy -- on action, specifically. We wanted to do a character-based action show, which is kind of crazy. Because the moment you have a nuclear bomb, you're supposed to stop everything and focus on that.

But we actually cut away to what's going on in the home life. And that's kind of why I think our show is successful. It also makes it a little different. But who knows, maybe going into the future, maybe there are spy kids and stuff like that.

There are no rules. That's kind of the fun of working on the show."









• Monday's episode has a Big Mike story line; part of it involves the Buy More employee donning a promotional outfit that says "BM" in huge letters.

Fedak also said that the episode will feature a pig on the run from a fireball. So there's that.









• The twenty-second episode of the season will also feature the return of guest star Ray Wise.









• Would we ever see Morgan get an Intersect?

"That would be a very scary thing," Fedak said. "I think the world would be a more unsafe place."









• Finally, the plot summary of Monday's "Chuck" episode from NBC's press site is below:


Chuck (Zachary Levi) is put in charge of a top-priority mission, but his leadership skills are pushed to the limit when there is a murder in Castle. Meanwhile, Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) takes on a mission of his own when Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) finds an alarming new hobby.

Elsewhere, Morgan's (Joshua Gomez) leadership is also tested when his Buy More troops wage war against Large Mart.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/03/21/ch...y-guest-stars/

[Mr. Television]

It's sad that Chuck is always on the bubble. I was hoping the season would end with Chuck and Sarah's wedding and no cliffhanger.