Sarah Connor and Chuck...
The Sarah Connor Chronicles is exactly what you would expect minus the swearing.
SCC picks up in 1999 where Sarah and John are still on the run. And, Terminator and the FBI right on their heels.
The large amounts of gunplay are still there; the explosions, acting and SFX are quite good for a Television Show based upon an R-rated franchise. David Nutter, veteran of many a X-File is wise choice to keep this show’s feet on the ground.
Lena Hedley last seen as Queen Gorgo in 300 replaces Linda Hamilton easily. While some may disapprove of not making the role her own, this franchise has seen enough “changes” with Terminator 3 to make the argument for change a mute one.
Thomas Dekkar, late of Heroes is fine as John Conner. For all the behind the scenes hullabaloo that surfaced during his run on Heroes as Zach, I think he made a better choice going with this show than Heroes.
Summer Glau continues to be the ass kicking sprite in combat boots. While, she may be getting type cast like this, at least it’s fun to watch.
The downside to a one hour pilot is no background on her character at all. These days with enough a budget you can pull a quick five to ten minute prologue in the war torn future. But, no such luck…
As for the Terminator(s), the SFX of the Model 101 endo-skeleton is oddly much better than the dreck that appeared in the big budget T3.
The actors are another story. Both of the Terminators shown during the pilot are very boring. Their clothes are boring, their acting is wooden and there’s no quirky little mannerisms to them. Granted, they’re supposed to blend in and they’re killer robots from the future but some homage’s to Arnold wouldn’t kill ya, ya know.
Personally, I wouldn’t have cast John Cena or Brian Thompson as the Terminators.
The introduction of the FBI into this franchise is good “change” of pace. The Terminator comics from Dark Horse introduced this and it’s a wise move to do it now.
In the end, it’s a good pilot, better than I expected.
A side note: With FX being on fire right now with new shows, one must wonder if this show had been on FX at 10pm if less restrictions would have helped or hurt it.
Now, onto Chuck.
Chuck is not Jake 2.0. Yes, I did actually watch Jake 2.0 and feel Chuck is nowhere near Jake 2.0. If you were to mish mash Alias, Mission Impossible and The IT Crowd/Office Space and you get Chuck.
Chuck is about a Best Buy Geek Squad, er, I mean Buy More Nerd Herder getting all the of NSA/FBI/CIA’s information all dumped into his brain by his old college roommate turned spy.
And wackiness ensues, honestly, it does. And, it has Adam “Jayne” Baldwin in it too.
Funny, quirky and definitely worth a watch.