NBC renews 'Chuck' for 13-episode 5th season
Spy dramedy defies the odds again
The rumors are true. "Chuck" will be back for a 13-episode 5th season, according to a reliable source connected to the show.
I don't have any details beyond that right now - like whether NBC is holding out the possibility for a back-nine order at mid-season or if they anticipate these 13 being it for the order - but I wrote at length about the renewal rumors yesterday. Now, I'm just pleased. So celebrate with Chuck and Morgan humming their favorite entrance music, and we can go into Monday's episode knowing it's not the series finale.
UPDATE: Several other reports have said that NBC has made it clear that this will be the final season. The NBC upfront press call is Sunday afternoon, so I'll have a lot more info then.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupr1pvanw1nkl3
May 13, 2011 at 12:49PM EST Reply to CommentDamn. 5 seasons is a LOT for the kind of ratings this show gets. I would have never bet on a renewal in a million years.
BiLLi0 I always believed.
May 13, 2011 at 12:57PM ESTjenfullmoon Between Chuck, FNL, and even Dollhouse having multiple seasons, perhaps it's a new era of television?
May 13, 2011 at 2:03PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 12:50PM EST Reply to CommentSmile, Chuck!
sepinwall To be fair, he was pretty tired after just taking out the Ring operatives who had invaded Castle.
May 13, 2011 at 12:56PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 1:56PM ESTmaria Yep, I love that episode! One of my favorites of the entire series, and Zach's directing debut. I love that they brought Morgan into the spy games. He is probably my favorite character in a show filled with characters I adore. I can't wait to see more Morgan/Casey and Alex next season.
May 13, 2011 at 2:23PM ESTI am beyond thrilled with the renewal! Congratulations to all the awesome cast, crew and creative staff!
webdiva YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! I'm so glad!!!
May 16, 2011 at 9:05PM ESTRobert
May 13, 2011 at 12:51PM EST Reply to CommentYES!
LoopyChew
May 13, 2011 at 12:53PM EST Reply to CommentAwesome!
That is all.
Carrie
May 13, 2011 at 12:55PM EST Reply to CommentIs any showrunner benefitting more from the absolute failure of their respective networks than Josh Schwartz? Between Gossip Girl and Chuck, he's getting a long life span for some anemically rated shows.
I'm hating, just observing. Don't throw things at me.
FFC You're exactly right. No need to throw anything. As an aside, I'm always amused at the posters here who rant and rave at NBC for not promoting the show enough. In the first place, they did give it plenty of promotion in the early days, and frankly, the numbers still weren't that impressive. But irrespective of this, NBC is the only major network on which Chuck could have survived this long. Chuck fans should be thankful that NBC is such a shambles...it's the only thing that's kept Chuck around.
May 13, 2011 at 3:46PM ESTAs for the renewal, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I loved the first two seasons of Chuck. In fact it was my love for Chuck that led to my discovery of a TV critic named Alan Sepinwall. But If renewal means that we'll get 13 episodes similar in quality to the last two seasons, then there's not much to be excited about. To be honest, I'm not terribly optimistic, but who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Jesse
May 13, 2011 at 12:56PM EST Reply to CommentFrak yeah.
May 13, 2011 at 12:57PM EST Reply to CommentJosh Schwartz tweeted 25 minutes ago: "What's the square root of 25?" using Kutcher's 6.25 as a template
I'm sooo excited!
And I just can't hide it!
Hwat Kutchers what?
May 13, 2011 at 2:36PM ESTAndrei Never seen a tweet in my life, but I am an old nerd, so I know that the square root of 6.25 is 2.5 - have an awful actor and an awful show ever deserved each other more?
May 13, 2011 at 3:00PM ESTAnyway, YAY CHUCK! Let's meet Sarah's mom!
7s Tim
May 13, 2011 at 1:00PM EST Reply to CommentFedak and Schwartz would let this leak to you guys after that podcast....? Other critics i get, but that was a wicked awkward moment there
Jobin
May 13, 2011 at 1:03PM EST Reply to CommentRon Swanson approves!
http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/exclusives/ron-dancing-animated.gif
Zach R.
May 13, 2011 at 1:27PM EST Reply to CommentI really hope NBC lets the Chuck showrunners know if this is their last season and/or if 13 is all they are getting this season. Would be nice to see them plot a storyline knowing how many episodes they need to fill and if they need to have a cliffhanger finale or an ending finale.
James
May 13, 2011 at 1:48PM EST Reply to CommentDeadline.com is now reporting that this will be the final season for Chuck.
chuchundra Yeah, they can say that, but it means nothing. If NBC needs filler for the back end of the season (not unlikely) or if Chuck's ratings really improve (fairly unlikely) and they order more episodes, we'll get more episodes.
May 13, 2011 at 2:14PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 2:02PM EST Reply to CommentI'm happy that the only 2 shows that I watch - Fringe and Chuck both looked finished a few weeks ago and are both coming back.
EOTW NO Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Justified, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, etc.?
May 13, 2011 at 4:13PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 5:19PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 2:16PM EST Reply to CommentBy letting the writers know this is the last season, they can just work on making 13 great episodes. Decide what you want to do, and get it done. I'm hoping for a return to the second seasons glory days, or at least episodes as good as the ones with Gary Cole and John Larroquette were.
Hwat
May 13, 2011 at 2:40PM EST Reply to CommentSo the moment news about Chucks renewal spreads, Twitter crashes? Coincidence? I think not!
rspad
May 13, 2011 at 2:52PM EST Reply to CommentChuck me. I never thought we'd see this. I am so thrilled!!! I am so fine with NBC making it clear this is the final season. This will give the incredible writing team some structure as they map out what I know will be an amazing final year. Such great news.
rachelmed
May 13, 2011 at 2:59PM EST Reply to CommentYay! 13 more episodes of Jeffster! goodness. Pretty nice Friday the 13th present!
Clay
May 13, 2011 at 3:11PM EST Reply to CommentI just saw this story on my phone and I quietly exclaimed "Yes, Chuck is back!" The guy that hand me my Subway footlong seemed less than enthused but I thanked him personally anyway.
Andrei Did you get the tunaroni?
May 13, 2011 at 3:48PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 4:01PM ESTTruthiness
May 13, 2011 at 3:29PM EST Reply to CommentCool news. VERY glad to hear that this is going to be the final season, though. The show this season at times struggled a lot from a lack of vision or direction. Going into a 13 ep season knowing thats all they get, I'm sure they'll do a fine job.
One thing. I just hope all the silly fans (or the self-professed "savior or Chuck", Sepenwell himself) who have been doing their campaign stuff and voting on internet polls, don't honestly think they did anything to save their show. Let's just real here.
This show gets DISMAL ratings. For all the barking and complaining y'all do about your silly terribly rated niche shows getting canceled. Count your lucky stars a million times over that you live in a universe where FIVE seasons of Chuck and FOUR seasons of Fringe somehow happened.
Now please proceed to complain and Twitter threaten Fox for canceling Breaking In.
EOTW I've been reading Sepinwall for years now but have NEVER had the slightest desire to watch CHUCK, and probably never will unless it pops up somewhere and I have absolutely nothing else I can do, including falling asleep. I'm sure it's grand and all, just not my up of tea.
May 13, 2011 at 4:16PM EST
May 13, 2011 at 6:39PM ESTRobin
May 13, 2011 at 3:58PM EST Reply to CommentMy last day before vacation AND Chuck gets renewed????
HAPPY DANCE!!
May 13, 2011 at 4:56PM EST Reply to CommentMan getting all introspective about the series now that we know it is ending...would anyone of us three years ago have thought that casey would be one of chuck's best men at his wedding..or even would there have been a wedding between chuck and sarah...so much has happened...
I really loved how they have been swinging for the fences for so long....I mean people say they had to because they always thought they were going to get cancelled...but after watching what some other shows have been doing lately (yes fringe you chokers I am referring to you) when they are on the bubble I am not so sure anymore...what a truly special series...people do not realise now but when it is over people will be stunned for a little and they will get very emotional. We may not see a series be this daring for sometime and I now know why Alan and all the fans love it so much! I do too!
loretta
May 13, 2011 at 5:12PM EST Reply to CommentI love that I live in a world where Chuck got 5 seasons.
I was trying so hard to make my peace with this being the last season, and I even had myself convinced a little, but you should see the grin on my face.
May 13, 2011 at 5:22PM EST Reply to Commentwoo hoo!!!!
May 13, 2011 at 5:27PM EST Reply to CommentThis is obviously a good-will gesture from NBC. With chuck finally given an end date, I am hereby retiring from the sandwich eating/poll voting game.
pamelajaye
May 13, 2011 at 7:52PM EST Reply to Comment>Several other reports have said that NBC has made it clear that this will be the final season.
I don't care. I'd like a full season of course, but beyond that - FIVE - can you believe FIVE Seasons of Chuck?
Five is a good number.
When I finally heard (you saying it, cause I didn't trust all the others) which was like 6pm, I just wanted to - like an Emmy speech
thanks for Season 5 of #Chuck to The Fans, @sepinwall, @nbc of course, The WGA writers' strike, and Jay Leno (for destroying NBC's schedule) (you really have to thank him for that. possibly that NBC exec who was on drugs, too...)
and a few more
Oops! Thanks also to @subwayfreshbuzz @supershuttle and all the sponsors whose Twitter names I've forgotten. And @serendipityWAF
I remember I loved the idea from the promos (I'm a geek) and I fell more in love with the show due to your reviews. And I remember the day you replied to my tweet saying that the campaign to save Chuck was starting.
I didn't agonize over Chuck this year. Kay said there would not be a season 5 but I didn't worry at all till spring (Florida spring, which is like February) and then I didn't do anything till I saw the #NotANielsenFamily hashtag -- I'm so tired of not counting! (and we finally learned to spell Nielsen!)
I have great hopes that, like the last few eps, season 5 of Chuck will be better than Season 9 of AfterScrubs. No more Shaw. And I'm liking the new Genius Ellie.
Now I have to go hunt down some news on Parenthood and Harry's Law. (HL is okay - I love DEK, and Parenthood is Really Good )
Floating off on the happy bubble...
Baylink "AfterScrubs. Nice.
May 13, 2011 at 10:55PM ESTSpeaking of DEK; I watched a courtroom scene the other night on one of the Law and Order's (": Enough Already", I think), and I discovered that I am *really* spoiled by David E Kelley. Their "Perry Mason" moment was *really* sloppily handled; that would never pass in a real court.
velocityknown
May 13, 2011 at 8:40PM EST Reply to CommentI'm so happy NBC made it clear that this is the final season. I still can't believe they renewed it 2 years ago, but incredibly happy they did and continued to do so.
midnight cruiser
May 13, 2011 at 9:33PM EST Reply to CommentI've expressed my misgivings about a season 5. That being said, I can't believe we has so many good episodes in season 4. So for season 5, please no open ended episode 13. The series and the fans deserve a definitive but nevertheless awesome ending.
And there will still be time to move Yvonne over to HIMYM.
Paul
May 13, 2011 at 11:00PM EST Reply to CommentJosh Schwartz must have lotsa compromising photos of NBCU executives to keep winning renewals for a show whose expiration date should've happened 3 years ago. I wish Veronica Mars, an infinitely better show, got as many mulligans as Chuck has unjustly received.
May 14, 2011 at 1:14AM ESTMiguel
May 14, 2011 at 7:46AM EST Reply to CommentFinal season is totally acceptable to me, as long as they know it. BUT... is there a chance for a back 9?
ChrisColumbusOH
May 14, 2011 at 11:13PM EST Reply to CommentAwesome news!! Can't wait for the Season 4 ending AND a season 5!!!
May 15, 2011 at 2:10PM EST Reply to Comment(Only in) America - Chuck Yeah!