Chuck is one of those shows that I'm glad is around, in part because it's nice to have a light-hearted, semi-serious spy show on the air and in part because Adam Baldwin should always be on our screens as some angry individual with barely contained violence inside him. John Casey isn't as great as Jayne Cobb, but he'll do in a pinch (hey, they both share the same initials!)

The third season picks up after Chuck downloaded the Intersect 2.0 and spouted that famous line from that film with the two terrible sequels "I know kung fu." I did note at the time that Zachary Levi's martial arts skills weren't really up to the job, there was plenty of camera trickery to try and conceal this, but as long as the show took the time to train him up in time for the third season I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Good news everyone! They did, and Chuck's action sequences are now tighter than ever, they're not quite at the standard of say - Kung Fu Hustle, but they're believable and high energy. They're also tight enough that when there is a deliberate punch/kick being pulled 'in character' you can identify the difference immediately - that's as close as I'm going to get to writing about that moment.

I'm also glad to report that there is plenty of character development for just about everyone in the cast, Devon (Ryan McPartlin) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) become privy to some huge secrets while Sarah's (Yvonne Strahovski) past is expanded on a bit further and we get some resolution to the will they/won't they between her and Chuck. Brandon Routh joins as the newest member of 'Team Bartowski' and even Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) gets to do more than just look put upon and bewildered.

There are also some exceptional guest stars, including the brilliant Scott Bakula back as Stephen J. Bartowski and the superb Swoosie Kurtz has a star turn in one episode as half of the super spy couple team, Brandon Routh is also pretty good as Agent Shaw, his performance being a key element of quite a few scenes and he's admirably up to the task.

The pacing in this season is a little off, but it's no more so than any of the seasons, Chuck often seems to have a ponderous and slow start to the season before it kicks up into a decent gear. The third season is no exception, but once it is rolling the episodes become phenomenal and the final stretch of them is something to behold as everything on the show comes together in a perfect blend of action, romance, emotion and comedy.

If I had one other complaint it's that the Buy More sections of the show are quite lacking this season, as the show has evolved the Buy More has faded in importance to the point where it feels a little superflous to the plot, it should be an entertaining distraction from the spy action part, and at times - like the Fight Club incident - it is, but also quite often it feels a little like padding. In particular the character development for Morgan and the loss of Anna as a regular has made the Buy More less significant and that's left the weight of the Buy More sequences on Big Mike along with Jeff and Lester. They're two admirable creeps and a source of a lot of laughs, but they're too shallow to hold things up by themselves.

The set is pretty much a Chuck DVD by the numbers, the case is significantly easier to use than the horror that the original first season set came in (I still have problems opening that box) and the extras are relatively spartan in their quantity but enjoyable. It's not going to wow you, but they are interesting to watch.

The issues of the season are little compared to the glorious whole that is Chuck, it's not the most intelligent show on television right now, but it is one of the most fun and it's for that reason I'm giving Chuck's third season two thumbs up.
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[Before we start I believe that all props and credit should land squarely in the lap of Mr Rob Buckley for introducing me to this particular show as it's one I would never have discovered myself.]

You a fan of the spy genre? Enjoy your James Bond served with a twist rather than a shake? Maybe you love shows like Sea Lab, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law or The Venture Brothers. Or you adored the tongue in cheek style of the "No One Lives Forever" series of games.

Well if you're one of those, or someone who enjoys quality adult orientated (NO! Not that kind of adult) cartoons then you'd be doing yourself as serious favour and get over to FX then give "Archer" a serious going over.

Archer is a semi-realistic art style cartoon about a secret agent codenamed "The Dutchess" but known to everyone in the organisation by his real name - Sterling Archer. Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin ) is a colossal jerk of such a spectacular magnitude that it's hard not to love his attitude. He comes across as a mix between Gary Cole's Harvey Birdman and Stephen Colbert's Phill Ken Seben (Both from the afformentioned Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law), saddled with a massive ego that is only dwarfed by the insecurities inflicted on him by his boss slash mother Malory (Jessica Walter).

Archer's co-workers include not just fellow spy (and ex lover) Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler) but also ISIS's accountant Cyril (Chris Parnell) who is now dating Lana thanks in part to his *ahem* special qualification and Malory's secetary Carol Cheryl Cristal Carol (Judy Greer) a young woman who is equal parts desperate and disturbed plus others, including Archer's butler Woodhouse (George Coe) - who I suspect is named in tribute to the author of the Jeeves and Wooster books, one P.G. Wodehouse.

Archer is a spy comedy which plays heavily on not only the absurdities of the spy genre but also the fun of an office environment for such a high action field. A lot of ISIS staff (described adeptly as drones at one point) are involved in the mundane aspects of spying, the paperwork and so forth. And this is a source of at least some of the humor alongside Archer's own absurdities.

It's almost redundant to say that the voice acting is phenomenal in this show, Judy and Jessica are both alumni from Arrested Development and if anything they're funnier here as they've had more time and practice. Though it is fair to say that the characters they are voicing here do have some traits in common with Lucille Bluth and Kitty Sanchez that is not a slight at their talent or hilarity. Chris Parnell himself is also no stranger to sitcoms, you might know him best as Doctor Leo Spaceman (that's pronounced Spa-Che-Man) from 30 Rock and Jon Benjamin has honed his craft with numerous voice overs before now.

Needless to say "Archer" is a phantasmal show and one which will probably burn brightly before departing from our screens with just a few episodes, but you really, really should check it out if you're the least bit interested because it is quite figuratively side-splitting in every aspect and totally gorgeous to watch to boot.

Still not enough to wet your appetite? See what Rob thought about the show.

Archer's website is located here.

(If you enjoy The Venture Bros, Chuck, Burn Notice, Arrested Development or Harvey Birdman you may enjoy this.)
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Chuck arrived on our screens in 2007; giving us the world of one Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) - computer and technology 'Nerd Herder' who after receiving a high tech e-mail from his ex-Stanford roommate Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer) ended up with pretty much every American spy secret lodged inside his head just waiting to leak out. CIA Agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski - Did I mention Dan placed her as sexiest woman on TV in his most recent list?) and NSA Agent John Casey (Adam Baldwin) are dispatched to retrieve this information and when they discover that it's lodged inside Chuck's brain pan they

Chuck now has to balance work at BuyMore, dealing with computer related issues alongside co-workers Anna (Julia Ling), Jeff (Scott Krinsky), Lester (Vik Sahay) and his best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez). While concealing his new and exciting life in the world of SpyCraft from them and his sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) who lives with Chuck and her boyfriend "Captain Awesome"/Devon (Ryan McPartlin).

Chuck is a fun and energetic show which mimics and parodies the spy genre well and reminds me a lot of 'that other spy show' Burn Notice. Now I shan't go into listing the common threads and differences between the two shows, but I shall say both of them provide an entertaining and light-hearted take on the world of spying while keeping a distinctive voice. I'd certainly put them on about the same level where entertainment value is concerned.

This first season spans for thirteen episodes and maintains a consistent level of quality, mixing comedy and drama with a lot of action to provide thrills and spills throughout. Zachary is very likable as Chuck, providing a bit of an everyman and managing to pass as a nerd thanks mostly to the haircut (without it he really wouldn't look that nerdy). Yvonne likewise is very watchable and not only looks good but portrays Sarah with depth and interest (even if her front teeth irritate me). But for myself personally it's Alec Baldwin's performance as Casey which sells the show, his acting here is best describes as 'with gusto'. He takes a great deal of relish and enjoyment in his scenes - but what else can you expect from the man they call Jayne? The rest of the cast are likewise immense fun and great on screen, Sarah Lancaster's haircut after the pilot does irritate me though, a lot.

Now I am a bit of a packaging enthusiast, mostly because I feel I've invested money in purchasing DVDs and as such I want them to look nice on the shelf and work well. The main difference between owning a legitimate copy and pirated ones (apart from various legal issues) is the packaging and appearance of the set. So naturally I get more than a little snarky when it seems like the creators of the DVD set aren't really trying (Fremantle Media's Homicide series for example).

Fortunately here the quality is obvious, I don't know if it's a new design or a one off for Chuck, but the package here is simply the best I've reviewed in seventy two sets. Hands down it's the best in my entire collection; appearance, design, functionality, it has the whole damn package all the way up and down the nine yards. If this packaging was a woman she would be so good looking you'd be too intimidated to talk with her in case she turned out to be a figment of your imagination - like sexy fight club.

In short the packaging is so full of win that it's actually worth writing three paragraphs about without even really trying to describe how good it is. There is one drawback - it took me over a minute to figure out how to open the darn thing. That might not be the fault of the packaging, it could just be myself being dense.

So if you're looking for a show which isn't afraid to provide tongue in cheek laughs, suspense, thrills and deliver it all with a heavy sense of irony Chuck's first season might be the spy you're looking for.

Extras:
Chuck on Chuck - Series stars join creators for some point/counter point discussion
Chuck's World - Character development and original casting
Chuck vs. the Chuckles - Gag Reel
Chuck's Online World - Gallery of Web-Originated Mini-Featurettes

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Rating: 15
Region: 2
Run time: 8 Hours 51 mins
Soundtrack: 5.1 English
Subtitles: English, Dutch
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In Seek and Destroy Michael is hired by Scott Chandler (played by Joel Gretsch who was in my favourite superhero show The 4400) to investigate some potential security breaches in his art gallery. But while investigating what should be a simple case Michael discovers a deeper truth after an encounter with an employee. At the same time Michael's investigation into the man who attempted to kill him with explosives requires the aid of a familiar face, the arms dealer Seymour ( Silas Weir Mitchell)...

Read about more great guest stars, how much I miss The 4400 and a magnetic backpack beyond the link...

Seek and Destroy is an episode that's very much in the vein of Burn Notice's first season, a season which I only started watching because it filled time between The 4400 and Dead Zone. The summer season of TV is always weak, not surprising really because we'd all rather be out in the sunshine or in cinemas watching the big summer blockbusters. This is why I tolerated and enjoyed the first season of Burn Notice, yes it couldn't ever stand up to the fall or winter shows, but it didn't have to because it was out here enjoying a bracket which had shows like Psych and Monk around. All genuine light entertainment.

But we're here in the winter period now and there are ruddy great big behemoths of shows stalking about the landscape; Lost, Damages, 24 and Battlestar Galactica for example. So Burn Notice can't just float back to what it was when it first came out. Unfortunately that's almost exactly what it did for it's main story here, the plot was rather pedestrian and it felt like old ground.

But the episode still managed to remain enjoyable for the entire time, I was thrilled to see Joel Gretsch again his appearance has made me completely nostalgic for the unrecognised brilliance of The 4400, so much so that I keep mentioning it in this review almost unconsciously -- forty four hundred, forty four hundred, forty four hundred -- He gives a good performance as Scott Chandler and manages to keep most of the "A" story ticking over by his presence. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Marla Sokoloff, but this isn't really her fault as she wasn't given much to do beyond simple plot exposition.

On the other hand the ongoing B-Plot, currently known as "Operation find the man who attempted to blow up Michael (played by Chris Marazzo) in order to find out who hired him and side with them against Carla" (needs a snappier operation name) was light in content but pretty good, and big part of that was thanks to Seymour's return, Silas Weir Mitchell always gives a good performance in any show he's in and this was no exception. I do enjoy it when the show returns to it's existing backlog of characters in order to develop the plot instead of just introducing new characters, Seymour was highly entertaining in his last appearance and remains great throughout this (even if he is not-so-subtly pushing Burn Notice Covert Ops in the process.)

I obviously spoke to soon when I said last week that Fi and Michael were back together, oh no it remains all complicated and filled with weird energy. Hum, not sure how I feel about that one, either put them together or get rid of Fi and replace her with some other chick please.

Overall it was a decent enough episode, but pretty much an 'instant forget' filler episode apart from the performances from the guest stars. Not enough Sam Axe, a little too much Fi and a storyline that felt like it was lifted almost directly from the first season means this one isn't one I'll be revisiting in a hurry any time soon.

Other Thoughts:
• I did enjoy all the lines Michael uttered to Chandler which were loaded with double meaning, talking directly about himself as the spy without giving it away.

• I also enjoyed Sam Axe's constant ribbing and groaning about the Fi/Michael situation, he was echoing my thoughts quite well throughout.

• Both Silas and Joel need to be back on the air more often, how about a show with Joel as the lead and Silas as his sidekick?

• Michael puts his bag on top of the computer, computer goes putt! How does the security guard not get even the least bit suspicious? Ah I'll forgive it, because it's Burn Notice.

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Michael Western, Sam Axe and Fi returned on Thursday for the second half of the second season of Burn Notice, second. In the previous part of the season Michael was investigating into the tasks 'the people who burned him' were having him perform and discovered that they were after a sniper rifle and other things that indicated an assassination attempt. But in the final episode the sniper was killed and Michael was partially engulfed in an explosion when the front door of his flat turned out to be booby trapped?

Did he survive? Well if he didn't the show wouldn't return, so lets find out shall we?

Read about scamming sick kids, a new job and 'who talks first' beyond the link...

The returning episode of Burn Notice pretty much picks up exactly where the previous cliffhanger left off, the show kicks up into gear so fast and everything feels so familiar you're left wondering why they even bothered splitting the season up into two parts.

Michael is rescued from the blast and resulting fall by Sam and after an exciting car chase Sam briefly grieves for the loss of his vehicle before Michael rescues a man who attempts to kill himself by walking out in front of a bus. The man is Kenny and he was trying to kill himself in order for his son to get enough insurance money to pay for his son Jack's treatment. He lost most of his money to a group of scammers.

Michael spends the entire episode pretty much at breaking point, he's clearly tired, injured and seeking something to keep him motivated. Helping Jack and Kenny becomes that thing, which isn't really surprising because by now we've learnt that Michael has come to depend on these charitable jobs as a method of validating his existence.

Jeffery Donovan is particularly good in this episode at demonstrating just how tired he is of his situation, through a combination of expressions, tones and even one very strong rant (which is unusual for Michael) we get a great picture of just how tired and worn out he's feeling at this point. Even when dealing with Carla and her men he shows a lot of this, he's obviously a man who's near breaking point. Hardly surprising considering he was nearly killed.

Likewise Bruce and Gabrielle also portray Sam and Fi exceptionally well in this episode, Bruce in particular has a lot to do and as always rises up to the role with gusto. Sam's not only acting as the voice of reason for Michael but he also engineers the initial contact (in concert with Fi), interrogates Philip and Todd (Rachel's underlings) and has a great punch up with Michael. Burn Notice always does well when it gives Bruce a lot to do, and this episode is no exception.


Gabrielle's accent is still a little wonky, I wish they'd drop the 'You're in Miami' moment from the opening credits, it's always painful to be reminded how bad her Irish accent was, and her American one isn't great either. But she's always fun when Fiona is flying off doing what she does best, fighting and shooting guns. Sadly for Fi Campbell brings home a point which the viewers realised a long time ago, as long as she's involved with Michael in any fashion there really isn't room for any other man as they'd always come second. Exit Campbell.

The actor (David Barry Gray) playing Kenny was pretty good in the episode as well, the moment where he spazzes out and attacks Philip was well done (and pretty amusing). He's not one of the best guest actors ever on the show but he put together a solid performance. Stacy Haiduk was very good as Rachel, and boy is that woman ripped.

Also the balance between burn notice plot and case of the week was well maintained here, the previous episodes often felt overloaded with both cases competing for screen time. During this episode everything hung together and felt more natural. I'm hoping they manage to keep this balance up throughout the remaining episodes this season.

'Do No Harm' was a solid and fun return to the show, it did everything you expect Burn Notice to do and managed it in a very reliable and enjoyable manner. While I do sometimes wish that the show would go a little deeper into things that's not really what it's about, the show is about guns, fun, gadgets, witty lines, action and babes in bikinis. As such this episode delivered all of that in spades and more.

Other Thoughts:

• I really do appreciate the character captions in this show, it makes it very easy to quickly learn who a new character is and how they fit into the episode/show. I watch so many other shows desperately trying to learn the names of characters that it's great to have this information handed over to us. Also the captions can be quite funny at times, as demonstrated in the Campbell scene.

• Likewise I enjoy the depiction of interrogation used in Burn Notice, they put more emphasis on the psychological aspect of it and less on straight torture. 'Who Talks first' was a great example of this, in say 24 Todd would have been splattered all over the pavement, but in Burn Notice he's spared a squishy fate when shoved out of the window thanks to a cable tied to his chair.
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