Trivia / Chuck

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Bryce Larkin, killed off at the end of season two when he had a pilot picked up elsewhere.
• Ascended Fan Nickname: Morgan's Fan Nickname, The Beard, gets referenced several times, most notably in the episode title "Chuck vs. The Beard".
• California Doubling: The museum in "Chuck Versus the Mask" is The House of the Book performance hall and library building at the American Jewish University, Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Simi Valley, California. It also served as the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers command center.
• Fake American: Yvonne Strahovski is Polish-Australian. She briefly uses her real accent while Sarah is masquerading as an Aussie, and spoke her first language, Polish, in at least one episode.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Sarah Lancaster's real life pregnancy was hidden in season four. Ironically, the pregnancy was announced a day after her character, Ellie, gave birth to her first child, Clara.
• No Export for You: Want the show on Blu-Ray? You'll have to import the releases from America.
• Out of Order: Season 2 episodes "Chuck Versus the Best Friend" and "Chuck Versus the Suburbs" were broadcast out of order, due to an address by President Barack Obama preempting "Chuck Versus the Best Friend." As "Suburbs" was the Valentines Day episode, the network kept it in its original timeslot on February 16, 2009 rather than move it back and maintain the story order. "Best Friend" was instead broadcast the following week, February 23. That they were originally meant to be aired in the opposite order is evident in the plots of both episodes: "Best Friend" continued plot points of "Chuck Versus Santa Claus," particularly between Morgan and Anna (who were still separated in "Best Friends," yet back together in "Suburbs") while further developing Chuck and Sarah's relationship as a lead-in to "Suburbs." Additionally, "Chuck Versus the Beefcake" built directly on the situation Chuck and Sarah were left in at the end of "Suburbs," which does not fit if "Best Friend" is watched in between. Strangely, the order has not been corrected on any subsequent home video or streaming release.
• Screwed by the Network:
  • Rather, "Screwed By The Writers Guild of America" in season 1 - Chuck, whilst not being a major hit, was a surprise hit for NBC & subsequently received a full-season order. Unfortunately, this came during the strike & production on the season wasn't resumed when the strike ended.
    • In the Entertainment Weekly reunion article, Fedak and Schwartz explained that if the full season had proceeded, the second half of the season would have been the season 2 arc of Ellie and Awesome getting married and Chuck gaining The Intersect. As is they expanded the arc for Season 2. Chris Fedak mentioned that some of the episodes that were added as "filler" stand out.
  • Seasons 3 & 4 both received 13 episode orders, before receiving a full season order later on. The problem is that this only happened whilst the intended season finale was in production, leading to the seasons having a somewhat disjointed feel.
  • In the UK, Sky decided they didn't want to purchase the rights to show the fifth and final season of the show, and as Sky still own the rights to the first four seasons, the fifth season remains unaired in the country as no-one would buy the rights to just the final season of a show - but it's okay, because Sky have several new shows that they're sure you'll enjoy. Thankfully, the show wasn't in the same situation as Futurama or Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, where a DVD release was dependent on Sky showing the episodes first, and the Season 5 DVD set was released later in the year.
• Sending Stuff to Save the Show: Fans have sent Nerds candy to the network, and in a variant, have also rewarded product placement sponsor Subway by buying footlong sandwiches.
• Typecasting: Adam Baldwin plays a tough, gruff, trigger-happy, borderline psycho with a good heart and a love of guns. Sound familiar?
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was a strong desire to have Chuck Norris appear in an episode that would have been called "Chuck Versus Chuck." Given the timing of the disclosure of this fact (around the time Season 2 started) and the roles that seem Chuck Norrisable, it seems most likely he would have been Leader in "Chuck Versus the Gravitron."
  • The way seasons 3 and 4 were picked up by NBC, with an initial order for 13 episodes, followed by a back 6 and back 11 (respectively) picked up when already in production, affected the way the storylines unfolded. Had the full season orders been made from the start, the first half plot would have extended over the full season instead. The back episodes of both seasons would have then formed the foundation of seasons 4 and 5, respectively.
  • Fedak and Schwartz would have explored concepts like Chuck without the Intersect in season 4 more thoroughly (though this did get to be examined in season 5)
  • Chuck allows Jill to escape at the end of season 2, complete with a diamond engagement ring used for part of the cover, and her fate is never addressed for the rest of the series. Word of God is that she would have been brought Back for the Finale, but they ran out of time and money for it.
  • Actress Natalie Martinez was cast for the pilot in the role of Kayla Hart, the next-door neighbor Chuck was interested in and who would have been a romantic rival with Sarah for Chuck's affections. The development reached the point that Martinez was even present in early promotional photos (see the link) implying that she would be a main character, however, she was ultimately dropped before filming of the pilot actually began (in fact, the club Chuck takes Sarah to in the pilot on their date was to have been owned by Kayla, and Chuck took Sarah there specifically to make Kayla jealous). That she was not immediately removed from the cast list afterward even on the official site led to much speculation and confusion by fans in the show's early history over when she would appear.
  • Apparently Devon (Captain Awesome) was supposed to be a limited character who was supposed to turn out to be an enemy operative towards the end of season one. However, his popularity, as well as the writers' strike, led to the idea being dropped and Awesome becoming a series regular. The idea was recycled into Jill and re-recycled into an arc in season 3 where The Ring thinks Devon is the resident spy in the Bartowski family.
  • At one point, the producers were considering bringing Orion Back from the Dead, but decided against as his death had become a large part of the mythos & they felt it had to stick for the impact it had on the characters.
  • If the show had continued, Jeff & Lester would have become Team Bartowski's Q.
  • Chris Pratt auditioned to play Chuck.
• You Look Familiar: The actor who played Yuri the Gobbler had also played one of La Ciudad's goons.

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