7 Reasons Not To “Chuck” Your 3D Glasses

One of the big storylines that always leads up to the Super Bowl and has nothing to do with football itself is the Super Bowl ads. This year, a lot of hype was generated by a 60-second ad for the upcoming Dreamworks movie Monsters and Aliens and SoBe Lifewater. In addition to the $6-million price tag for the spot, it’s making headlines for being the first 3D Super Bowl ad. NBC is also giving 3D a go beyond the Super Bowl by broadcasting an episode of Chuck in 3D (appropriately titled Chuck vs. the Third Dimension). So here’s some reasons to hold on to your 3D glasses and tune in Monday at 8:00 PM:

1. Yvonne Strahovski

Yvonne plays CIA agent Sarah Walker. Not only can she kick the ass of most the global terrorist network, she looks kick ass (sorry, horrid play on words) doing so often seen in various states of (un-) dress. If the pictures below don’t do her justice, then wait for a Chuck trademark slow-mo glam cam moment… in 3D.

(Pictures from Strahotski.com)

2. Sarah Lancaster

Sarah plays Chuck’s sister Ellie. While Yvonne tends to get the top billing in the looks department, Sarah isn’t someone you would turn a blind eye to. She even got her own glam cam moment earlier this season.

(Picture from ChuckTV.net)

3. Gratuitous Eye Candy (Guest Stars)

If there’s one thing that the producers of Chuck to better than everyone else, it’s casting guest stars without screwing up the show with ridiculous stories (see Nanny, The). So far this season, we’ve seen Michael Clarke Duncan, John Larroquette, Michael Strahan, Tony Hale and Gary Cole among others with an appearance tonight by Dominic Monaghan in 3D. For the guys, the guest casting has been nothing short of stellar with Rachel Bilson, Melinda Clarke, Nicole Richie, Jordana Brewster, and an upcoming appearance by Tricia Helfer.

(Photos from rachel-b.org, jordana-brewster.org, and trisha-helfer.org)

4. Amazing Spy Action

Chuck is sort of like James Bond meets… a sci-fi show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is making continuous nerd cultural references. And in a sci-fi spy action-comedy show like Chuck you would expect car chases, explosions, shootings, saving the world, hot women, and lots of sci-fi/geek references which is all true here. Oh, I almost forgot… CATFIGHTS!

5. First Full TV Show in 3D

Now that we have Super Bowl ads in 3D, this was the next logical step. This isn’t the first time NBC has shown things in 3D. They played parts of a two-part episode of Third Rock from the Sun in 3D. Chuck vs. the Third Dimension will be shown entirely in 3D using Color-Code 3D technology. The only catch is that you need those blue-and-yellow 3D glasses (which you can pickup at Pepsi and SoBe displays in the US). If you can’t get your hands on a pair of 3D glasses, show star Zachary Levi says that drinking 2.1 to 2.4 cans of beer can solve your problem. In Canada, with exchange, that’s 4.3 to 5.1 cans of Canadian beer.

(3)6. The Bus

Jerome Bettis guest stars in this episode making him the second retired NFLer to appear this season. I don’t know what exactly he’s up to but the preview shows him as a Buy More employee. How can it possibly go badly?

7. It’s the Best Show You’re Not Watching

I know you probably get that a lot, especially with the save FNL campaign the blogosphere is running right now. I’d love to see a fourth season of FNL but I’ve become resigned to the fact that clear eyes and full hearts might sometimes lose. With NBC giving Jay Leno an hour of primetime broadcasting each night starting next season (though I expect that experiment to fail spectacularly), we have to save Chuck from a fate that the recession has made more likely for quality programming.

Along with all the stuff I’ve mentioned above, this is one of the best written shows on television. The little bits that you hear throughout the show tie together nicely at the end of the show. There’s all sorts of references to pop and nerd culture scattered throughout the show. The acting is some of the best on television. Even though Chuck and Sarah’s relationship is the fakest on television (because it’s just a CIA cover), it comes off as the realest one on TV.

If you still aren’t convinced, here’s NBC’s promo for Chuck vs. the Third Dimension.