Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Chuck You Tuesday - Episode 66(6) (EXPLICIT)


We talk CHUCK 4.21, ratings, fan campaigns and generally put on the worst podcast ever, totally not edited. You have been warned.

This episode has ADULT LANGUAGE.  Do not listen if you are sensitive to harsh language.

Please RATE and review this podcast here. You can post anonymously.

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes by clicking this link.


Tracks used in this episode, in order of appearance:
Hi Magnus - Yvonne Strahovski
Dirt Road Anthem - Jason Aldean
Sabbra Cadabra - Metallica (written by Black Sabbath)
Indians - Anthrax
Rococo - Arcade Fire
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - Metallica


106 comments:

  1. future son in law?

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  2. Magnus, you can decide to approve this or not I trust your judgement.

    Thank you for mentioning the spamming of advertisers last night. I am a representative of an organization that handles social media for dozens of companies and I came in this morning with one of the accounts spammed to the hilt. We process customer questions, complaints, service requests and so on through Twitter and it was overwhelming to sift through the spam to find actual customer issues. We did talk about the passion of the fans and appreciate that but neither we nor the client are directly responsible for placement. Please try to be considerate next week, fans. Thank you.

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  3. Anonymous, I am not sure how much I can help with that... since they are apparently happily ignorant, but maybe one or two of them will read what you said and reconsider their strategy.

    Anyway, if you want to e-mail what advertiser it was, you can find my e-mail address by clicking on my profile. Thanks.

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  4. I don't know what the hell your talking about because I laughed by ass off! Wendy producing lol! So funny! You guys rock.

    penny

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  5. Worst podcast ever? More like best podcast ever! Not really but at a couple of points tears flowed from laughing so hard.

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  6. Why isnt wendy coming up with more great ideas? the idiots doing nielsen calling and spamming instead of going to wendy??? its not like wendy died! ask her what to do!!!

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  7. Horseman... you just made me laugh. That was funny. "It's not like Wendy died!" LOL!

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  8. Well she didnt! If I had to make the best cookies in the world to save my favorite show I would ask the keebler elves not stacy keebler!

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  9. I think I am just going to sit here and wait to see what you say next. This is gold!

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  10. First, I want to say I really hope your friend gets better.

    Second, way to blame the stupid victim, what an abusive podcaster mentality.;) Seriously though, I really enjoyed this never ending podcast and I always enjoy the boy banter although I was sorry to hear Wendy's mic cut out. Please thank her for us. She has a super mind. Many thanks to you too, you probably don't hear that enough.

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  11. Magnus,
    in regards to your Kathleen comment.
    in all fairness, she came well after the gun wasn't pointed at morgans head, alls she saw was Casey arresting a guy and flashing the cops with his NSA badge. Not sure why you had a problem with that.

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  12. Steven, they SHOWED her at that point. When did she end up there? Think about it.

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  13. They show her ARIVING the scene in a cop car AFTER Morgan ran like a little girl. Don't see your point

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  14. Steven, it is so adorable to see you soooo confident and so wrong.

    The cop car arrives and Casey shows his badge. Kathleen is sitting in HER OWN CAR watching it all happen. She didn't just arrive on scene. Why would she arrive in a cop car anyway?

    You can now apologize for being stupid. I will consider forgiving you.

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  15. My apologies, after watching a 3rd time, i noticed her car was parked and she did not arrive with the cop cars which they made it seem like. Sorry.

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  16. It is OK... you learned an important lesson today. I am always right and you are always going to be wrong.

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  17. haha, very good lesson... There will not be a season 5. ;)

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  18. and by that i mean your rule still applies. of me always being wrong.

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  19. I just finished watching the episode for a 5th time and still haven't been able to pick up the scene where they are trying to make it seem like Kathleen arrived with cop cars...

    Is there something wrong me with me? =/

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  20. Surprising for me so much negativity was caused by my opinion that 4.21 is good but not great. I explained my arguments in two ways but apparently it didn't help. People seemed to feel insulted by my little critique? Probably I'm more used to a culture where debate is a good thing and because English is not my native language I came across more harsh with my (perhaps some ill chosen?) words than I meant to do?

    Anyway it was clear to me Magnus from your reaction on your podcast that you perceived my original message and two/three reactions (the others were simply banter about “insults” - if you strike prepare to receive) very differently than it was meant. I use the same style of debate about positive things of Chuck or other subjects as well - I do/did that a lot on other places. Most like that but some not apparently. Lesson learnt, at least by me. Case closed - up to 4.22 in two weeks.

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  21. Basically I was through the whole podcast: "**** your reading my mind or oh I didn't see that coming!" or simply LMAO. ;D

    Now we talked around here about the spaming nature about the Nielsen thing already on Monday (wasn't it?) and now that I think about it perhaps the tweet the advertisers should have been included in this discussing to some degree. jamming the time line on their twitter account is perhaps contraproductive since not all of them have 1 or 2 more for special customer services or other Hotline functions.
    Though please correct me if I'm wrong (since lets be fair I have pretty much no substantial knowledge about anything in that regard :D) though wasn't the bigger problem about this project that ppl were being asked to write their own tweets instead of simply RT'ing just 1 tweet? That way the time line should not overflow on that end, right?
    I also see the point you are making about the advertisers not being so much interested in knowing how many so those commercials and more wanting to know how many will actually respond in the way of buying a certain product because of it. So simply because of that fact Wendy's ideas have always worked so well since she was able to actually put a name on a certain part of the revenue for an advertiser. So perhaps we should look a lot more at those kinda options in fan efforts...

    hmm should I continue thinking in that direction or did I take a wrong way at some point?

    And YES LOVED the podcast! ;D

    DD

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  22. Arsimo, I have always run this site as a liberal dictatorship. It is not a democracy. But if you make an interesting counterpoint, I will let the opinion sit on the site, even if I don't like it. Which is why your opinion wasn't deleted. But there is little I dislike more than someone who won't let go of their negativity. Negativity is like poison. So, you got to say what you had to say. It didn't get deleted. Be happy now.

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  23. DD, first let me say that all of these ideas that are now being run as fan campaigns were ideas WeHeartChuck discarded nearly two years ago after we did research about how it could and could not work. See, more important than coming up with a good idea is talking about how it might NOT work and then talking to people who know more than you about it. You have to be willing to hear and accept that something won't work.

    Running with a poorly worked idea is worse than running with no idea because it focuses those willing to help on the wrong thing... and then exhausts them before you move on to the idea that will work. People don't have unending mental stamina to keep fighting. Eventually, you are left with a handful of people doing 99% of the work.

    Now, even if you have one tweet per person, if you get 600 people to participate, that is 600 tweets that wipe out the feed. You would be scrolling back all day to find anything of substance. Plus, this campaign doesn't understand that some commercials are local and some national. So you are sometimes spamming advertisers who were not paying for national time... which doesn't help NBC or CHUCK at all. Maybe it could in the long run but this effort is short sighted. You need something that helps NOW not in a year.

    Which is why targeting INTEGRATED advertisers like Subway, Toyota, and Super Shuttle is important. They are specifically looking for a reaction from us and to demonstrate that the money they spent has had the desired result. Also, doing those surveys each week helps that too.

    But again, DO NOT SPAM those advertisers. It is cool to have fans react to seeing the in-show advertisement and tweeting to the advertiser about it, but please... be cool about it. Make them want to read what you wrote, not just read a form response that they read from a website. Then it just becomes annoying. Encourage those tweeting to do what I suggested in the write-in campaigns, to put it in your own words and to be respectful (though, excited is good too).

    To sum up, I suggest doing away with the commercial watching campaign and focus on in-show advertisement. Also, delete that silly Nielsen page, whoever you are. It will NEVER work. Not in a trillion years will it work.

    And those are my recommendations. You can all send payment to my PayPal account. ;)

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  24. I want thank Wendy for taking the initiative to contact SuperShuttle and get that deal. That's brilliant for both the fans and for the company.

    Thanks for continuing the effort to squash the stupid Nielsen campaign.

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  25. If people only realized how much untapped genius and drive Wendy has in her... but instead they let a certain someone go around badmouthing her because that certain someone could never measure up. And you suckers bought into it WITHOUT QUESTION.

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  26. Great comment Razorback. I agree with the Tweeting thing and I'll not be a part of that anymore...

    Super Shuttle was very encouraged by all the Tweets though. But, like you said, that was in the show. Not on a commercial. I'm going to send them a letter today.

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  27. Super Shuttle and Toyota both acknowledged the tweets. Others may have as well, I don't know, but those integrated types should be the focus. Simply throwing poo at the wall and hoping for art isn't a good way to run a campaign. :)

    Always keep this mantra in your mind: just because we thought of it, that doesn't mean we should do it.

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  28. Thanks again Magnus!

    As for the podcast was the worst podcast ever....
    I'm just kidding!!!

    Greekfan

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  29. I don't know if this is just me thinking this or not but don't you guys think if they keep on having 2 week breaks that we will not get good rating for the last 3 episodes of this season. To me i doesn't make any sense if they wanted Chuck to have at least 1.7 ratings they should at least let the last 3 air without these breaks. Now if Chuck is being edited to fix little parts of the last 3 episodes then ok that makes some sense but if that is not the case then what is NBC doing.

    PS Canada is a Country and Canada rules

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  30. They are airing the last three without breaks. But more importantly, what is the point of whinging about it? It isn't going to change anything.

    Canada, America's Hat

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  31. DR,

    A poll idea.
    Since it's assumed that Sarah is the person on the team that "Something terrible happens to someone we love" have a list of terrible things for people to guess on.

    We need something for the next week.

    TS

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  32. I see Schwartz is promoting annoying the advertisers. He also promoted cold calling Nielsen families. I am guessing he isn't the best source for us to listen to when it comes to fan campaigns.

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  33. Are Josh and Ausiello high? Then again, like you said, they also promoted the Nielsen thing.

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  34. Sorry, that wasn't Ausiello... I didn't read the name, plus he isn't working for EW, duh. I guess Ausiello is still sane.

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  35. It hurts me that people still do not get the growth that sarah has taken in this series...I mean just look at how she was with Bryce, cole or shaw..she was impotent an submissive..but with chuck she says what she wants and does it knowing that chuck will always love her and never abandon her...it is so beautiful...arismas...kiss my ass!

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  36. John right on... except, let's not attack each other any more. And by let's, I mean you guys. I can still do it. :)

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  37. It must be SO hard being Magnus, Chuck's version of Comic Book Guy.

    Can't control the fans. Can't control the showrunner. Too stupid to understand that there is no "right" when it comes to convincing advertisers that their spots or product placement works. Too insecure to realize that something YOU don't like might work because advertisers are essentially guessing, too. Too arrogant to accept that you don't matter any more than any other fan. So bitter that you can't play well with anyone.

    Nice of you to help on the fundraising, tho. Even fools have their moments. Good on you for that.

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  38. When jack says a man far better then me he means a man far better then bryce, cole or shaw...he means a man like chuck who can do anything yet allows sarah to boss him around and allows her to be the women she wants to be...so brilliant....

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  39. Anonymous, it IS hard being me... for all those reasons and more. Thanks for acknowledging my awesWAIT A MINUTE! I think I just got insulted!

    But hey, you do whatever thing you think works. But I am telling you, it isn't going to work. Just like all the super duper cool ideas that other fans of other shows thought of that their show runners, actors, and the media supported didn't work either. Support doesn't equate quality. But I am glad you said what you said. Because we both know that if the show is cancelled, you guys won't take any blame for screwing up with the campaigns.

    So it must be easy being you, not having to take responsibility for screwing things up.

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  40. Magnus is so insignificant that every time he says something people talk about it. Insiders talk to him not you which is why you are so jealous you have to denigrate him to make yourself feel better. You think you are a better person than him for what you posted? I pity you. At least Magnus had the massive balls to approve your comment for the world to see. You didn't even have the balls to tell us who you are. Pussy.

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  41. "When jack says a man far better then me he means a man far better then bryce, cole or shaw...he means a man like chuck who can do anything yet allows sarah to boss him around and allows her to be the women she wants to be...so brilliant...."

    I guess I see this a little differently. Sarah has been playing a role of one sort or another her whole life. With her dad, it was the perfect little accomplice. With Shaw, and to a lesser extent Bryce (because he was much less of an ass), it was the perfect girlfriend / junior partner for the spy-about-town. Cole doesn't really register for me, because that was nothing more than a short term infatuation brought about by yet another of Chuck's "we need to break up" episodes.

    In any event, with Chuck, at least post "vs. Other Guy", she can finally be herself, whoever that is. She's basically figuring that out while we watch. I get the impression she's always been defined by what's expected of her by others. Chuck seems to expect nothing, and for the first time she's being forced to define herself, and she likes it.

    Well, that's my maximum legal dose of BS for the day.

    Jim

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  42. Magnus-

    While i agree the actual tweeting may not do much, if these 'fan drives' get people (hopefully some of them with nielsen boxes) at home, focused on doing the twitter thing, but has the side effect of accomplishing what they actually need to be doing -watching live- then it could succeed, though not for the reasons people thought.

    As someone who works in advertising though, *any* response is better than nothing. Sure, it might make their twitter feed a bit hard to parse through, but in my experience most advertisers are happy to know their investment is making an impression (then its up to them to figure out how many impressions are turning over into actual sales). The people who bought the advertisement like to be able to go to their bosses and say 'we know this is reaching people because of X'.

    Will it be the make or break thing for the series? Probably not. But if an advertiser is on the fence, things like this might affect their continuing advertising.

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  43. Thanks, Jack, but tone down the language, please.

    And while it is true that I do not work well with others, I do work with people who have had the best ideas. So, obviously I gravitate toward people who have good ideas. I have aligned myself with the best of the best. So if I am not working with you, perhaps it is because my good-idea spidey senses tell me yours isn't.

    Enjoy cold calling Nielsen families and spamming advertisers... why not email bomb NBC people OH WAIT A MINUTE! That IS part of the strategy too! LOL!

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  44. Anonymous, have you guys ever thought that asking people to tweet WHILE watching the episode will result in some Nielsen viewers not being counted as they either don't push their buttons or leave the room? Why not do it AFTER the episode only? It is showing during several different hours in the US. You don't have to do it during the episode.

    And as you said, in the best case scenario, the advertiser says "Hey boss, we go feedback." You shouldn't ever plan for the best case scenario. You should plan for all scenarios. That way you come up with the best overall plan.

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  45. What you brought up anonymous is the slippery slope. If you work in advertising then you know customer feedback is weighted. Twitter is not weighted as much as Facebook. Facebook is not weighted as much as phone calls and snail mail and so on. Advertisers don't spend millions of dollars based on internet conjecture. If they did they would constantly fail. In recent years 'internet buzz' has become an industry joke. I am not suggesting tweeting advertisers won't have an affect but what Magnus said is true. It will maybe have a long term effect but not the desired effect of helping Chuck now.

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  46. The problem with doing it after the episode is you likely cut down on the numbers quite a bit. Easier for people to tweet as they see than to go back and do it from a list of advertisers afterwards.

    You say not to plan for the best case, thats fine, but its not like people are putting a financial investment into tweeting. The worst case scenario is the advertiser puts no value in the tweets. So at worst you wasted a few seconds of time and a few lines of space on your twitter feed. If thats the worst case scenario, and best case is some small effect, What's the harm?

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  47. Didn't I just define the harm? The harm is in the potential of some Nielsen members being distracted enough that their numbers aren't counted. Also, the harm is in putting effort into something that is unlike to EVER make a difference. Why not put that effort into something that will have a more immediate impact? Like tweeting the integrated advertisers with what you learned about their product?

    Wouldn't your bosses be more impressed if their integrated ad received the response from viewers where they detailed what they learned about the product, than just an organized spamfest?

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  48. Unlikely... not... unlike. Grrrr.

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  49. @Magnus and @jack- i concede, good points about the nielsen viewers and the heirarchy of response effectiveness. And a refocus to just integrated products may be a good choice for the people managing the 'campaign' for next week.

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  50. I read people around the little Internet thingy often questioning how exactly I have become popular when I am so abrasive. The answer is very simple: I am an excellent judge of when to zig or zag. I have a solid sense of what works and what doesn't. If I didn't, I would just be some bitter dude who could be easily ignored. So, you may not like me, but it would be a good idea to take my advice. :)

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  51. I just jumped in with Chuck in the last few months, so my knowledge of what has been tried before is limited, so bear with me if this has been tried before. Its outside my area of expertise, so im just curious what you'd think.

    But what about an each one bring one campaign, where everyone is encouraged to pick up the DVDs and introduce at least one (hopefully more) friend to Chuck? If they like it, encourage them to do the same. Serials like this need new blood (which is one thing that sucks about this show not having an easy full-series streaming option, even on netflix), and something like this could drive some DVD sales (helping WB's bottom line for the show) and bring in some new viewers -hopefully some of which have a nielsen box.

    Just like everything else, probably too late in the game if we're talking renewal, but long run, do you think it could be (our couldve been) effective?

    As to your abrasiveness, in the short time i've been reading, ive appreciated the honesty. We generally know what we're going to get and that you're generally going to shoot straight with readers.

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  52. If I knew there was not going to be a break in the last 3 episodes I most likely wouldn't have said anything. I didn't think I was whinging about it but I am sorry if it seemed like it.

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  53. It has been done... since season 2. It seemed to work at the start of season 3 but ratings quickly tumbled. So, that means that whatever viewers we gained, we lost more other viewers. The lending out DVD thing has run its course. Sure, you should do it but it isn't very effective in the grand scheme of things because we are hemorrhaging more viewers than we are gaining.

    Based on what I have been told by people who know what will actually save this show, we need more integrated advertisement and for WB to give in to NBC demands for lowering the licensing fee (and some other things I can't talk about).

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  54. 4.22: May 2nd
    4.23: May 9th
    4.24: May 16th

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  55. I should have said integrated advertisement money, not advertisers. You can make more with less.

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  56. So Super Shuttle was integrated advertising? I figured it was but I wasn't sure since the episode gag seemed to be about how shady it was. That being said I have taken the Super Shuttle at absurd hours of the night and IT IS reliable transport at an affordable price lol (and not shady!) All that said, it was also one of the funniest parts of the episode and I liked that it was integrated in a way which worked well with the episode and was entertaining, yet got the point across.

    -OPD

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  57. I think that when an integrated advertiser is willing to let their product be used for the sake of comedy, that it has a bigger impact on the audience than when it is used simply to illustrate how awesome it is.

    The more absurd, the more memorable.

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  58. Things about SuperShuttle you would take away from vs. the Wedding Planner if you had never heard of it before:

    0. That such a service exists.
    1. It's so reliable that the only way you can get the driver off course is by threatening to flash him.
    2. It's at least $15 cheaper from Burbank to LAX than taking a taxi (that's a low estimate in my opinion)
    3. They give discounts for AAA membership.

    Very clever, understated bit of advertising. Much better than anything they've done with Subway or Toyota in my opinion.

    Jim

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  59. I know I'm late in acknowledging this though I just now saw the EW-thingy ... does this mean the whole thing will continue now and ppl will stop looking for a smarter more effective way to go about it?

    Magnus are we doomed?

    DD


    (BTW who would bad mouth sweet brainy Wendy? That goes against all the common sense I have.)

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  60. DD, probably.

    And it was/is Mel from ChuckTV who badmouthed Wendy and tried to take credit for her work. Not kidding about that either. Hell, she did it on the set of CHUCK.

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  61. Bummer, I hope we can still run with Wendy's approach in some capacity. I was thinking, would it help to get some ppl together to rewatch all of S4 to list all In-Ep. advertisers or is there already a list? And then we could think how to use that information in Wendy style if possible.

    BTW I always loved the twitter trending missions though we aren't really doing it anymore. Am I right in my assumption that since we never really reached any Nielsen families with it (and it did become kinda frustrating because of that), that we simply toned it down to tweeting during episodes and to coordinate efforts?

    The Wendy / Mel thing sucks it has a Papa B / Roark feel to it ... by such behavior this fandom can essential be split up which doesn't help us reach out goal actually it's very contraproductive. Imagine all the ideas a certain someone could come up if if that someone used said time and resources thinking about the show instead of plotting ... dame am I back in high school? I hope that character problem has only that 1 person cause I actually like Gray's writers Q&A podcasts.

    DD

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  62. I'll have to check on this, but I don't think Super Shuttle is a big advertiser in the traditional sense of running advertising in the breaks. I don't know what they paid for their placement in the show, but they probably got more value out of it than if they had spent the same amount running a typical :30 ad in breaks.

    That placement will be seen in the show for as long as people replay this episode on any platform they play it.

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  63. Magnus,

    I admire your attempt to get the noses pointing in the direction but as you can see a large chunk of the fans aren't listening. As far as I can deduce from your previous post, the people in charge of these campaigns rather harbor negative feelings (in mel's case pride) towards one another than working together on an effective campaign to save this show.

    Just remember people we all have at least one thing in common: we want another season for chuck.

    DS

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  64. DS, the truth is that fan campaigns are rarely successful anyway. We got lucky with Subway because they were already doing product integration and had contacted NBC about being more involved prior to Wendy's campaign. Wendy had no way of knowing that when she started it and then we lucked out when she decided to go to a UK convention and ran into Zac. We then lucked out again that Zac is who he is and Wendy is who she is and they put together that memorable walk to Subway with hundreds of people.

    We also lucked out in that CHUCK was the show every blogger wanted to save.

    But in season 4 the only thing we have is a core group of Internet fans still pushing the show via social media. But it hasn't affected ratings in any positive way. And we don't have any great idea that will catch the eye of the bigger media (CNN etc). During season 2 we got mentioned on the DAILY SHOW. That won't happen this time.

    So, really, all this campaigning is just posturing. People trying to be around to take credit if CHUCK is renewed. That is why I stepped out of the fan campaign business. I realized I just didn't care enough about getting credit for what is truthfully a con job.

    When NBC makes its decision, it won't give two monkey poo's on the wall what fans did, except whether or not they tuned it and whether or not WB will give them a deal they can't refuse.

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  65. Depressing though pellucid ... well thats a trait most ppl have - if they love something they wanne help it along even if nothing they do actually has any impact - the feeling of being helpless is being countered with doing something no (matter if it's helpful or not).

    And yes that mention on CNN or on TDS during S2 was a good 1 the only thing close to it (although distantly) is this quip about Nielsen ratings in general ;) -> (@ 3:00) http://bit.ly/fIc4vL

    BTW it's even more fun listening to your unedited potcasts! :D

    DD

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  66. How is that anywhere in the same universe? It isn't even about CHUCK.

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  67. ****"Depressing though pellucid ... well thats a trait most ppl have - if they love something they wanne help it along even if nothing they do actually has any impact - the feeling of being helpless is being countered with doing something no (matter if it's helpful or not)."****

    Yup... like I have said many times, I would rather go enjoy the time I have with the things I love, than desperately freak out while I try to save them from an end I have no power to prevent. To put it in perspective, it is like throwing rocks at an asteroid as it approaches Earth on a potential planet ending collision course. And then, if it misses, taking credit for having thrown just enough rocks. ;)

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  68. I said it wasn't anywhere about chuck I was simply pointing out the quip about Nielsen ratings 3:00 into the clip (you didn't have to watch the whole thing) to make ya smile a lil. ;)

    BTW nice astro-analogy! Though you are right this constant worrying about the issue has taken away immensely of my enjoyment of the show. So I simply stopped doing that even if I still catch myself from time to time doing it. I know I'm a SUCKER! ;)

    DD

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  69. In season 3, it sucked out almost all the enjoyment I used to receive from watching the show and so I just checked out of the "save our show" junk toward the end. And we didn't really do anything about it and the show still got picked up.

    I have no delusions of grandeur. I know what is coming has nothing to do with me.

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  70. Magnus, great podcast - again! Listened to it on the drive to Toms River and as always was entertained & informed. I think what I like best about yours is that you are up front and straight about what you like and don't like in an episode, the fandom or anything else that might cross you mind. I've noticed that the internet is a breeding ground for the backhanded compliment: An insult disguised as a compliment. I've found them increasingly appearing in podcasts, reviews and blogs prefaced by "I would have liked..." or "if only they..." You have often said that we shouldn't expect the show to deliver something it never has before (or words to that effect) and yet that delivery is becoming expected.
    The show is what it is - and frankly, I like what it is.
    Thanks again!

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  71. Thank you, PeterO. Glad you are still enjoying the mess that is CYT. :)

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  72. I agree, PeterOinNJ. What bothers me more are the people that (claim they) don't watch chuck but bitch about people watching it(especially at the AV club and TVBTN). Moreover, they claim that they were die hard fans but because of the so-called decline in quality they have stopped watching yet they take time to read reviews (preferably negatively toned reviews) and post after every episode (its the same group of people). They should be ridiculed.



    Magnus, I see an increasing amount of articles on how/why chuck's faith is connected with development season, how accurate is this? got any updates regarding renewal?


    DS

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  73. I think it's nice for Chuck to lead that USA Today Save Our Show poll. I've got a hardcopy of the newspaper and it's pretty hard to miss.

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  74. If you were to give odds like you did in the last spoiler thread, what would the odds of renewal be right now?

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  75. DR,

    I also like CYT.
    Keep up the good fight and keep messing with our minds with your twisted spoilers!

    TS

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  76. I will refer, yet again, to my blog posting where I predict that CHUCK will be renewed. Did you think I was kidding?

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  77. Yes, i saw the prediction... just wanted to get a confidence rating on that. Predicting a renewal at 51% confidence is a lot different than 90%, obviously.

    The question came up in response to the 'whether or not WB will give them a deal they can't refuse.'. Maybe the better question to ask wouldve been 'what are the chances that WB does this?'

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  78. I don't post prediction blogs like that for fun. See, I am Magnus and I err on the side of caution. So, the fact that I posted the blog and put it out there that I think it will be renewed, means you can stop worrying about it.

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  79. DR predicting little before the upfronts, that alone should give you a clue where to bet your money on... just sayin'...

    Bob

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  80. With 1.3s, i'll probably keep on worrying about it at least somewhat up until i hear something from NBC. Nothing against you Magnus, your prediction gives me hope, but those numbers sure dont provoke happy thoughts.

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  81. That's your problem. I am cool as ice. :)

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  82. Magnus,

    Nice to hear you confirm your renewal prediction. Are you still thinking Fall of 2011? That seems like a fairly quick return. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

    Jim

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  83. For anybody who cares Carina was on the latest episode of Bones

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  84. I'm going to take a second to worship at the altar of Marcus...er Magnus right now, and it's not for anything Chuck related. Because of this blog, I have just watched my first ever episode of Parks and Recreation. Holy expletive deleted. Why has this show not been on my radar until now?

    Jim

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  85. My first post and, yes, I know it's totally out of topic, but:

    - Did anyone else find amusing the choice of the main villain's name at Scream 4?

    **Spoiler Warning :: Stop reading if you don't want to know the name**

    >> Jill Roberts!!! =D

    Kinha

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  86. Ahoy hoy! Wanted to drop in and clarify a point...don't be down on the WGAC's guys...they're good enthusiastic eggs. They actually DID approach me earlier this season to ask my advice and see if I had any ideas. At the time I didn't have anything I felt would be effective but they did ask me to stay in touch if I thought of something. I wrote to them about the Super Shuttle thing and they seemed excited about potentially adding it to their efforts. It fits in nicely with their supporting sponsors push, plus it takes it a step outside of social media and has the added benefit of Super Shuttle reciprocating in kind by offering the fans a 10% discount. I hope they'll run with it, but there’s not a new Chuck episode for a while and it would probably best to time the addition of something like that to coincide with a fresh episode. I'm sorry I didn't get to say some of this on the podcast but as you heard...technical difficulties abound...my general apologies for the crappy mic Magnus. Please be sweet to the new kids…and hell…even if we don't Save Chuck, at least we'll save money…I know I’ll be booking a Super Shuttle for SDCC & I hope to see some of you there!

    AND on a note of pure AWESOME, everyone should go to twitter and congratulate the amazing Bailey (@LittleChuckFan) who not only blew out her fundraising target for St. Jude on twitter tonight, but she beat last year's total by more than 2X's...over $11,000 raised to help children fight cancer! Fan campaigns, twitter buddies, and shared renewal hopes aside...it's the generosity of the fans that truly makes me proud to be a member of the Chuck Nerd Nation.

    Wendy
    (apologies if this double posts...it's doing something weird)

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  87. Wendy, we both know that what everyone is doing, regarding the support sponsors push, is 90% a waste of time and 10% poorly thought out. And I was nice to them when I helped them out with their first push (the letter writing campaign). Helped? I wrote the entire thing.

    But you know me, I will not just support something to get on people's good side. If I think it is a waste of time, I am going to tell you. And it is a waste of time.

    As for Bailey's fundraiser, that is awesome! And the generosity of the CHUCK fans is what makes me very proud to be one. Fundraising should be the core of what we do, not raising money to buy ads or spamming NBC/WB people and advertisers.

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  88. Kinha, really? Cool!

    Jim, you are welcome. :)

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  89. " Please be sweet to the new kids…and hell…even if we don't Save Chuck, at least we'll save money… "

    Just an excerpt from Queen Wendy's post ...

    Doesn't Wendy read your blog Magnus ? You already predicted renewal lol

    Aside from that , huge congrats to Bailey !!! Over 11k for charity , that's amazing in all sorts of ways . Everybody who donated to the cause should feel very proud !

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  90. I am pretty sure Wendy means even though none of these efforts will have an impact on saving CHUCK, since it doesn't need to be saved by us (and couldn't possibly be saved by us anyway). She is just being diplomatic. I translate well for her. ;)

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  91. "Razorback said...
    I don't post prediction blogs like that for fun. See, I am Magnus and I err on the side of caution. So, the fact that I posted the blog and put it out there that I think it will be renewed, means you can stop worrying about it."

    Magnus, did I tell you how much I love you? You are a like this soothing voice that tells me to stop worrying. And it works! I stopped worrying...

    I have one last spoilerish question for you before the end of the season... Are we still allowed to ask questions?

    The onlymajor plot hole for me of the entire season is Mama B using the PSP to neutralize the Intersect with the famous "Your father never wanted you to see this". I still do not understand why she did this... I thought that it was because she wanted him to ultimately use his father laptop so that he would download an updated version of the interstect. But my theory assumed that Mama B knew about the computer... Which did not seem to be the case when she saw Eli with it. I guess my question is: should I let it go and assume it was just a plot hole? Or will we discover that Chuck did download an improved version of the intersect after the PSP episode?

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  92. Perhaps Mama B just meant that to see the PSP meant that Chuck had become an Intersect, something his father did not want, and therefor needed it suppressed.

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  93. True story:

    Yesterday, I was walking in NYC, going South on 7th Avenue through Times Square with the street to my left and the stores to my right. A guy emerges from a store and says to his friend, "Hey, it's the Super Shuttle!".

    I look to my left and it is the Super Shuttle in traffic. Then, the guy starts a conversation with his friend where he saw it on Chuck.

    Product placement works.

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  94. For anybody who cares in the latest episode of Chuck, Morgan did do the move "The Morgan" with the help of a serving tray. So if I am right I think Mike pointed that out so good looking out.

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  95. @Canadian Greg

    Mr. Grimes did not do The Morgan. He covered his face with a serving tray, but there was no protection of the genitals and there was no foot in the air. So technically, according to Chuck's description of the stance, whatever Morgan did was not THE Morgan.

    -YW

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  96. so the morgan just did A morgan then.

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  97. Something this awesome 200 years ago would have been considered witchcraft !

    That is all !

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  98. YW, I feel the need to ask you to edit your Chuck bible to say Half Morgan.

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  99. It is like a three quarter Morgan. A Quargan.

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  100. Happy Easter Magnus!

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No flaming, baiting, trolling, expletives, or racism allowed. And NO DISCUSSIONS of the actor's personal lives ever.