Friday, July 1, 2011

CHUCK Season 5 Cost Cutting Ideas (potential spoilers)

My ninjas have come through again, this time invading the writers room to take a picture of one of the white boards.  I warn you all that this could reveal major plot lines for season 5.  So, read carefully.

The following is ways that the CHUCK producers have figured out to make the show for less, or to somehow pay for the episodes after WB cut the budget yet again.


What do you think of this photo? Will season 5 be awesome?

*Not to be taken seriously. For comedic purposes only.

64 comments:

  1. I like that Chris and Josh write every idea in a different color.....

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  2. LOL. Well, I would be bored if Charah made out for 43 min.

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  3. I like Chris' third idea. A drive to SDCC would be pretty cheap to shoot. You could combine it with idea numbers one and four.

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  4. How could anyone be bored of Chuck and Sarah making out for 43 minutes?!

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  5. Id rather watch charah make out for 43 minutes than chuck and morgan waiting for the iphone 5 launch.

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  6. Bartimes? Gullerving?

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  7. The drive to Comicon thing actually might work as a bottle episode in which everyone has some interesting stuff to say.

    Take the "My dinner with Andre" concept and make it "My Drive with Chuck".

    Nah, they couldn't pull it off. Or could they?

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  8. The Comic-con thing could be cool if they do it the right way. Here is my idea they find out that Morgan has been kidnapped and Chuck, Sarah and Casey find out that he is in San Diego. The people that kidnapped use Comic-con as a cover so it make it hard to find Morgan. While that is all happening Morgan is finding out how to use the intersect. And in the end Morgan saves Chuck and the gang.
    What do you guys think?

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  9. Well, COMMUNITY pulled off a 21 minute long episode where people just talked around a big table and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

    So, probably not.

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  10. Greg, only problem is that this show has always, at least seemingly, existed within real-time, so doing a comic con episode would be difficult. Unless they made one up.

    In that case, I guess your idea could work, though it does feel a bit like the Manoosh episode.

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  11. Manoosh could be in that episode. If Entourage can do an episode at comic con then so can chuck. some of part of the episode could be in hotel rooms and hallways. and then they could do some green screen for some parts of the episode.

    The super shuttle toyota thing could work minus the madden video game part. They could have mini missions that will find out how Chuck got de-Intersect. That could be in one episode.

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  12. chuck and sarah making out for 45 minutes >>>>> all other ideas

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  13. I agree with everyone else .. a chuck and sarah making out for 45 minutes episode will get top ratings for them, it could even get a series high :)) that's of course if they also turn make`out into a sex`scene :D:D (just think about it .. no clothes = no money for new wardrobe... it makes sense)

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  14. LOL! That is a great point. You don't even need to pay anyone to be on set other than the director and some camera people. You can loop in the sound of kissing later.

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  15. I think the idea of Charah making out for 43 min is awesome! everybody's gonna love this one! (;

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  16. Casey & Kathleen making out for 45 minutes :-)

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  17. If Kathleen is even in a season 5 episode, I will be surprised.

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  18. Chuck and Morgan making out for 45 minutes?

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  19. Wouldn't Sarah be upset that her husband is cheating on her?

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  20. Well with what they have been giving Morgan lately it seem only fitting that he should get Chuck too.

    On a more serious note though I would not mind the more realistic alternative of having Chuck and Sarah making out for 45 seconds.

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  21. nope Magnus .. cause Sarah`s going to be busy making out with Casey`s daughter ... :))) OK! that's just sick let's stop :)))

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  22. You forgot one: Team Bartowski go on a mission at Warner Brothers Studios.

    -Fart in a Mitten

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  23. I know this is not the appropriate thread to post this in but i think it's a topic that was debated a lot in the past : The lack of passion and steamy scenes in season4
    Zachary Levi was a guest @PlusOnePerDiem where he explained the awkwardness of intimate on`screen moments : http://zacharylevifan.com/downloads/plusone.mp3

    What do you think about this Magnus ? you knew that actors have a say in the way they kiss ? i mean they can choose if they would use their tongues or not and things like that ?
    Cause to me everything he said makes a lot of sense and would explain why passion toned down on "Chuck"

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  24. I actually downloaded this earlier but haven't listened yet. I will check it out.

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  25. OK, I listened... he said pretty much what I have said. And I don't think he was really referencing Yvonne and him... more the other chicks who have come on the show that he kissed. But as I have said before, I have been told about them doing much hotter scenes that were cut down in the edit. So, the problem isn't the actors.

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  26. Can't you make these a bit more readable? It takes me about an hour to decipher them

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  27. It's probably already been discussed but why are the "hotter" scenes getting edited? Want it to be more of a family show? They don't have to show sex, but some longer kisses would be nice. Right now I've seen steamier kisses on the Disney channel.

    Anyways, I could get behind 43 mins of kissing, lol. Also the drive to Comic Con? LOL..I would watch that too.

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  28. Yeah, he talked about those scenes in a general way i only thought he meant Yvonne at the part where he said "some girls when they are in relationships are less likely to wanna do open`mouth`tongue kisses"
    Since he was obviously asked about kisses on "Chuck" and the other chicks who kissed him on "Chuck" all did passionate open`mouth`tongue kisses. Yvonne in season4 is the only one who he did just pecks with.
    "I have been told about them doing much hotter scenes that were cut down in the edit."
    Then thank God for the DVD deleted scenes section :) thx for your reply Murph you usually have insights that other sites don't. Are you coming to Comic`Con this year ?:)

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  29. Who the hell is Murph?

    Anonymous, I have no idea why they are avoiding hotness in the final cuts. My sources are good but not good enough to know what goes on inside the minds of the show runners.

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  30. I meant Magnus, sorry :) So you coming to Comic`Con ?:) or at NerdHQ ?:)
    Also, those hot scenes are going to be released on the DVD as deleted scenes ?

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  31. Hmm, that puts the theory, that you are secretly Chris Fedak, in serious jeopardy. You should know what goes on inside your own mind, you know. ;)

    Anyway I´d actually like most of these cost cutting ideas. :D Well not killing of anybody but Chuck. Although I guess 13 episodes of Chuck in a single room interacting with nobody would cut cost drastically and mean a lot of work for Zac.

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  32. I have no idea what is going on the DVD. Or if I did, I have forgotten it.

    I am not going to SDCC or Nerd HQ or whatever it is called. I wasn't even asked to be involved.

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  33. I think when he was talking about girls in relationships he may have been refering to another girl who came on in season 3 and they had the most awkward first kiss ever! Sorry Magnus, we know how much you love her. Also for what it is worth Magnus is right they are editing so much out of these episodes, I mean if you go to the stills for versus the cliffhanger you can see that there are photos of three other kisses (I do not know if they were hot or not) that never made it onto the screen. You may have to ask Fedak that at Comic Con.

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  34. I should correct myself a tad... I was kind of asked to be involved. In any event, I wouldn't have gone. I am as broke as broke can be and getting more broke by the second.

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  35. Apart from bsg, passion and intimacy on shows suck, blame it on these do gooders who want bland le tv for the children! Lol

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  36. Ellie and awesome, Morgan and Alex and casey and....how does this guy not date? Lol.... have had a limp year in the passion department, yet no one really on the Internet notices or cares. Hmmmmm, interesting and a little creepy, lol.

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  37. You know how I know James doesn't listen to my podcast? :)

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  38. just thought of this because I was watching season 2 again but they could do a episode that has to do with a certain event and yes I know that sounds like the Comic Con idea but it's not because even though filming it at comic con would be possible it might be to hard to pull off. But back to what I want to say do you remember when they did a episode where Anna had a new boyfriend and Morgan spy on them with jeffester. Why not do something like that. They could spilt Alex and Morgan up for a episode and then have that episode I was talking about then in the end of the episode they get back together and jeffester plays an awesome song.

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  39. Any word yet who will be moderating the CHUCK panel at Comic Con ?

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  40. Hi Magnus,

    I recommended your awesome site to some friends and they told me that they cannot play some of your older podcasts, can you post something to help them? All they can see is an image of a Q and that is it.

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  41. Jonny, unfortunately, there was some issue with the older podcasts that won't play for some. The only thing I can recommend is to download them from iTunes and convert to mp3.

    There are several sites around that will do it for free, like:

    http://www.freefileconvert.com/

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  42. I don't remember who said this but I remember at one point Bryce was suppose to be in the third season but didn't because of the show White Collar. But I was thinking what if he came back as the bad guy for the finale season. Bryce once again goes against Chuck and this time double-crossing Sarah. Which could work on so many levels. It could be season 3 but only the better.

    Magnus tell me what you think.

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  43. I said it... since I am the only one around this entire fandom with real sources.

    So, when you ask yourself "I wonder how I know that?"

    The answer is always going to be that you heard it from me.

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  44. OK but what about the idea though

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  45. The idea you mentioned is the exact idea I mentioned on the podcast...

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  46. my bad I forgot I think if they do, do it they have to make it a bit different like at the end of the first or second episode chuck could see Bryce. Then Sarah and Casey might think he is going crazy again like he was in the 3rd season and maybe bring back Christopher Lloyd for an episode to make people more worried about chuck. Then at the end of that episode or the beginning of the next sarah will see Bryce and sarah can chase after him. which could cut back cost in episodes for this season.

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  47. Here is an idea but not a cost cutting one, can Chuck please grow his hair out a bit and also can he wear ties like all the time. I really miss Sarah straigtening his hair or running her hand through it and also playing with his ties. I would gladly watch that for 43 minutes, so adorable, I know! I am a GIRL! LOL

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  48. Well, what does Zac's hair look like now? Because unless it grows out in the next four months, it won't be changing too much.

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  49. I want to see Sarah and Ellie make out for 43 minutes! but maybe as an extra on a DVD so we don't have to worry about it being censored for TV

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  50. They need to make Sarah more up to date with pop culture . But have it that she likes everything that is frowned upon in the geekverse . EX: she likes Star Wars , but the prequels over the originals . Stuff like that could be pretty funny and take up some time during an episode or two with Chuck trying to show her the right path lol

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  51. What did you all think of Fedak's latest interview?

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  52. As someone who knows little going into this season (but still knowing more than I want to know), I find his answers to be pretty standard. He isn't giving up anything and hinting at a lot.

    Unfortunately, what can they deliver on an ever decreasing budget?

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  53. I don't know if this is a good idea or bad idea but maybe they could take out the intro I don't think it will save a lot of money but some shows do this. so maybe it could help.

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  54. I don't understand how taking out the intro would help.

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  55. The good thing about CHUCK is that the show has never done an hour of just characters talking about what their lives were and what they are now and what they want to be. I mean CHUCK could do that for 3 of the final episodes and I doubt anyone would get tired of it or be bothered that they are being so open and cool with each other. So my idea is have 3 episodes of them sitting in a bar talking! AWESOME!

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  56. I don't know if this is the right forum for this but for those of you who are going to Comic-con Please take a lot of video's from the Chuck panel for those of us that can't go.

    Thanks

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  57. Man, I love when Fedak gives an interview. People's reactions are as entertaining as any episode of the show itself.

    Also, Chuck vs. The Constant Flashbacks. He gets drugged and just starts having random flashbacks to previous episodes. It could be this shows version of a clip show.

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  58. I Just read that this will be chucks last season has anyone else heard this??

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  59. I don't if people will think this is a bad idea or not but what if they got some people from youtube to do it because I have seen some awesome videos with CGI and could be good enough for TV and I pretty sure that would cut a lot money.
    example
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YsRO6G7Ks&feature=channel_video_title

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