Hulk Busy!

Chuck's Back

The opening sequence for the second season premiere of NBC’s “Chuck” is so cool that even if I had not been a fan from last season, I would be after seeing this. Straight up spy suspenser with Michael Clarke Duncan (yes, the Kingpin hisself) as the bad guy holding our nerdboy Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) by his tie out the window of a multi-story building. Interesting cinematography that would make Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi blush inclusive, the scene pulls you in and holds you as the succinct synopsis of last season and story of tonight’s episode unfolds.

When I say the word ‘nerd’ about Chuck, I’m not kidding. He likes Huey Lewis’ “Hip to Be Square” (and not in an American Psycho way) and has a Tron poster on his wall. He works for a Best Buy-like store in their Geek Squad-like department – the word ‘nerd’ should be tattooed on his head. Not nerd-bashing here, heck, I’m a nerd, but I’m just setting the premise.

Chuck also happens to be carrying around the combined computer data of the CIA and the NSA in his head, making him very valuable. So with super-spies, one from each agency, Adam Baldwin and Yvonne Strahovski guarding and protecting him, Chuck gets caught up in case after case. As they say, hilarity ensues.

The second season opener of “Chuck,” entitled “Chuck Versus the First Date,” airs tonight at 8 PM EST, right before “Heroes.” And you folks are cool, so I shouldn’t have to tell you you should be watching “Heroes,” right?

Paul Newman RIP

Paul Newman passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer. He was 83.

He was also one of the greatest actors in Hollywood for the last five decades.

If you saw Newman's name in the credits you knew you were in for a treat.

He was, as the obit says, the epitome of cool. He'll be greatly missed.

The Idiot Box

Disney Does It Better

I recently had a chance to visit Universal Studios in Orlando. It was my first time there after visiting Disney World almost a dozen times in the last two decades. I gotta say, I was unimpressed. Universal tries hard, but in most cases not nearly hard enough. It’s all in the attitude.

The rides are fun, but have to stand on their own because the staff just doesn’t support them. Disney characters stay in character and aid to the ‘enchantment.’ I saw a Cyberdyne employee at the Terminator 2 ride chatting with guests about the weather and agreeing with them about how the park’s hours suck. Would an evil corporate employee of an evil mega-corporation about to eradicate mankind really do that?

I personally engaged Doctor Emmett Brown from Back to the Future in a conversation about Kanye West’s new single and how upset he was about the closing of the Adventurers Club, and how he wished he could have “gotten that gig.” Way to break character, Doc. Doc Brown, it should be noted, now that his ride has vanished from Universal, had been exiled to a nuclear-powered tricycle in the vicinity of Mel’s Drive-In from American Graffiti. The fifties, get it? Yep, that’s about the extent of Universal’s originality.

Have you ever tried to get the guides at Disney’s Haunted Mansion to break character? Ain’t gonna happen. You’d have better luck trying to make guards at Buckingham Palace crack a smile. Disney definitely does it better.