Chuck!
So the weekend got away from me. The five year old (my son’s little brother) got here earlier than expected, proceeded to run from room to room getting into everything, calling and asking for me to help him with whatever it was he was getting into at the moment. I think I ran a half marathon just going between rooms. I’m going to buy one of those 13.1 bumper stickers.
So I didn’t have the time, or the energy, to do much writing. I did, however, have some late-night TV time, as the 5-year old slept. So I finished season 4 of Chuck. If you haven’t seen Chuck, I highly recommend seasons 1-3. If I had to describe season 4 as a whole, I would say that it is not season 3, which in turn was not season 1 and 2. Season 1 and 2 were excellent. However, while it had less of it (presumably because of sagging ratings resulting in a sagging budget), season 4 still had really, really good music. I’m starting to think that whoever picks the music for the show is stealing it my MP3 player. So I thought I’d share a little of the music with you. If you catch me snoring while you listen, ignore it.
Broken Bells “The High Road,” Season 3, Episode 18: “Chuck Versus the Subway”
The song up top there is by the Danger Mouse and James Mercer-from-The-Shins duo, Broken Bells. The whole album is good for a listen or two, but every time I hear this particular track it sticks in my head, as it did the moment I heard it in the background of a Chuck episode. The entire song is a build up to the lines that are repeated to end the song: “It’s too late to change your mind/You let loss be your guide.” I don’t know what happened to Mercer to inspire him to write them, but those lines could be a fitting epitaph to any number of my failed relationships, romantic and otherwise.
The Eels “Fresh Feeling,” Season 1, Episode 8: “Chuck Versus the Truth”
OK, I know The Eels are inconsistent. They’ve got those two songs that everyone knows, one of which is this one, a couple really good Prince covers (which will be in a post in the near future, I promise), and a cult following. It’s such a happy song (and the couple in that video, which is not associated with the band, is adorable) that I have moments when I think they must mean it ironically, but then I think, “It’s OK to be happy,” and I just enjoy the song.
The Gotan Project “Santa Maria (Del Buen Ayre),” Season 1, Episode 3: “Chuck Versus the Tango”
I’m going to let you on a little secret: one of my guilty pleasures is electric tango. I have nothing to say about it, other than that I’m not very good at the tango, but if you want a really fun Pandora station, create one using The Gotan Project as the seed.
The New Pornographers “Challengers,” Season 1, Episode 2: “Chuck Versus the Helicopter”
I like the The New Pornographers. When Neko Case is at the helm, I love The New Pornographers. This song, as far as I can tell, is about people having an affair, but Case’s voice is so haunting here that she could be singing about a walk through the fish market, because it’s all I’m hearing.
Gogol Bordello “Ultimate,” Season 1, Episode 12: “Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover”
There is a thing called gypsy punk. Sometimes it’s not very punk, or very gypsy, but in Gogol Bordello’s case, it’s at least a little bit of both. They are the genre’s most popular representative, as far as I can tell, and each of their songs sounds like a wedding or a bar fight is about to break out. Perhaps both at once.
Alexi Murdoch “Crinan Wood,” Season 4, Episode 16: “Chuck Versus the Masquerade”
Alexi Murdoch had this song maybe 12 years ago or so called “Orange Sky.” It is a pretty good song, but I heard it every single time I turned on the radio. Then it was in movies (it was on the Garden State soundtrack, you may recall). I am just now beginning to be able to hear it again. Anyway, this is not that song. It’s also a pretty good song, in Murdoch’s understated, “I might fall asleep while I’m singing” style. Even the emotional climaxes are so subdued that, in a strange way, it gives them more punch. It is as though things have gotten so intense that his voice has been taken from him almost completely.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Rockers to Swallow,” Season 4, Episode 15: “The Cat Squad”
Karen O is a rock star, which means she is meant to be consumed live. In a body suit with tinsel.
Matt Costa “Astair,” Season 3, Episode 7: “Chuck Versus the Mask”
Here’s what I know about Matt Costa: he is a dude, he sings songs, and he had one that I liked in an episode of Chuck. He’s got a little bit of a Mason Jennings thing going.
Rogue Wave “Lake Michigan,” Season 1, Episode 5: “Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp”
Rogue Wave was part of that indie rock renaissance of sorts in the early aughts along with Mercer’s The Shins, Jack White, The Stroke, etc., with its hints of 60s worship and occasional moments of brilliance. This song is pretty close to such a moment, particularly when the guitar and drums are alone with each other at the beginning.
Matt Pond PA “Amazing Life,” Season 2, Episode 17: Chuck Versus the Predator”
Matt Pond PA is sort of like Dave Matthews Band in that it’s a band with one member’s name, but unlike Dave Matthews Band, they tell you where they’re from in the name too. Also a product of the early Aughts indie rock scene, they also have a little bit o’ the 60s, and little bit o’ the modern. Oh, and they don’t even live in Pennsylvania anymore. False advertising.
And with that, I’m going to go fall asleep to Season 5, Episode 1 of Chuck. If you’ve got any more Chuck music that you’d like to share, you know where the comments are.
Oh, and if you could, please click on “Use Old Embed Code” on YouTube when you share songs. That keeps the page load times manageable.
I don’t know that I could say “this season was good” and “this season was bad” about Chuck. I think it would be fair to say Season 2 was best. The later seasons weren’t bad per se, but there certainly were some challenge-of-the-week episodes that if you edited out would raise those seasons from average to very good. Of course, that requires someone to tell you which episodes were safe to skip.
I agree with you about the music. Somehow even though the budget constraints showed through everywhere else, they maintained their spending on music (and perhaps on guest stars). Some of those action scenes in seasons 4 and 5 were quite painful to watch though–especially anything involving Morgan.
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All the Gotan Project albums are awesome even if you’re not otherwise into tango. In fact, it might be better if you’re not into tango since those folks seem to very much be traditionalists and doing anything other than a cover of a prior classic using the same instrumentation as whoever popularized it means you aren’t playing real tango.Report
We stopped watching after Season 3 (though we own Seasons 4 and 5 and they’re sitting right there…).
Seasons One and Two were marathonable. Maribou and I would sit on the couch and watch an episode and then look at each other and say “wanna watch another one?” and we’d take a quick potty break and make some popcorn and watch another four.
Season Three was a slog. I’m told that Season Five brings it all home and is as good as the first two… but I feel obliged to get through Season Four first…Report
I’ve only just started season 5, so I can’t give you a verdict, but season 4 is at times a tough slog. I watched seasons 1-3 in a couple weeks, and it took me another 2 weeks to watch season 4 by itself. I kept finding other stuff to watch. I think part of it is their budget issues, but part of it is the writers just having no idea what to do with Chuck’s personality (in season 1 and 2, you’re thinking, “Of course Sarah would fall for him,” and in season 4, you’re thinking, “Why the hell would Sarah fall for him?”). I am hoping season 5 is easier.Report
Season 5 does bring it all home…in the better episodes. The last two episodes in particular are as good of a finale as I can remember having been done. That said, there are some episodes that are really quite weak. At times it really does right by its viewers and at times it’s an hour wasted.Report
Actually, Vikram reminded me of something; there were times, when I was falling out of love with Chuck, that I thought it might have played better as half-hour (well, 22-minute) episodes. They often just didn’t have enough material for a full hour (well, 43 minutes).Report
Part of the reason music can be so good on these TV shows (even when it’s music that would be…improbable…for the characters to listen to) is not just because the showmakers have good taste (though they often do) – it’s also usually cheaper to use a song from indie/relatively-unknown band X than it is from megapopular artist Y.
Chuck showed how 50/50 “dramedy” is one of the hardest mixes to sustain over time. Comedies generally depend on hitting the reset button – once you have a reliable ensemble and good concept/setting, your best bet is to bounce them off each other ad infinitum; people are happy to just hang out in Cheers and listen to those people crack jokes once again.
But dramas need forward motion, they need characters and relationships to change; stasis is their death.
After a season or two of Chuck (which we LOVED at the outset) it seemed that the two elements, rather than reinforcing each other, were holding each other back, and we tired of it, and stopped watching.
So with a name like Alexi Murdoch, I assumed he was Scots – but he’s English. He wants to be Nick Drake in a bad way, doesn’t he?
“I might fall asleep while I’m singing” style. Even the emotional climaxes are so subdued that, in a strange way, it gives them more punch. It is as though things have gotten so intense that his voice has been taken from him almost completely.
^^^That does it, I’m going to have to get around to that Seam post one day.
I saw Matt Pond PA kind of by accident – he/they used to play a local bar here a lot. After the first time I went back for at least one more. Good live act.
I saw Gogol Bordello in Germany, and it was a GOOD show, but a LONG one. I was kind of done with it before it was over.
Challengers is the one NP album I don’t own. You may enjoy this appreciation they just did over at AVClub:
http://www.avclub.com/article/how-challengers-became-the-new-pornographers-most–201189Report
On Chuck, I agree with your take. In this particular case, they had a character who was whiny and talked too much, and the emotional tension of his will-they-won’t-they relationship with Sarah, and then he got together with Sarah, became an actual spy, and remained whiny and talked too much… in the middle of missions. And it just got old, because they clearly didn’t know how to make him evolve. Oh well.
But the music remains awesome, even on (or perhaps as you note, as a result of) their increasingly low budget.
On Murdoch: I didn’t listen to him for years because I was so over “Orange Sky,” but he started popping up on Pandora about a year or so ago, so I started listening again, and he’s not bad. I just can’t hear “Orange Sky” very often, or I will be done with him.
I saw Matt Pond PA a couple years ago, and they were good live. I’d see them again.
Gogol Bordello I have not seen. Did any weddings and/or bar fights break out?
Oh, and New Pornographers… they are undeniably good. I mean, really good. Sometimes they have that superband feel, though, where you recognize that they’re really, really good, but there’s something missing. That’s why I prefer the songs with Neko Case doing the lead vocals, because whatever it is they have missing (soul, maybe), she can’t help but have.Report
NP’s are good, but I agree about the Neko songs (and I think I am in the minority, but I prefer the Dan Bejar songs too).
It’s not so much that Newman’s songs lack soul, exactly; it’s that they are often (IMO) paradoxically too much of a good thing.
He stuffs so many hooks and climaxes into each song that they get exhausting. It’s like hitting play on an entire album’s worth of Cheap Trick songs at the same time.Report
it’s also usually cheaper to use a song from indie/relatively-unknown band X than it is from megapopular artist Y.
Ah, that’s an interesting and plausible theory. Though I thought the rights for songs were fixed fee based on the number of viewers rather than negotiated based on the quality of the song.
If fees are variable, you would think there would be plenty of bad music to pick from too, wouldn’t you?Report
They are definitely not flat fees, and it can be very expensive to use a well-known artist/song; even if you bite the bullet and pay the fee for broadcast, you have to pay it again for subsequent media releases like DVD etc.
It’s why some music-heavy series’ DVD releases are delayed (IIRC both WKRP and Freaks and Geeks had this happen), or just come out on DVD with different music (I think The State did this), because they weren’t able to (re)secure the music rights quickly at an agreeable price.Report
I stuck around for season 3, at leas partly because I’m a Brandon Routh fan. With the 3rd season finale, it seems like they were taking really wonderful steps to make sure their show didn’t get stale: Puhpx dhvg gur PVN. Gur Ohl-Zber ohearq qbja. N arj tbny, bar jurer vg jbhyq frrz ernfbanoyr gb xrrc Fnenu naq Pnfrl va gur qnex ohg funer rirelguvat jvgu Ryyvr.
And then I saw the season premier of season 4 where they reverted all of those changes in one episode, and I just decided to quit then and there.Report
It wasn’t surprising that Chuck had good music since it was produced/created/whatever by some of the people behing The OC, which also had great music.
I enjoyed the first season of Chuck quite a bit. The second season was good, but it was during this season that my enjoyment started to decline. I thought the third season was really hit-and-miss… with a lot of big misses. Honestly, I didn’t even realize it went to five seasons.
A funny scene in Season One came at the end of the Hallowe’en episode. Chuck and his friend (Morgan?) had a tiff, and at the end of the episode, Chuck came running in to the Hallowe’en party to reconcile. It was in slo-mo and was a total spoof on a scene from season one of The OC in which Ryan runs into a New Years party to kiss Marissa just before midnight. It was a nice inside joke to fans of both shows.
And in both scenes, they used this lovely song from Finley Quaye:
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Huh, I guess I screwed up embedding the video. I’ll try again:
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I’m giving up.Report
Were you using the new embed code, the old embed code, or just a link? Maribou was reporting a similar problem, and once in a while WP has stripped my embeds out too. I’ve never been able to figure out a common thread.Report
This one?
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That’s the one. (And I tried both the new and old codes. Someone clearly hates me.)Report