Upon viewing last Thursday’s twofer of Chuck I began thinking that blonde, secret agent babe reminded me of someone. At first, I thought Yvonne Strzechowski reminded me of Julia Stiles, but then I thought better.

Does anyone else think she resembles Alaskan songstress/poet Jewel? Besides the whole buxom blonde thing, they’ve also got kind of weird teeth.

So what do you think?

Chuck is new tonight. That’s something.

There are two episodes on tonight, one at eight and one at ten.

Rejoice.

We haven’t gone down this road in a while, but let’s dive back in. For this match-up, let’s pair up Project Runway’s hunky draper Rami Kashou with the bumbling action hero Chuck.

At first, this might not seem like an even match-up. Given Rami’s comparative brawn, one might assume that he’d be able dismember Chuck before the lowly computer tech could even stammer out a lovable quip. However, when you think about their different lifestyles, things get a little more complicated.

Chuck’s daily life involves international espionage and intense action sequences with bullets whizzing past his head. Rami’s daily life, on the other hand, involves competitive sewing. So it might not be that easy.

Rami

Strengths:

• Grew up in Jerusalem — they make ‘em tough
• Tree trunk-like arms
• His sexuality/smoldering gaze

Weaknesses:

• Even temper might prevent him from entering a conflict
• Creatives aren’t generally known for their scrappy fighting ability
• Fashion designer

Chuck

Strengths:

• Mr. Magoo-like resilience
• He’s got a frickin’ COMPUTER in his BRAIN!
• Consistent ability to defy improbable odds

Weaknesses:

• Scared of most things
• Easily manipulated
• Seemingly helpless when left on his own

Where can you even buy one of those?

• Katherine Heigl won’t . Tina Fey will.
• A Chevy ad spoiled Cane.
• ABC finished an episode of Grey’s .
• The Naked Chef is .
• An update on the David Chase trial.
• Ask Matt talks about Chuck and Gossip Girl.
• Charisma Carpenter’s too poor for a divorce.
• A Christmas present for your favorite Battlestar fan.
• E-Kristin chimes in on the Golden Globes.

This is an inauspicious way to return to blogging, but I just can’t help grinning every time I watch the credits to Chuck. [kml_flashembed movie="/1azgd809aIY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Even as the show itself declines in my esteem, the brilliant credit sequence only rises. It’s so… expensive. And elaborate. And catchy. Set to Cake’s “Short Skirt, Long Jacket,” which is a fun song to begin with, it animates its way into my heart despite everything that comes before or after.

It is by far the best credit sequence out there now. Some of my other favorites include House (old-fashioned imagery and a slightly spooky tune), 30 Rock (perfectly captures the zany tone, and the shot of Alec Baldwin makes me laugh every time), and The Wire (same song sung by a different person/group every season, it’s overly long like all HBO credits and the imagery is pretty standard, but it’s a great song).

The worst credit sequence offenses are perpetrated by ABC. They’ve all but done away with credits, and the atrocities that the Lost “credit sequence” unleashed on the world with imitators like Heroes and Reaper can’t be underestimated. Ugly Betty is a cute concept but annoying after one or two viewings. Pushing Daisies, a show flawless in every other regard, has no credit sequence to speak of, only that silly animation. Grey’s Anatomy has all but given up on their doctors-getting-it-on credit sequence in favor of a Lost-ish GREY’S ANATOMY fading into white while a single sequence of notes plinks suggestively.

Then there are the credit sequences that are either brilliant or demented. I’m thinking primarily of the sequence for Weeds, which makes me want to stab my own eyes out. Stop singing that song! ENOUGH! How I Met Your Mother has a fun, brief song that I like most of the time — but once in a while it’s just too much and I can’t handle the chipper friendliness any more. And the less said about the absolutely embarrassing “You know you love me… X O X O” credit sequence for Gossip Girl, the better. Poor, poor Veronica.

Am I missing any brilliant sequences? What are your bests and worsts?

Proud TV Blog Coalition member Scooter recently sent out a call asking TV bloggers what their favorite new shows of the 2007 were. After some feverish computing and calculating on his TI-82, he came up with this master list.

1. Pushing Daisies – ABC (8)
2. Chuck – NBC (2)
3. Dirty Sexy Money – ABC
4. The Big Bang Theory – CBS
5. Gossip Girl – CW
6. Aliens in America – CW
7. Samantha Who? – ABC
8. Moonlight – CBS (1)
9. Reaper – CW
10. Journeyman – NBC
(numbers in parentheses denote first place votes)

Also receiving votes: Life, Woman’s Murder Club, Private Practice,Bionic Woman, Cane.

Pushing Daisies — of course it’s the obvious choice. Everyone loves it, and if you don’t, you better stop frontin’ because you should. I am, however, a little surprised about the high rankings of Chuck and Big Bang Theory. For one, Chuck (and this is really a whole separate post) is really not doing it for me and my backlog has grown to such proportions that I have, in effect, stopped watching it. You can still firmly count me in Team Reaper, although I’m not wildly enthusiastic about either. And Big Bang Theory? Maybe they’ve gotten the ball rolling after that tedious pilot, but I’m still skeptical.

I was also the only one to give any love to Cane. Which, by the way, I have been watching. We’ll talk later.

The voters were: Dan, Ducky, Kath, Jo, Liz, Rae, Sandie, Scooter McGavin, Tube Talk Girl, TVFan, and Vance.

An abbreviated line-up. Busy busy busy!

Looks like it’s going to be a flashback episode of Heroes, which I know some people think is happening too late in the season, but I’m still curious what happened — even if it means delaying my Adam Monroe questions for another week. Chuck is hanging on to the list by a tiny, tiny thread. Make me care, Chuck. Make me care. And How I Met Your Mother — please allow me to stop hating Lily and Marshall. I’m begging you. Let’s just never speak of their 18% mortgage ever again, okay?

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: Billy Crystal gets the Kennedy Center Mark Twain award, whatever that is, on PBS tonight. Also, Heather spoke convincingly about the merits of Darkon, on IFC at 9:00.

I support the WGA — I’d have absolutely nothing to talk about, ever, without their fine work — so I’m going to be jealously hoarding every minute of fresh television in preparation for the inevitable descent into reality TV and game show hell. Producers, you’re on notice. If NBC weren’t such a horrible youtube content destroyer, I would link to Fred Armisen’s hilarious bit about the strike from Saturday’s Weekend Update. I paraphrase: “I don’t have $200,000! I wish I had $200,000! But I only have $20 million.” “It costs $.60 to make a DVD. We sell them for $29. Now writers want more of the profits. What profits?”

(Actually, here it is. Watch it while you can)

[kml_flashembed /9-FZK5K8J-s" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

And now, tonight’s TV.

Chuck promises to explain some back story tonight; namely, why Bryce got Chuck kicked out of Stanford. I’m very curious, and I hope they’re doing it because it’s about time to actually tell us something and not because the network’s putting pressure on them to make some big reveals.

Speaking of big reveals, I’m cautiously optimistic that Heroes will kick into gear now that Peter has pulled the old visit-the-future-and-the-future-is-terrible trick. It’s familiar ground, I know, but at least it was pretty exciting the first time around.

Marshall learns of Lily’s financial irresponsibility and creepy deceitfulness in tonight’s How I Met Your Mother. Maybe this will make me stop hating Lily so much. Maybe.

Two weeks ago I had three sitcoms from three networks crowding up my Monday night. I’m sad to say I’ve given up on Aliens in America. I started watching last week’s episode, and was decently amused up until Scott Patterson lost his job in the first five minutes. Then I got a bad feeling — a queasy sense of impending cliche. “If he lies to his wife about losing his job,” I said, “I am not watching this show any more.” So there it is. Still going to give Samantha Who? a chance, though.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: I can’t remember who I was talking to recently about Flight of the Navigator, but I just noticed it’s playing on the Hallmark Channel tonight if you’re in the mood for a fantastical 80s kids movie.

I’ve found myself snickering lately over the usage of songs I recognize on big-time TV shows. So I thought I’d use this opportunity to talk about music under the guise of a TV blog.

First up, there was Northern State on Grey’s Anatomy. Northern State is a pretty ridiculous band that I can’t help but love — a trio of white girl rappers who are unself-conscious in their nerdiness. It’s like my friends decided to form a rap group — Jewish girls with masters degrees singing about liberal politics and ice cream socials. The song the folks on Grey’s used is called “Better Already” and has a more rock-ish vibe than what I am used to hearing from them.

Here’s the silly, if weirdly lovable, video.[kml_flashembed /nBVt5Hlgyuk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Next, there’s the Apple commercial with Cansei de Ser Sexy. Like Northern State, CSS is made up of a bunch of wacky ladies, but this band is made up of raunchier stuff (sample song title: Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above). Their song “Music is My Hot Hot Sex” is the background music for the new iPhone commercial that NBC has been playing like crazy, although it’s sanitized to “Music is My Hot Hot Bed.”

Here’s the real video.[kml_flashembed /-N3OrZzPud8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Finally — there’s a decidedly silly vibe in all of these clips — there’s Chuck’s use of “Yea Yeah” by Matt and Kim. They’re a boyfriend/girlfriend band who play organ and drums — cute stuff. This is a pretty fun video too, what with the food fighting.[kml_flashembed /4Yg-CgIwaHs" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Halloween’s tomorrow, as you know.

What am I doing to celebrate? Well, not much — thanks for asking. Probably just going to sit around at home, watch Pushing Daisies and wonder what would happen on the off-chance I got a trick-or-treater. If I do get a munchkin, chances are I’ll probably tell them to wait while I dig up the miniature jar of cherry preserves I’ve had for the better part of the ’00s.

If, however, you’re an ambitious mid-week partygoer, and you still haven’t come up with a costume idea, here are some ideas for you to try out.

For couples:

Ned and Chuck (Pushing Daisies):

He wears:

• Long sleeved tee/sweater
• Holds a pie.

She wears:

• A vibrantly colored sun dress.

Both wear:

• Gloves on one hand. You must hold hands all night with the gloved hand.

For the ladies:

Lucille Bluth:

• A martini glass
• Pearls
• Shawl affixed with a brooch.

Meredith Grey:

• Scrubs
• A scowl

For the gentlemen:

Nathan Petrelli:

• Fake beard
• Business suit
• Harness
• Some sort of crane on wheels so you can attach the harness and hover all night (you’ll need a patient friend to wheel you around and hand you drinks)

Chuck:

• White, button-down short-sleeved shirt
• Nametag
• Uncontrollable nervous energy

Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights):

• Track jacket
• Stubble
• Arrange it so that most people remain oblivious to you at the party, except for two or three people who are obsessed with you.

Anybody else have any ideas? I wanted to go further with this but I’m sleepy.