Chuck: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray review

Among Warner's slew of TV show releases this week is Chuck: The Complete Third Season, and we took a quick look at the boxed set before it hit shelves. In case you're still unfamiliar with the NBC show, Chuck Bartowski was a regular employee at the Buy More electronics store before accidentally downloading a computer database into his head and becoming a secret agent -- all without telling his family, friends and co-workers. In the third season, Chuck makes steps towards becoming a full-fledged agent on his own and the show has a lot more action, but it still retains the comedy elements that have kept it going so far.

In the Blu-ray box set the four discs contain all 19 episodes, plus a deleted scene or two from most of the episodes. The other extras available are a 20 minute behind the scenes featurette that's thankfully in HD and should be very entertaining for fans of the series, plus an incredibly detailed (and also HD) 10 minute Behind the Music-style documentary focusing on the band formed by two of Chuck's coworkers, Jefster. Otherwise, there's some lower-res gag reel footage and Warner's standard BD-Live hooks on the fourth disc, that allow users to mark the disc in their collection and view trailers and extras from upcoming releases like The Big Bang Theory. Unfortunately, there's no commentaries to be found here and there doesn't appear to be any extra downloads or streaming on the way. While the audio and video here are of good (though still grainy by choice) quality, some will be disappointed by the lack of a lossless audio soundtrack. While it crosses the line of fulfilling the standard expectations for a boxed set in 2010, it doesn't go too far beyond that. While we should probably just be glad the show is returning later this month for a fourth season it'd be nice to see even more of Blu-ray's technology put to use to bring the fans into the show -- Chuck community screening sponsored by Subway seems like an obvious choice to us.

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No More Mr. Nice Spy!

Chuck: The Complete Third Season

Contains all 19 episodes plus amazing never-before-seen bonus features, including two brand-new featurettes, a gag reel and deleted scenes
Available on DVD and Blu-ray September 7, 2010
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BURBANK, CA (June 16, 2010) – The world's most unlikely secret agent is back and he now has the muscles to match his enormous brain as Warner Home Video releases Chuck: The Complete Third Season on DVD and Blu-ray on September 7, 2010. Executive producers/creators Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Gossip Girl) and Chris Fedak come together again to deliver more action and espionage than ever before in the third season of this critically acclaimed show. The five-disc DVD or four-disc Blu-ray set contains all 19 episodes plus never-before-seen bonus features, including two brand-new featurettes, a gag reel and almost 20 minutes of deleted scenes.

Nominated for a 2008 Favorite New TV Comedy People's Choice Award, the series stars Zachary Levi (Less Than Perfect), Yvonne Strahovski (upcoming I Love You Too) Joshua Gomez (Without a Trace), Ryan McPartlin (Everything She Ever Wanted), Mark Christopher Lawrence (The Pursuit of Happyness), Vik Sahay (Time Bomb), Scott Krinsky (The O.C.) with Sarah Lancaster (Everwood) and Adam Baldwin (Full Metal Jacket).

Chuck is back and he's the Chuck you know: the hapless Nerd Herder hopelessly devoted to sexy super spy Sarah. And he's the Chuck you don't know: a master martial artist whose brain is locked and loaded with the new Intersect 2.0. How the two Chucks clash, bash and (sometimes) cooperate makes season three total, action-packed fun. More new stuff: A dashing rival (recurring guest star Brandon Routh, Superman Returns) joins the team, someone from Chuck's Buy More life discovers his secret, and Chuck learns the spy biz can turn the nicest guy dark and dangerous. "For the last two years, we've protected Chuck from the world," the General notes. "But now we have to protect the world from Chuck."

"Chuck's fans are incredibly loyal and passionate advocates of this wonderfully charming and engaging show," said Rosemary Markson, WHV Vice President, TV & Special Interest Marketing. "Season three delivered another outstanding mix of comedy, action and romance – making Chuck: The Complete Third Season a must-own season of television."

Chuck was created by Josh Schwartz & Chris Fedak, who served as executive producers on season three with McG (Terminator Salvation), Scott Rosenbaum (The Shield), Matthew Miller (Las Vegas) and Allison Adler (Just Shoot Me).


MARKETING SUPPORT
The release of Chuck: The Complete Third Season on DVD and Blu-ray will be supported by a national television, print, radio and online media campaign.

DVD & BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• Chuck-Fu...and Dim Sum: Becoming a Spy Guy
• The Jeffster Revolution: The Definitive Mockumentary
• Declassified Scenes
• Gag Reel

EPISODES FEATURED


1. Chuck Versus the Pink Slip
2. Chuck Versus the Three Words
3. Chuck Versus the Angel de la Muerte
4. Chuck Versus Operation Awesome
5. Chuck Versus First Class
6. Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler
7. Chuck Versus the Mask
8. Chuck Versus the Fake Name
9. Chuck Versus the Beard
10. Chuck Versus the Tic Tac
11. Chuck Versus the Final Exam
12. Chuck Versus the American Hero
13. Chuck Versus the Other Guy
14. Chuck Versus the Honeymooners
15. Chuck Versus the Role Models
16. Chuck Versus the Tooth
17. Chuck Versus the Living Dead
18. Chuck Versus the Subway
19. Chuck Versus the Ring: Part II


BASICS
Street Date: September 7, 2010
Order Due Date: August 3, 2010
Total Running Time: Approx 817 minutes, EC runtime approx 49 min

DVD
Price: $59.98 SRP
Language: English Dolby Surround 5.1, Brazilian Portuguese
Subtitles: ESDH, Complex Chinese, Thai, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin Spanish, French Parisian
Catalog # 1000117174

Blu-ray
Price: $69.97 SRP
Language: English Dolby Surround 5.1
Subtitles: ESDH, Latin Spanish, French Parisian, Dutch
Catalog # 1000116713

About Warner Home Video
With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, a division of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment's home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment/videogames, direct-to-DVD production, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. WBHEG is responsible for the global distribution of content through DVD, electronic sell-through and VOD, and delivery of theatrical content to wireless and online channels, and is also a significant worldwide publisher for both internal and third party videogame titles