In its superb second season, NBC's "Chuck" offers a more fully developed and unique blend of comedy, action, and romance. Chuck Bartkowski continues his double life: slacker computer nerd at an LA big box electronics store by day and inept government agent by night, thanks to the secret government database called the Intersect emplanted in his brain. Beautiful CIA agent Sarah Walker is Chuck's handler and bodyguard, with a cover as his girlfriend. Hardnosed NSA assassin Major John Casey teams with Walker to track Chuck's safety 24 hours a day and to pursue the bad guys the Intersect enables Chuck to identify.

This second season advances several themes over the course of the year. The impromptu team of Walker, Casey, and Bartkowski get increasingly difficult assignments to stop various villains and foil their nefarious plots, in which the untrained Chuck begins to demonstrate, often hilariously, the potential to muddle through as an agent.

A second theme is the approaching wedding of Chuck's sister Ellie and her fiance "Captain Awesome." Chuck has rashly promised Ellie to track down their missing father for the wedding, a promise that will have a dramatic impact on the last episodes of the season.

A third theme is the rogue organization FULCRUM's pursuit of the Intersect. Chuck is in weekly danger of having his cover blown and either being kidnapped by FULCRUM or being sequestered for his own safety by the government in an underground bunker away from family and friends.

The fourth and perhaps most important theme is the slowly blossoming romance between Chuck and Sarah, as their affection for each other begins to strain Sarah's professionalism and Chuck's willingness to live under a cover story.

Chuck's best buddy Morgan and the slacker crew at the BuyMore continue to offer comic relief, whether avoiding work, staging insane stockroom competitions, or trying to hijack "Awesome's" bachelor party. Special guests during the season include Sarah's professional con-man father, the suitably awesome parents of Ellie's fiance, and Chuck's ex-college roommate and girlfriend, neither of whom are what they seem.

"Chuck: The Complete Second Season" on DVD is very highly recommended to fans of the series. This reviewer hopes "Chuck" gets renewed for a third season.

For me watching CHUCK at the beginning of each week increasingly became one of the high points of my TV watching week. If you can get past the rather silly premise for the show (and if you can, you have a real treat in store), that someone was able to have the entire contents of the CIA mainframe downloaded in his brain, you will discover one of the most entertaining and likable casts on TV. If you don't know CHUCK but are familiar with Josh Schwartz's previous series THE O.C., CHUCK is what that show would have been if you had isolated the Seth/Summer part of the show and made Seth a spy (I've read that Adam Brody, who played Seth, was originally asked to play Chuck, and Summer herself made an appearance in Season One as a potential love interest for our hero). Schwartz saved the Ryan/Marissa/Taylor part for GOSSIP GIRL. If the latter is all about the cool and hip, CHUCK is all about nerds and their universe. If the girls on wear their Jimmy Choos, Chuck wears Chuck T's.

But if you haven't seen the show, here is the main thing you need to know: all the spy stuff is secondary. The real reason to watch CHUCK is the comedy and the romance. The comedy comes from all directions: Chuck, his friend Morgan, the outrageous group of nuts who work at the Buy More store where Chuck has his day job, his NSA handler Casey, and, of course, Mr. Awesome. (I have a theory about Awesome. From various Season One episodes I think the original idea was for Chuck's sister Ellie (played by the gorgeous Sarah Lancaster) and her fiancé Devon aka Captain Awesome, played by the incredible Ryan McPartlin, to break up, creating some possible romantic tension between Ellie and Morgan. But I believe that they realized that Awesome was not, as they initially supposed, a disposable character. And Adam Baldwin as Casey is just a marvel. In the Season One extra features the creators Schwartz and Fedak reveal that Baldwin was invited to be on the show largely out of fandom (possible of his role of Jayne Cobb on FIREFLY?). I love the way that Baldwin (no relation to Alec, as many suppose) can flip from action tough guy to comic foil at the drop of a hat. Trust me, the show is funny and delightful from beginning to end.

But it also has romance! The tortured attraction between Chuck and his beautiful CIA handler Sarah (played by the marvelous Aussie actress Yvonne Strahovski) is one of the best on TV. One might imagine that it would be tough to buy the idea of a complete nerd and a knife-wielding glamorous spy could fall in love, but Zachary Levi and Strahovski easily pull it off. Yvonne Strahovski especially is great at making you feel that Sarah cares more for Chuck than any handler ought to and a lot of the enjoyment of the show focuses on their inability, for professional and other reasons, to act on their feelings. And all of this is wonderfully complicated by the fake relationship that they have to present to Chuck's friends, since her cover is that she is his girlfriend.

The fate of CHUCK is uncertain as I write this review. After a great Season Two finale, which has the potential to redefine the series. But there is a real chance that we won't get to see what happens next. CHUCK is one of several great series that is on the brink of cancellation. Despite a passionate fanbase - which includes several major TV critics - CHUCK's ratings have not been great. Worse, NBC has made one of the worst decisions in the history of television, deciding to gut five hours of scripted primetime television in order to give the extraordinary mediocrity that is Jay Leno the 10 EST/9 CST time slot Monday through Friday. What possessed the corporate nutjobs in charge of programming to come to this idiotic decision is a mystery we'll be debating for some time to come. But the decision not only does tremendous harm to television at large, but directly threatens CHUCK. But as things stand, this great show is in real danger of corporate murder. Along with two of my other favorite shows, DOLLHOUSE and TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, some really great television is in danger of disappearing. It is unthinkable that shows as good as these are in danger of cancellation while horrors like Jay Leno and AMERICAN IDLE clog up primetime television.

Will Chuck and Sarah finally find love? Will he now be a real spy instead of merely a CIA asset? Will we see Chuck's father again? Will Chuck go back to work at the Buy More? Will Morgan? Will Chuck continue to live with Ellie and Awesome? Have Casey and Chuck really bonded like it appeared at the end of Season Two? These are just a few of the questions we want to see answered. Let's just hope that NBC manages to get past its insanity to preserve one of its most delightful shows. But with fully one-third of its weeknight primetime schedule given to mediocrity, good television might be in trouble.

Oh, Season Two, in true nerd fashion, ends with a famous line borrowed from THE MATRIX.

Chuck is easily my favorite show on the air right now (and I love my television). Every episode leaves me desperate for more, and the second season has been especially excellent. They haven't been afraid of breaking the formula and actually letting things develop and change. That's one of the things that annoys me most about other shows -- writers show you what they want you to want and then draw that out for seasons and seasons on end. Bleh. But the writers of Chuck haven't and as such it is superb.

So, check it out. If you like comedy, romance, action, spies, great writing, and great acting, then you'll love Chuck.