NBC Renews "Chuck"--Albeit with a Catch

According to Entertainment Weekly, the National Broadcasting Corporation has renewed the spy comedy, Chuck, for a third season. But not without some painful concessions from Warner Bros., the Studio that owns Chuck.

Among the fat that the studio is trimming to make the show air: scaling back episodes--the previous season featured 22 episodes--as well as eliminating one key actor.

The move comes amid cost-cutting measures at the peacock network, as NBC and Warner Bros. haggle over items in their annual budget.

The show, which stars Zach Levi as a computer geek who has government secrets implanted in his brain, has averaged a 2.8 share/7 Nielsen rating for most of its sophomore season among the 18-49 demographic--about 7 million eyeballs in all. In comparison, the freshman season was more solid, with 8 million viewers overall.

Since the show premiered, it has had more than its share of dilemmas to deal with. In 2007, the 13 episode season--like many shows on NBC's slate--was cut short by the writers' strike. The show returned for a second season, only to face cancellation following its lukewarm performance in the ratings. Over the past two months, a grassroots campaign by fans and a publicity campaign featuring Subway's "Five Dollar Footlong" has stayed the show from cancellation, earning praise from Jon Stewart of The Daily Show.