Me with Zachary Levi & Joshua Gomez, on Zac's 29th birthday in 2009

Today is the series finale of Chuck on NBC, closing a 5 season run as “the little engine that did.” I can’t overstate what this experience has brought me — looking at photos of myself 5 years ago, it is clear that I am a completely different person now!

One of my original Chuck nights, in January, 2008

I’ve made incredible friends, have grown in my confidence and public presence, lost 40 pounds, been featured in the Toronto Star & on CNN, had the world’s leading TV-themed podcast for 3 years straight, got to visit the Chuck cast & crew for 2 weeks, restored my vision for myself of working in Hollywood, rekindled my desire to write, made a partnership with Script Magazine to launch the successful TV Writer Podcast, helped found the weekly TV Writer Chat, connected with 80,000 podcast viewers and over 2,000 on Twitter, and was even the subject of someone’s PhD thesis!

Shooting the falling scene for Chuck vs. the Podcast opening

All this was from a show that everyone thought was sure to be canceled after the second season… Quite poetically, as indicated in a great blog by Ryan Schwartz, Chuck is a show about having enough faith in yourself to reach your full potential. That theme has clearly not been lost on me!

My Twitter background, with WB lot in background -- symbolic of my Hollywood dream

I’ve put around 1400 volunteer hours into this endeavor… when I look at what has been accomplished, it has clearly been more than worth it. That said, I’m not the only one who has sacrificed. My family has had to put up with countless late nights editing, missing dinners and bedtimes because of interviews, gutting our living room for green screen shoots, the stress of me sometimes unsuccessfully balancing my long work hours with the demands of the podcast, and much more. It has also impacted my friends and extended family. I say both “sorry” and a huge “thank you” for putting up with me and believing in me through all of this!

Me on the Chuck set, in September, 2009

And many other thanks are in order. To Melissa Lowery and Liz Henderson, who have recorded 103 podcast episodes with me, have become great friends, and have done an incredible job promoting Chuck and the podcast through their websites. To the loyal fans of both my podcasts, who have supported with generous donations, encouraging emails and tweets, merchandise sales, and spreading the word through social media. To the podcast sponsors, who have helped cover the financial needs as well as donating equipment to help the podcasts maintain high production values. To the Chuck cast & crew, who opened their lives to me, paid for many lunches & dinners while I was in L.A., have sent holiday cards and gifts, continue to keep in touch outside of Chuck, and even invited me into their homes.

At the home of Chuck composer Tim Jones

And for Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz, who fought to get (and keep) a show on the air about an ordinary guy who would rise to do extraordinary things.

Me with Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak, outside WB studio

Goodbye, Chuck. You will be missed.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 11:54 am and is filed under episodes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.