Some folks may not like this post but......
How can you help Chuck? Stop providing content, links and downloading illegal Chuck episodes.
Why should this matter? For the WB and NBC, it is a negative in the key decisions that are made whether to renew a bubble show.
NBC - Chuck has been showing troubling declines in the key metrics that NBC uses in their decisions. In the bubble decisions every source of viewership is measured. Nielsen is not the only source! They do use other sources of data like Comcast, Time Warner, and the satellite companies. They also use the data from the online sources primarily NBC.com since they get the revenue from the ads. When Josh Schwartz tweets to watch LIVE this is the reason why. WATCHING LIVE MATTERS BECAUSE ALL DATA IS USED. It does not matter if you aren't a Nielsen Family!
When you provide the illegal content, especially after the East/Central airing (Cripes), the viewers on the West/Mountain don't have the incentive anymore to either view it on their cable/satellite system, online, or buy it from iTunes/Amazon. The download links are still being provided even though the episodes are available now. The sales of Chuck through iTunes/Amazon is not a concern for NBC but it is for the producer of the series Warner Brothers.
Warner Brothers - They have the most to lose here along with us the Chuck viewers. They have cut the fee to the bone most likely. Who knows if they are taking a loss just filming Chuck? The only way for them to recoup it is the possible syndication, broadcast fees in foreign countries and DVD/Digital sales. If everyone is downloading it illegally why watch it or buy it?
What prompted me to write this? Season 4 of Chuck did show up in the seasons list of iTunes in the top 10 for almost 2 weeks but the individual episodes have not broken the top 10 once this season. I can't explain the disparity of the Season 4 sales vs the individual episodes that were offered after Season 4 appeared. Chuck did show up in the unfortunate listing of top pirated episodes which does Chuck Season 5 no favors. It will probably show up again.
I don't think NBC has made a decision about its fate yet due to the state of the pilot season (pilots have a high failure rate). If a few of the pilots are picked up and a lot of existing shows are cancelled then Chuck has a chance as filler mid season or a backup to a failed new series. However, that is an optimistic outlook on my part because at this point numbers are the bottom line.
It may be unfair to base the entire renewal on illegal downloading because the show has bled viewers throughout its run. To be fair, broadcast television as a whole has been bleeding viewers for years. My point is even with ratings that Chuck has today it hasn't been cancelled yet (with a month to go till upfronts) and it needs all the help it can get to justify a Season 5. With the top listing of pirated episodes, declining online(NBC provides this data on its website)/broadcast viewers and the seeming decline of iTunes sales you can't blame me for drawing those conclusions.
I should have written this a while ago because it may be too late. The damage probably has been done already. I don't foresee this changing anything because the nature of today's loosey-goosey outlook on ethics and morals. People will do the free thing even if it kills their favorite show.
Bottom line: People have to watch the show live/online or buy a copy. Pirating will kill it for sure.
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