38 replies to this topic

[MoreRidonkulous]

It might be a bit too much to have a topic for EACH "boss" character on this show. So maybe we should combine them.

Let's see...

We have:

--Sarah's boss at the CIA - Graham (don't know for sure if its a first or last name)
--Sarah's boss at Wienerlicious.
--Casey's boss at the NSA - General Beckman.
--Buy More's Big Mike.
--and now... Buy More Assistant Manager Harry Tiberius Tang.

Personally I LOVE Big Mike. Sure, he's a one joke character, but its a good joke. I hope Harry being promoted and Chuck no longer trying for the Assistant Manager position doesn't mean that Big Mike will fade out of the show.

Edited by MoreRidonkulous, Oct 29, 2007 @ 10:25 PM.

[Loandbehold]

Personally I LOVE Big Mike. Sure, he's a one joke character, but its a good joke. I hope Harry being promoted and Chuck no longer trying for the Assistant Manager position doesn't mean that Big Mike will fade out of the show.

No way is Big Mike (and his Zen Garden!) fading away. Especially not w/ Tang as Ass't Mgr. I can just see the parade of green shirts marching into Big Mike's office threatening a coup. With Jeneral Casey leading the junta.

[CarolynfromLa]

I'm finding it really distracting that Tang is often saying "Morgan" on this show, and the same actor, playing Masuka on "Dexter," always says "Morgan," Dexter's and his sister's last name. Reminds me of when the same actress was on "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty" last season, and on both shows her name was "Charlie"!

[MoreRidonkulous]

Well know you know what Sarah Lancaster feels like whenever Zach Levi says "Sarah" to Yvonne!

[tavellalight]

I was hoping that his non-appearance last week meant they were fading out the Harry character, but I guess not. He's just... one note and annoying. Big Mike at least throws some spins occasionally, Tang is just total cliche.

It also doesn't help that I find the "my secret life means I totally fail at my real life" routine boring. I know it's a mainstay of this sort of show, but it always grates, it's so predictable.

[Aunty Mib]

Hurrah! Tang is gone. And it turns out that he was only promoted since the boss was sleeping with his wife.

[MoreRidonkulous]

Actually, I get the sense that that's why Big Mike DIDN'T want to promote Tang. But Tang was the only other applicant besides Chuck, so Mike had no choice. Corporate made him do it when Chuck didn't show up for the interview.

[litex]

as much as I hate Tang, I can't say Mike's revelation about nailing Tang's wife particularly endeared him to me.

[mrhooks]

I just noticed that Sarah's Wienerlicious boss' nametag says "Scooter". Heh.

[Ebongreen]

... and he actually looks a little like the muppet Scooter too. Scary. :-)

[arc]

From the promos thread:

And why General Beckman was being played by the actress from the Pilot.

They switched Beckmans??? I never noticed!

[GandalftheFunky]

I was gonna say the same thing, I never noticed it myself. However, this is probably due to the fact that the Pilot is the only episode I do not have on my DVR as I watched it at work on the Saturday replay (thank God I watched it then, or I wouldn't be the slobbering Chuck addict I am today!).

[mrhooks]

They look somewhat similar, but the current Beckman looks a little older, and has a rounder face.

[CreedogV]

They switched Beckmans??? I never noticed!

Well, sort of. Wendy Makkena (pic) was credited as "National Intelligence Director" in the pilot. Since then, Bonita Friedericy has been playing "General Beckman."

[NattyCCJ]

I never noticed the switch either...
Huh...

Okay, after re-watching the pilot (just now), I noticed it.
She looks younger and her voice is a slight bit different.
Interesting as to why they were changed...?

[TerrifyinMonkey]

It's likely that the switch was made because the pilot was shot well in advance, and after NBC picked it up, Wendy Makkena was no longer available (although why, I'm not sure... it looks like the only thing she's got in the pipeline is the movie version of the BBC series "State of Play").

[NattyCCJ]

Still, it is quite interesting...

[Aunty Mib]

Particularily in Chuck vs the Marlin, all of the bosses seem to be so focused on their own obsessions that they have absolutely no idea what's going on.

[EvilGeniusClub]

Given that in real life, and the show, the two agencies don't often "play nice" I would tend to doubt he knows. Would he stop it is the more important question. He's probably not overly thrilled that all their secrets are stored in the mind of guy who has no agent training whatsoever. But has he come to see Chuck's value?

Edited by EvilGeniusClub, Aug 10, 2008 @ 10:46 AM.

[Trini Girl]

Emmett Milbarge is okay for comedy relief at the Buy More, but I still kinda miss Harry Tang. He just seemed like a better (civilian) nemesis to Chuck.

[While A Coyote]

Emmett has just gotten boring, I think.

But they've had some pretty good stuff with Big Mike lately. Heartbroken Mike was hilarious, and Mike together with his cuz Sgt. Al Powell made me happier than I can possibly say.

[Roll the dice]

General Beckman, what is her deal?

I think that she probably knows a lot more than she is letting on even to the point that she could be somewhat connected with another part of the Ring. It always really surprised me that after they killed, what's his face, (Sarah's mentor) that they never got a replacement. From the beginning, in the pilot, I always got the impression that the CIA and NSA didn't get along very well or perhaps they had different agendas which is why there needed to be in Intersect. It seems odd that the CIA didn't care to replace their main handler with regards to the Intersect project. Could there be the possibility that Beckman gives the impression that the Intersect project is still alive but that as far as the NSA knows that project has been completed?

I am not really sure what I mean, but Beckman gives me the willies sometime.

[NicoleBauer]

General Beckman, what is her deal?

In rewatching the last 5 episodes of this season, I have to agree with you that Beckman is either the most inconsistently written character on the show, or is a true Chessmaster with numerous allegiances that we don't see and that we SHOULD see in the future.

To recap Beckman's position on Chuck as it varies by episode:

At the end of Predator, she claims Chuck is the most important asset in the secret war on FULCRUM, and that she doesn't want Sarah's feelings screwing up his safety.
In the next episode, Broken Heart, she doesn't seem to care much for Chuck's safety.
There's not much of Beckman in Dream Job; other than her apology that no one knew that Orion was Steven Bartowski, which doesn't seem to fit with her assertion in Predator that she'd been looking for Orion since before Sarah was in a training bra--if at one point he worked with the NSA, surely he had a personnel file and someone SAW him at some point.
By the end of First Kill, however, she doesn't believe Chuck is worth troubling with and is ready to lock him up forever.
At the end of Chuck vs. the Colonel, she can't even be bothered with Chuck's "goodbye." And yet, at the beginning of Chuck vs. The Ring, she wants to hire back this person she can barely stand as an analyst? (And, also, I don't get why Sarah's feelings for Chuck as the Intersect jeopardize the mission, but putting the Intersect in the head of someone with whom Sarah used to be romantically involved is a crackerjack idea.)

[Top Dog 12]

I think Beckman is someone who puts her job first and wants to do what is best for her country and she seems annoyed with Chuck because she thinks he is trivial but in the Ring she sees he could be an asset (no pun intended) to his country.

[NiftyKnitter 74]

There's not much of Beckman in Dream Job; other than her apology that no one knew that Orion was Steven Bartowski, which doesn't seem to fit with her assertion in Predator that she'd been looking for Orion since before Sarah was in a training bra--if at one point he worked with the NSA, surely he had a personnel file and someone SAW him at some point.

On the file, though - she mentions at one point that when Orion disappeared, he erased/destroyed all the files on himself, presumably also including info on his family. So, I can see why those who didn't know him *personally* may not have known who he was, and since he seems so plugged into the system, he may have systematically gone in to destroy personally identifiable information added by those people.

Oh, but that does put in interesting spin on things, doesn't it? She mentions that they've been looking for him for so many years, so it would make sense that they've probably kept tabs on Chuck and his family, even if most didn't know why they were of interest. I wonder if that was a secondary reason he was flagged in Stanford for CIA? Maybe they've been planning to use him to draw out his father all along?

[Trini Girl]

Egads. I know that they had to write off Emmett somehow, and get Big Mike back in his management position, but shooting him dead in the face? Cold, show. Especially since he was one of the comedic characters.

[breezie]

This might be insane but I love that Beckman actually care for Team Chuck!

[Roll the dice]

So, Beckman obviously knows more than she is letting on. Has the existence of the Ring operative been on her radar for more than we realize? I think that Beckman is a character that always keeps her cards close to her chest. I also wonder why the CIA never replaced whats his name, Sarah's boss after the Intersect blew up. I got the idea that there was a lot of in fighting between the NSA and CIA, so it would seem that the CIA would still want to have someone in the know with regard to the Intersect project.

[Trini Girl]

In ..."The Other Guy" I think Gen. Beckman had some of the best scenes/lines for the whole show! First Chuck disturbing her in her nightie, then having to talk with Morgan. Poor General!