This is why we can't have nice things and/or Subway
Taken from a mousie on wank_report (with some later additions that I found):



The TV show "Chuck" goes into its pre-Olympic break with an episode that fails to get the titular character together with his spy minder Sarah. The 'shipper universe explodes.

It is supposedly insane on the NBC forums, but I ran across it in TV writer Alan Sepinwall's regular blogging of the show here:

264 comments and counting as of now.

In addition to the oh-so-cliched declarations of shark jumping, posters go back to their fight to get "Chuck" renewed last year, which included buying sandwiches from a show sponsor, Subway. A waste of time, they declare. A travesty! And the failure to support the shippers should result in the shippers boycotting "Chuck" until the show runners respond to their whims! If not, the show will be canceled! That'll show 'em. (Yeah, I don't know either.)

Some choice comments:
i feel dirty after watching that and investing my time for the last few years.
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worst show ever. read the nbc boards alan... unbelievable. i thought you wrote on Chuck well, but you're way off on this one. JS and JF messed this up big time.
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When Chuck returns after the Olympics, no one should watch it on air. Rather we should all watch it online at Hulu or any other online service we can find. Failing that, DVR the show and watch it that way.

That way we can send a message to NBC and the producers of the show that we are still interested in the show but we are not prepared to settle for the caliber of show we saw last night. “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore”.

If we can bring the number of on air viewers below 1 million, the advertisers will take note. You can count on that. You can also bet the advertisers will be on the phone to NBC and the producers of Chuck. Money talks after all.

If everyone that loves the show were to watch online at Hulu, you can bet NBC would notice that too. We can send a message and still get our Chuck fix.
We need NBC to know that we love the show. We also need for NBC to know that we are disappointed.

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And the wank is spilling over to npr.org where blogger Linda Holmes (who some of you may know from her previous incarnation as Miss Alli on TWoP) makes the sensible notice that perhaps fans shouldn't try to control the story line, since they don't know what's planned.


The response?
"Linda Holmes, you'd make a horrible politician because your spin is transparent. First, this soap opera style writing is juvenile. Perhaps you wouldn't do anything to be with the man you love, because that's exactly how the producers chose to press that reset button in the season's premiere (grown ups would talk and work things out, not be as immature as these two have been)."

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my part starts here

Alan Sepinwall then sits down with the Chuck co-creators for a chat, where they say "er, we're in the middle of a storyline here."

195 comments worth of back-and-forth between, and I quote:

"It continues to amaze me how JS just doesn't seem to get it that when you have a show that rides a fine line with ratings that when you go over the top to alienate your fan base on purpose, it could end your show. " and

"It's like a child who is angry at it's parents for not giving it ice cream and lollipops for dinner, and who throws it's vegetables on the ground, kicking and screaming. When there is clearly ice cream in the freezer waiting to be served for dessert. Sigh. Seriously folks. Sigh." ensue.

There's also a lot of "but it's not because we're 'shippers, it's because the characters aren't exactly like they were last season CHANGE THEM BACK" and a bit of "well, you have to be in the payroll of Chuck/NBC if you don't agree with me." (This is my favorite example. Apparently the Eye of Mordor has been attached to Chuck.) And a lot of tl;dr.

TV critic Todd VanDerWeff collects much of the commentary, some choice fan comments, with a bit of laugh-at-the-'shippers himself.

And Jamie Weinman asks the impossible: what do shippers even want?

The NBC boards are indeed crazy right now. I don't even know how to wade in there.

Also, I kind of want a sandwich.