"It's like watching a dog play the piano"

° It took me a while to finally stow away my Gossip Girl-related anger and give Josh Schwartz's second creation of the season a fair chance, but having finally watched the first two episodes of Chuck (Mondays, Virgin1) I must admit I'm fairly encouraged. The plot is ridiculous and there are moments of stupidity, but unlike Schwartz's other shows it seems to be completely lacking in pretension. While Gossip Girl dresses itself in designer clothes and claws to maintain its social status, Chuck sits in the corner goofing off, interested only in having the best time possible. It's far from perfect, but it's earnest, and in my books that instantly gives Chuck a one-up on Schwartz's other shows.

That's not to say everything is great, though. The way the camera tends to leer at Yvonne Strahovski in her underwear so often can feel slightly seedy, and perhaps even serves to exemplify Chuck's most obvious problem: for all it's good qualities, the show still manages to feel somewhat dated, as if it belongs in a line-up somewhere between MacGyver and The A-Team rather than on modern TV. In fact, what kind of evolution the show sees will be very interesting because it's not hard to imagine that NBC's enthusiasm for Chuck is entirely due to its old school nature. Right now it has that paint-by-numbers feel to it and that's something networks go ga-ga for. Exactly how tightly the reins are in place might be the defining factor in whether Chuck can maintain its good start, because I'm not convinced things won't get tired before long if change isn't encouraged. Hopefully NBC aren't afraid to let the show spread its wings a little.

° As baffled as I was that Saleisha could win Cycle 9 of America's Next Top Model, I know I will be more baffled when I see the girls who have somehow made it on to Britain's Next Top Model this Monday (9pm, Living). People who talk about Big Brother reflecting the sad state of our nation have obviously never watched BNTM.

° After all the fuss ITV caused this week I expect everyone's a bit weary of reading about Pushing Daisies (Saturdays, ITV) and I don't blame them, so I'll just say quickly that I really enjoyed the pilot. All the quirk you could dream of and an absolute abundance of loveliness, it was really great to see another side to Bryan Fuller's work. It shared all the same wonderful originality you'd expect but veered off in directions you wouldn't; out with the sarcasm and cynicism, in with open-hearted romanticism. It was a delight.

That ITV could be so inept having lauded this show for so long is absolutely staggering.