Lemondrop

Most Monday evenings for the past three years, I've set my Facebook status to "I Heart Chuck Bartowski" and turned off my Crackberry so no one can interrupt my viewing of NBC's "Chuck." I generally watch TV to escape from reality, but when I watch "Chuck," I find myself instantly transported to memories of my real university days. Fact: Chuck reminds me of my college boyfriend. I like 'em tall, dark and nerdy, and I am not ashamed.

For the uninitiated, "Chuck" is a campy, yet action-packed, spy/romance/comedy series, which was just renewed for a fourth season. Its two-hour season finale airs tonight, and I hope you will immediately program it into your DVR.

The show focuses on Chuck (played by Zachary Levi), a fictional 20-something Stanford grad, living an unassuming and underachieving life as a computer tech in the Nerd Herd at Burbank's "Buy More" electronics store (like Best Buy's Geek Squad). Upon receipt of an email from an old college chum one fateful day, the only remaining copy of a top-secret government super-computer gets downloaded into Chuck's brain. Since that pesky computer can't be removed from his brain and the intelligence data is vital, the CIA and the NSA enlist Chuck's help in their covert operations against the bad guys, all the while keeping cover identities at the Buy More and the yogurt shop next door.

While they keep him and "The Intersect" (the aforementioned super-secret computer) out of enemy hands, Chuck helps stony-faced Colonel John Casey and sultry Agent Sarah Walker keep the world safe from assassins and international terrorists. In true spy fashion, he can't tell his friends or family what he is up to. Hijinks ensue, adventures are had, and after two seasons of fantastic sexual tension during death-defying missions, Chuck and his handler Sarah fall madly in love.

Yeah, he plays a man who's spoken for on TV. But that hasn't stopped my unrequited crush.

Yes, I love Chuck, for so many reasons. Sure, it was inevitable he would fall for the hot female secret agent who frequently wears leather pants -- who wouldn't? But it was never a given that she would love him back. Chuck is tall, skinny, with messy brown hair and a tendency to over-explain himself. He's a dreamer, which you intuitively understand if you know Cake's alt-rock song "Short Skirt, Long Jacket," the goofy but catchy ode to an idealized fantasy woman, and which is also the theme song to the series.

Throughout it all, he somehow gets the girl and usually saves the day, alone or as part of their little hardscrabble team. As I view each week, I woozily daydream -- perhaps, wonder of wonders, the geeks SHALL inherit the earth? Maybe someday, I imagine, I will find my own ruggedly handsome nerd who will make me feel like each day is an adventure, whether we're running from terrorists or shopping for discount electronics. A girl can dream, after all. Chuck's eventual evolution into a genuine spy is entertaining to watch, as he learns to harness the computer's powers and grows confident and truly ass-kicking. But it's Chuck's essential and integral humanity that makes him lovable and makes me believe.

Despite all the super-spyness, underneath, he is still a pocket-protector-wearing member of the Nerd Herd, mildly neurotic and loath to hurt his friends' feelings. Although he's trained to fight back against any threat, Chuck truly can't bring himself to kill anyone, and carries a tranquilizer gun at all times, instead of a pistol. Believing that he has lost his chance with the woman he loves, he gets sloshed while playing "Guitar Hero" at home, in his skivvies, and only finally confesses his true feelings for Sarah, when she finds him on the floor of his apartment holding a plastic guitar. Slightly pathetic, yes. Endearing, also yes. I imagine more declarations of love have been forged while tipsy and in some stage of embarrassing undress than in tuxedos and 007 attire, so it's spot-on, in my book.

It's been a few years since I've dated anyone so gallant as to try to save my life from evil henchmen and express his undying love for me. Heck, most of the guys I've dated recently have turned out to BE evil henchmen. But the story lines of "Chuck" give me hope that someday, my nerd will come.

The season's two-hour finale airs tonight at 8 p.m. EST on NBC, and then you'll have to wait till the fall for more. Set your DVR, or plunk yourself down on your couch tonight to watch my virtual boyfriend strut his stuff. You'll see why I -- and soon you, I hope -- Heart Chuck Bartowski.


Stephanie Jo Klein's main cover identity is working in the music business, including leading the sponsorship charge at New Music Seminar. She is also a freelance writer whose byline has appeared in the New York Post, Glamour, TV Guide and Fortune Small Business.