NBC’s Chuck has been renewed for a fifth season. Yay!

by James Hibberd

Categories: 2011 NBC Upfronts, 2011 Upfronts, Chuck

You want the good news first or the bad news?

NBC’s Chuck has been renewed for a fifth season. Yay!
But: This is will be the final season of Chuck.

The perpetual bubbliest of the broadcast bubble shows has once again pulled out a victory, securing a fifth round that will air on NBC next season. The network has ordered 13 episodes for Warner Bros. The “final season” part is a bummer, but at least the show will get an ending, which is something most serialized dramas on TV never get.

Creator Josh Schwartz tweeted: “What’s the square root of 25?” (playing off, of course, Ashton Kutcher’s tweet about joining Two and a Half Men). Then he added: The passion of the CHUCK fans has been heard again… We are all truly lucky to have the greatest fan base on tv. Thank you. … I will have more details soon… Very happy for the cast and crew.”

For awhile there, things looked possibly bleak for our heroes. New NBC chief Robert Greenblatt took the reins and inherited a new crop of pilots to shape into his own hits, while at the same time Chuck was dipping in the rating — the show averaged 5.6 million viewers and a 2.0 rating among adults 18-49 this season. But the show has a devoted following and was often NBC’s highest-rated series on Monday nights and insiders were confident the show would return once more.

Also in the current NBC news-pocalypse pre-upfront frenzy: NBC has cancelled The Event, has rejected Wonder Woman, has renewed Parenthood and Harry’s Law, greenlit Chelsea Handler’s sitcom and ordered dramas about Playboy and others.