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Chuck Decision Delayed for a Week or More

Michael Cudlitz also confirms to us that NBC has ordered 13 more episodes of Southland

By Jennifer Godwin May 02, 2009 4:00 PMTags

Chuck star Zachary Levi reveals to E! exclusively that NBC will not renew or cancel beloved spy dramedy Chuck for at least another week. Cast and crew had originally expected to hear before Monday's planned NBC "infront" presentation to advertisers.

When asked last night at an Eva Longoria Parker-hosted charity event benefiting Children's Hospital Los Angeles about prospects for a third season of Chuck, Levi said, "I thought we were going to hear about it this Monday because NBC's announcing a bunch of its schedule, but I just got an email from [Chuck executive producer] Josh Schwartz, and he said stay positive, [but] we're not going to find out on Monday. It could be another week or two. They're making their final tallies and decisions."

Chuck was the runner-up in E!'s 2009 Save One Show campaign and has been the focus of a vast Internet-based #savechuck campaign that has included Nerds candy mails-ins and a Subway "buy-in" demonstration.

So what's the holdup with the decision? Here's what Levi said about the NBC schedule right now:

"I don't envy the job of anyone at NBC or any network to have to make those calls," he told us. "It's a very difficult thing to do, especially in television nowadays, even trying to get a solid idea of how many people watch. It's so difficult between live and DVR and videotapes and Internet streaming and downloading and all that. And really, the concept of television has always been 'advertising money makes the shows,' and when people stop watching advertising because they're just going blip-blip, blip-blip [through the commercials] or watching online, you can't blame the companies for not wanting to put their money into it. Because it's like, what's the point? Nobody's watching the commercials."

In other NBC series news, Southland star Michael Cudlitz confirmed to us via Twitter that NBC has ordered 13 more episodes of the John Wells-produced vérité drama about Los Angeles police officers. The official announcement is expected Monday.

So what do you think is causing the delay? And should NBC keep Chuck?

Reporting by Gretchen Putnam and Natalie Abrams