I love Chuck

And you guys should as well. Third season starts tonight.

I bought season 1 at Costco last year and thought it was goofy fun. And it is. A nerd becomes a spy. It’s sci-fi spy fun and, much like the beloved show Psych, it throws in obscure pop culture references.

Family Guy really upped the game for pop culture references in a show, but it’s all a bit obvious. A few shows now are making things a little better.

An episode we saw the other night had two great references:

• A character had his email password randomly change to words from a Vogon poem
• An assassin kept showing up in a van that claimed to be owned by Tuttle Electrical

That’s just great. Now his episode I’m watching stepped it up a bit with this one:

• The gunman who crashes into the Buy More and holds them hostage is named Nathanial Edward Ryerson, but his friends call him ‘Ned’. That’s a bit TOO obscure.
• Reginald VelJohnson is guest starring as a cop on the outside of the store. He’s eating Twinkies. And he knows that he’s got a man on the inside so everything’s under control.

That last one should be easy. But I’d like to know who else gets these references. You will win an internet. And an internet high five.