Looking for romance?  Intrigue?  Suspense?  Excitement?  Wishing for tales of spies and thrills?  Entertainment that helps you escape and take your mind off reality?

I just love North by Northwest: Cary Grant plays an ordinary ad executive mistaken for an international spy, and he must race across the country to escape a group of foreign agents.  Eva Marie Saint is Eve Kendall, the spy who has infiltrated the foreign agents’ cadre, who finds herself torn between saving Thornhill and completing her mission.

Or perhaps you prefer Scarecrow and Mrs. King, one of my childhood favorites: Kate Jackson plays the naive housewife who is inadvertently caught up in a world of espionage when Bruce Boxleitner’s secret agent character asks her to hold a package.  Initially awkward in his fast-paced world, she brings a touch of realism and humanity to spy work.  At the end of a long day, I also enjoy something fun and light-hearted, which brings me to one of my favorite shows.  Chuck blends the conventions of classic spy drama with campy, light-hearted humor.

Chuck follows the life of Chuck Bartowski, played to adorably geekish perfection by Zachary Levi, who, like Roger Thornhill, has found himself caught up in an unfamiliar world of espionage and deception.  Unlike Cary Grant’s Thornhill, however, Chuck Bartowski is not a suave ladies’ man.  It is his endearingly naive perspective that makes him so delightful.  A former college friend has made Chuck an unwitting human vessel for top-secret CIA records downloaded into Chuck’s brain (don’t question the logistics of this too closely), and Chuck must be protected by two agents, CIA agent Sarah Walker and NSA agent John Casey.  Meanwhile Chuck continues his day job as a computer repairman for a big-box electronics store.  Sarah’s cover as Chuck’s girlfriend quickly, and predictably, shifts as they develop real feelings for each other.

Chuck‘s humor lies in refusing to take itself too seriously.  The plots are somewhat predictable, even as Sarah’s role as protector and Chuck’s ineffectualism offer a switch on stereotypical gender roles.  Despite its roots in the spy thriller genre, Chuck is a spy spoof at heart.  Silly costumes and settings are part of the fun, and the second season has featured a fun cameo by John Larroquette as a washed-up spy once famous for his skills of seduction.  Adam Baldwin, who plays agent John Casey, is a scene-stealer with his portrayal of an agent who initially resents “babysitting” Chuck but later begins to like the hapless geek.

Now in its second season, Chuck airs on Monday nights on NBC.  If you haven’t seen it before, you can also catch earlier episodes from this season online, and the first season is available on DVD.  It has become one of my favorite ways to unwind and have fun on Monday nights – maybe you’d like to join me.

Images from art.com and NBC.com.

Robin collects stories and musings about her family, work, and hobbies at The Driftwood Collector.