Comic-Con: Season two of Chuck begins with a dangle

Or more precisely…a dangling.

When season two opens for Chuck Bartkowski, we’ll find him hanging over the edge of a building, swinging back and forth, hoping that this giant of a man doesn’t let go of him.

That giant is Michael Clarke Duncan and he’s just one of the big named guest starts to pass through Chuck during the upcoming second season.

There is also John Larroquette from Night Court, Nicole Ritchie from…well, tabloids, Melinda Clark from The O.C., Michael Strahan, the ex New York Giant, and last but not least, Tony Hale.

Who is Hale? Buster from Arrested Development and he’ll be playing the new assistant manager at the Buy More who grows suspicious of Chuck.

I can’t tell you how pumped I am to see Hale again on TV. One of my most favorite characters of all time.

Like most new shows returning this fall, Chuck’s first episode back will lean towards helping the new fans get acclimated as to why this Buy More employee is running around with a computer in his head and being protected by spies.

The Comic-Con panel started off with a five minute or so preview of the upcoming season and it looked pretty dang good. There is more of Awesome, more of Morgan (who throws a cage fight called Thunderdome to find the next Buy More manager), more of Casey, and more of Chuck and Sarah.

In fact, the preview included a few moments of passion between the two.

It also featured a locker room shower scene in which Sarah is trying to fight off Nichole Ritchie. All wet.

Interesting.

There are also rumors of a same-sex kiss between two of the cast members. They didn’t want to talk about it…hmmmmm.

Speaking of Casey, we last saw him with orders to kill Chuck and he’ll have to deal with conflicting feelings when the series returns.

And the first episode features an ending that will be “catastrophic” according to creator Josh Schwartz, which will lead up to an “insane season finale.”

The Chuck panel was one that I wanted to attend, but it definitely wasn’t at the top of my list. Yet I walked away finding it in the top three of my favorite panels over the two-day visit.

Most of it is owed to Zachary Levi who is one funny, entertaining guy. But you could just see how much affection the cast has for each other. Everyone was relaxed, loose and having tons of fun with each other and the audience.

Adam Baldwin of course got massive applause when the moderator (Kristin from E!) mentioned that he was in Firefly. He was truly humbled as he usually is when this happens.

“I felt this love from you guys here last year and before that, and I just have to express my heartfelt thanks to you guys because it comes through me back to you guys. I just thank you for embracing Chuck and what wonderful fans you are.”

Last year at Comic-Con, when they hadn’t even been seen yet, there was an apparent act of “69″ up on the panel table between Zachary and Baldwin.

The fans wanted to see it again, but they wouldn’t do it, especially because of the notices to the celebrities in attendance that much of the crowd was under 18 years of age.

So instead, he and Joshua Gomez (Morgan) did a hand puppet show to relive the event and it was priceless.

Levi did a lot of interaction with the crowd and played up the Baldwin angle as much as he could.

“It could only be Baldwin up here and you’d still all be here right?”

Much applause and hooting and hollering.

When asked if he would appear on Dollhouse, a new show created by Whedon who also did Firefly, Baldwin was sort of unclear.

“Hell no, I’m on CHUCK now!”

Chuck will interact with quite a few women this year, including Sarah and his ex-girlfriend Jill from the past, and Zachary wasn’t too bashful about how tough his job is.

“My job doesn’t suck people, I mean…come on.”

The entire panel was pure entertainment. And that couldn’t be said for all the others I attended.

In fact, you wouldn’t think it possible, but after watching the preview clips and seeing the cast have so much fun together…it actually has me eagerly anticipating the return of Chuck.