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“Chuck” is Chuck-full of elements already available in wretched excess (the only kind of excess TV knows) in prime time. There’s the stereotypical wacky slacker, and lots of tongue-in-cheek, high-tech derring-do, which, if you’re not in a playful mood, will come off as derring-don’t.

But the show, premiering tonight on NBC, also has a happily palpable likability going for it, a lot of that courtesy of Zachary Levi, who plays the unlikely and in fact unwilling hero. Chuck Bartowski is a suburban schlemiel whose passive existence as supervisor of the Nerd Herd at the local Buy More is shattered one day by a portentous piece of e-mail from Chuck’s old Stanford roommate Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer).

Larkin is some sort of secret agent involved in rooftop chases, spectacular explosions and the like. He works in a room whose walls, floor and ceiling are all papered with changing images, like the inside of a big brain. That e-mail, sent in feverish desperation, is going to plunge poor unprepared Chuck into that same kind of world, and predictably but amusingly, he’s one fish who quickly begins to miss his water, lukewarm though it may have been.

As a hapless and helpless victim of circumstance, Chuck is a distant relation to Roger Thornhill, the advertising-man hero of Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” whose life goes haywire when he’s mistaken for a secret agent named George Kaplan. Producer and series creator Josh Schwartz has in fact decorated the series pilot with many a Hitchcock reference, including a rooftop chase as in “Vertigo,” the prevention of a political assassination as in “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and that Hitchcock favorite, the icy blonde — in this case Yvonne Strahovski as one of the prides of the CIA.

The e-note somehow implanted a dizzy gallery of information in Chuck’s head, and he finds he’s being pursued and besieged with annoying and yet exhilarating frequency. This interferes with, but does not replace, such Nerd Herd duties as placating a cute little ballerina whose daddy forgot to load the camcorder with which he thought he recorded his daughter’s dance recital. Obviously, that guy’s in Big Trouble, too.

Details of mall life in modern America are wittily observed and make a cleverly incongruous background for Chuck’s narrow escapes, mad dashes and clumsy attempts at swashbuckling. But he’s no dope; if he were, he’d lose our sympathy soon enough. Behind that pocket protector, he’s playful as a puppy.

To steal from the title of a great old Chuck Jones cartoon, this isn’t just “Chuck” but “Chuck Amok,” and if the premise and execution remind you of teen-aimed movies with similar setups and characters, at least it should remind you of the good ones, not the lame-o’s. “Chuck” cheerfully brightens up NBC’s Monday night of video fantastique and does it in a pretty magnifique way.

Chuck is just your average member of the Nerd Herd, an $11-an-hour clerk working at the Buy More electronics chain.

He also holds the key to all the nation’s defense secrets - which makes him somewhat important and the target of assassins of all stripes, including members of our government.

“Chuck” (debuting tonight at 8 on WHDH, Ch. 7) is that rare series, a smart show with equal parts drama, comedy and action.

Chuck (Zachary Levi) innocently opens an e-mail from an ex-friend who happens to be a spy. The message is encoded with reams of government data embedded in a series of images that hypnotize Chuck for hours and bore deep into his subconscious.

(As one government agent remarks next week, “Our most valuable secrets - have been sent to an idiot.”)

Enter the CIA’s top operative, Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), and the NSA’s scariest agent, John Casey (Adam Baldwin, “Firefly”). She wants to protect Chuck; he wants to eliminate him.

Lucky for Chuck, Sarah gets to him first. Sarah prevents Casey’s team from assassinating Chuck while giving him the hottest time he’s ever had on the dance floor. This beauty packs heat and knows how to work her hips - all in the line of duty.

Chuck would be really grateful if he could go back to his life of playing video games and being abused by the power-mad Buy More managers, but a ticking bomb forces all three to work together.

At the conclusion of tonight’s episode, both Sarah and Casey find ways to permanently insert themselves into Chuck’s life. Their rivalry for Chuck’s heart if not his mind is exploited in the equally fun follow-up next week.

The premiere should be required viewing for anyone making a TV pilot. It’s fast-paced and establishes the premise with a minimum of fuss.

Of course, executive producer Josh Schwartz knows something about nerds. He created Seth Cohen, the most successful geek to date, for Fox’s “The O.C.” Executive producer/director McG (“Charlie’s Angels”) brings a great sense of action storytelling to the mix.

As Chuck, Levi is a nerd in the way that, say, “The Office’s” Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) is a nerd - that is, he’s a cute guy who is made to appear off-kilter.

When someone asks him about his ambitions, he replies awkwardly, “Working on a five-year plan. Just need to choose a font.”

You buy his self-conscious, socially inept act because the show tells you to.

Among a stellar cast, Baldwin steals the scenery as the steaming agent who would love to make Chuck choke on his pocket protector.

Make a date: “Chuck” is the best new show of the fall season.

A Spy by Any Other Name

There are only two things wrong with NBC’s new action-comedy series CHUCK. First it’s good, really good. Second it’s on NBC, which remains in fourth place among the major broadcast networks.

I had the opportunity last summer, while in San Diego for Comic-Con 2007, to watch CHUCK’s pilot episode, which will air this evening on NBC stations around the country at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, 7 p.m. Central and Mountain time.

Admittedly, this NBC Universal/Warner Brothers Television coproduction is a bit off our regular Disney beat. At Comic-Con, however, press credentials don’t guarantee admittance to anything other than the San Diego Convention Center, so you tend to go where press agents are eager for coverage.

Sneak peeks and previews of new broadcast and cable TV shows, likely to appeal to Comic-Con’s uber-geeks, tend to be the most welcoming. More established fan favorites, like ABC TV’s Lost, make the press stand in line with the throngs of fans waiting to hear the latest word about their favorite shows.

Hence, our earlier podcast interview with Chris Chibnall, executive producer of BBC America’s Doctor Who spin off, Torchwood, and today’s review. Besides, how could I resist a show about a geeky guy turned spy called CHUCK?

School for Spies

Really smart guy Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) has a problem. He hasn’t had a date since graduating from Stanford University, where the love of his love dumped him for his equally smart and terribly dashing and athletic roommate. Chuck just can’t seem to stop telling every new girl he meets all about the breakup.

Now living in Los Angeles with his sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and her husband “Captain Awesome” (Ryan McPartlin), Chuck is a Nerd Herd computer geek for Buy More Electronics, who spends most of his free time hanging out with his best buddy Morgan (Joshua Gomez).

Life is going nowhere for Chuck until, out of the blue, he receives an e-mail from his old college roommate. Shortly thereafter, the extremely attractive Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strzechowski) literally walks into his life and becomes his first real date in years. Oh, and a team of agents from the National Security Agency, lead by Major John Casey (Adam Baldwin), starts shooting at him.

To make things more interesting, the beautiful Ms. Walker, who has as many weapons and kick-ass skills as she has curves, actually works for the CIA and repeatedly saves Chuck from his would-be assassins.

It seems Chuck’s old roommate was at the center of a power struggle between the CIA and the National Security Agency. A super spy gone rogue, the e-mail he sent Chuck was encoded with the last copy of a server farm’s worth of government secrets, which, before erasing itself, downloaded its cache of data directly into Chuck’s brain, thereby making him the most valuable asset in the fight to keep the nation and the world secure.

Must See SciFi

What makes this paper-thin story line work is that CHUCK successfully fires on all cylinders. Executive producer Josh Schwartz, late of The O.C., and executive producer-director McG (Charlie’s Angels and We Are Marshall) have assembled a first-rate cast, and provided them with smart, sharp dialogue. The pilot was written by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak.

Zachary Levi is perfectly cast as the hapless Chuck Bartowski. As a comedy duo, Levi and Gomez skillfully and hysterically play well off one another. Levi’s budding chemistry with Strzechowski is something worth keeping an eye on. And, as always, Adam Baldwin brings just the right blend of comedy and menace to his role.

McG’s direction, while fast paced and full of action, is never heavy handed. Nor does he allow his actors to drift into one-dimensional parodies of the characters they’re playing.

CHUCK was the most fun I’ve had watching a new television show since I first got hooked on Lost.

The question now is can a smart, funny, fast-paced show about twenty-something spies last for an entire season and draw a large enough audience to warrant being picked up for a second year?

Monday nights this fall, CBS is relying on two hours of returning comedies followed by CSI: Miami. ABC is offering reality programming in the form of Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor (new comer Samantha Who will debut in October).

As an alternative, NBC is planning on making Monday a night of Sci-Fi programming with CHUCK in kick-off position at eight o’clock, followed at nine by the peacock’s only real hit from last year, Heroes. They’ll round out the evening with the freshman time-travel drama Journeyman, staring Rome’s Kevin McKidd.

Clearly, Heroes is the anchor around which NBC hopes to build its new night of “must see TV.” Traditionally, however, hit shows are used as a lead-in for new shows. It remains to be seen how many people will check out CHUCK while they’re waiting for the Heroes saga to continue to unfold.

Whether you’re a Heroes fan or not, or already have a favorite show at 8 p.m. on Monday, I recommend you do yourself a favor and watch, or record and watch later, CHUCK, and not just because I like the name!