Now that NBC has five unclaimed hours of primetime on its hands, you might think the cast of Chuck is breathing a little easier. The show has found its voice, its footing, and its audience. It has even overtaken Heroes as NBC’s most successful fantasy series.

But when TheTorchOnline.com correspondent Michael Jensen visited the set during last week’s Television Critics Association Press Tour, he discovered that most of the Chuck team is still holding their breath.

They think they can, they think they can — but they’re not taking anything for granted.

Series co-creator Josh Schwartz told TCA reporters, “Our attitude remains the same … all along [it] has been to keep our head down, try to make the best show we can and hope people come and hope people talk about it.”

They obviously got their second wish: Thanks to the fan-led Twitter movement, #ChuckMeMonday, Chuck was the most talked about show of the summer. And now that it’s firmly in its third season, fans still won’t shut up.

“[It's] awesome to know that our fans didn’t just fight for us and bring us back,” Schwartz’s partner in creation, Chris Fedak, told reporters, “But they showed up. They didn’t just go, ‘Yay! You know what? I’ve got something on Sunday, I can’t.’ And then also they talk, [and other people hear their] voices and they go, ‘You know what? These guys have been shoving Chuck down my throat for two years. Okay, fine, I’ll check out.’”

(I admit to shoving Chuck down people’s throats — and threatening to torch my Facebook friends’ houses if they let the show get canceled.)

As happy as they are about their past success (and as superstitious about their future), the Chuck team seems most excited about the present. Yvonne Strahovski (Agent Sarah Walker) told Michael, “I’ve seen some of the episodes now, and I think they’re the best we’ve ever done.”

Fedak agrees: “It’s very much a new show. I mean, essentially it’s very strange. We’re in the third year of show to kind of relaunch it with a new concept like we’ve done. And I think it’s exciting for the viewers as well.”

While many viewers were giddy with Chuck’s transition to Intersect 2.0 in last season’s finale, they were worried that they might lose the adorkable nerd they’d grown to love. If Chuck’s antics in the first four episodes of the season didn’t put them at ease, Schwartz offered some insight.

“[Intersect 2.0] re-enforces his underdog status because the discrepancy between who he is when he’s a regular guy and then who he is when he’s flashing has never been greater,” Schwartz said. “And because those powers aren’t always ready for him. And because, you know, he still has his heart.”

He also has his kung fu powers.

I agree with Strahovski that Chuck is at its best this season. It has found the balance between drama and camp, between slick action sequences and pratfalls, between terrorism and romance. Chuck may have embraced his life as a spy, but he’s navigating many of the same obstacles (and people) as he did when he was just flashing top secret information.

Schwartz classified the show as “Heightened reality. It’s one foot in fantasy and one foot in satire.”

He also told the TCA reporters, “[Chuck's a guy] who’s battling the issues of insecurity and love and just trying to find his place in the world.”

Let’s hope that place continues to be primetime on NBC — even after they start filling up those five hour-long vacancies with new incarnations of Law and Order.

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