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NBC's Chuck is very Mac-heavy
I'm not sure what happened to the memo from top NBC brass, after the iTunes negotiations broke down, saying that Apple was firma non grata... but it clearly didn't make it to the Warner Bros. production offices of Chuck in time to excise all the Mac gear from the geek-themed spy comedy's pilot episode. The corporate rage may have found some outlet, however, in the sheer destructive energy expended on the show's poor, defenseless Macs. Even the presence of a nasty Windows virus (the kind that causes laptops to emit smoke and sparks!) as a plot point doesn't make up for the carnage.There's the protagonist's doomed home machine, a G5 tower with a convenient sticker over the side logo -- which a) must be a lot lighter than a production model, seeing how it got tossed about; and b) suffers a grim fate as a gravity-test victim/close-combat weapon -- and earlier, there's another Mac that makes a key appearance in the opening sequence before getting blown to smithereens. (OK, seriously now, the CIA and NSA keep all their classified information -- all of it -- on one lonely Mac Plus? I sincerely doubt it.) You can review the carnage at NBC's full-episode playback page; the Mac Plus detonation is in the first four minutes, and the G5 breakdown is at about 16 minutes in. Too bad you can't watch it on your iPhone, unless of course you EyeTV'ed it last night. Also spotted during this week's premieres: Emmy-nominee Doogie Neil Patrick Harris sporting an iPhone on How I Met Your Mother, an iPhone in the time-traveling toolkit of Journeyman star Kevin McKidd (more on this later), and another iPhone gag on the Simpsons season premiere. It's looking like a good year for Apple on TV; send us your spotter reports in the comments, or add your sightings to our "appleontv" Flickr pool.
HDTV Listings for September 24, 2007
What we're watching: ABC, NBC and CBS are rolling out their fall premieres, with several returning shows and a few brand new ones. In between standbys like DWTS and Heroes, keep an eye out for the series premieres of Chuck, The Big Bang Theory and Journeyman. Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Enthusiastic Wii Sports session lands actor in ER
The wrist strap can't save you from everything that could possibly go wrong while playing Wii games -- especially if a pesky light fixture just happens to jump in the way while you're getting your tennis on. That's what happened to actor Zachary Levi, star of NBC's upcoming Chuck. He served a little too enthusiastically in Wii Sports tennis, and put his hand through the light with so much force "there were shards of glass in the wall." We can only hope it ended in an ace.Levi's mishap resulted in a trip to the emergency room and fourteen (!) stitches. But hey, at least he didn't sue, like some folks. After all, it's not like Nintendo put the light there. But take it from Levi, and look up before you serve.[Via GoNintendo]
Nunchuck LED mod tutorial
We have featured LED mods for the Wii remote in the past, but today we have a tutorial for adding colored LEDs to your Wii nunchuck! Despite the instructional photos and well-documented walkthrough, we wouldn't suggest this sort of hardware hacking to an electronics novice. You won't have much to brag about if you accidentally set your circuit board on fire or unintentionally scar yourself with a triwing screwdriver. Hey, it could happen! "MCWORLD!"If you happen to be skilled with a soldering iron though, this tweak might be for you. Following the tutorial, your nunchuck should have a swank LED glow right underneath the thumbstick whenever you've got it attached to a Wii remote in use. You'll be the talk of the town!
