An open letter to

Ben Silverman

and

Marc Graboff

, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment, and

Angela Bromstad

, president of NBC Entertainment, on the subject of

"Chuck,"

which airs its penultimate episode of the season tonight at 8 on Channel 4: Dear Ben, Marc and Angela: I know this is a busy time for you. Two weeks from today, you're going to be announcing your prime-time schedule for the 2009-10 TV season, and you still need to figure out how to make that work when you're devoting the 10 o'clock hour to Jay Leno five nights a week. So I'll get right to the point:

If that schedule doesn't include "Chuck," I'm going to be very unhappy. And, I think, you might come to regret it, too.

Why, when you have such a tight schedule, would you bring back a show that routinely finishes a distant fourth in its time slot? Well, beside the fact that it's one of the most brutal time slots on television -- up against "Dancing with the Stars," "House" and the CBS comedies (not to mention "Chuck" co-creator Josh Schwartz's "Gossip Girl" on the CW) -- I can think of a bunch of reasons, both creative and financial, for continuing to follow the comic adventures of nerd-turned-spy Chuck (Zachary Levi) as he saves the world while trying to get that computer of government intelligence out of his head.

1. Product integration. It's more necessary than ever, as you try to make money while more and more viewers are using their DVRs to skip commercials. And few shows on your air are better-served to shill for the sponsors than "Chuck."

Chuck's day job is at an electronics store; his boss, Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), is a relentless chow-hound, and his spy missions regularly involve cool cars and other gadgets. Right there, you've got opportunities to seamlessly insert almost any kind of product into the narrative. Maybe you ask them to put the beloved Crown Vic of Chuck's surly handler Casey (Adam Baldwin) in the shop again and show him temporarily tooling around in a Prius and discovering that he really likes fuel efficiency.

And unlike those smart alecks over on "30 Rock," Schwartz, Chris Fedak and the rest of the "Chuck" writers don't feel the need to make fun of product integration even as they're doing it. They have no problem being shameless about it, like the scene in last week's episode where Chuck's friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez) tried to butter up Big Mike by bringing him a Subway $5 foot-long. "The Price Is Right" isn't as complimentary of its prizes as Big Mike was of that Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki. If blatant pimping is the price of continued existence, they (and we) are more than happy to pay it.

2. Recession escapism. "Escapism" seems to be buzzword du jour in your business as you try to find what people will want to watch in this harsh economic climate. As a mixture of farce and cool spy action, "Chuck" fits the bill perfectly. I'm a professional TV watcher, and even I have to admit there are some great shows on television these days that I need to brace myself to watch. Never "Chuck." It's always the highlight -- and greatest relief -- of my day, week after week.

3. Good press. This has been a tough time for broadcast TV in general and NBC in particular. As NBC fell from first place to fourth, you've become an easy punching bag in the press. You've started to turn the tide a bit by becoming a champion of quality shows that don't always dominate in the ratings -- not only "30 Rock," but "Friday Night Lights," which you recently extended for two more years through your content-sharing deal with DirecTV -- and you don't want to lose all that goodwill from the media and the fans by pulling the plug on "Chuck" too soon.

What I know of the season's last two episodes -- other than the extreme likelihood that they will be, to borrow an adjective from Chuck's future brother-in-law, Devon (Ryan McPartlin), awesome -- is that this won't be one of those "Life" or "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" finales where the fans will be disappointed but still feel they got enough closure to deal.

Fedak told me a few weeks ago that if fans find out that the season finale is also the series finale, "They're going to burn their living rooms. They're going to destroy their television sets. There could be chaos across the country." That's a joke, but like all good jokes, there's some truth behind it. Do you want the headache of all the angry columns, blog entries, e-mails and voicemails you'd receive after that? Do you want to get deluged with Nerds candy, or pocket protectors, or whatever other tchotchke the fans decide to send you, "Jericho"-style? Or do you want to simply get attaboys for standing behind a great show when it needed it?

4. NBC tradition. NBC as a network and you three as individuals seem to care deeply about maintaining the traditions of the Peacock, and "Chuck" is a link back to two of them. First, it's exactly the kind of show -- smart and funny but also light and versatile -- that the late Brandon Tartikoff (whom Ben publicly reveres) would have scheduled on NBC in the mid-'80s.

Second, "Chuck" is the easiest, best way to continue the concept of Must-See TV. Slap it on Thursdays at 8 leading into "The Office" and "30 Rock" (maybe with "Parks and Recreation" rotating in with those two to avoid reruns) and you still have that classic blend of comedy and drama that you became so known for on Thursdays. It's funny enough to lead into the sitcoms, but it also has action and pathos, and with Leno about to take over the old "Hill Street Blues"/"LA Law"/"ER" time slot, "Chuck" allows you to maintain the familiar balance. (And if you need another half-hour sitcom to work into the rotation, you could always spin off Scott Krinsky and Vik Sahay as Jeff and Lester -- a k a Jeffster! -- who are two of the most hilarious, albeit disturbing, characters in all of prime time.)

5. Yvonne Strahovski.

The entire "Chuck" cast is terrific, but you're going to especially regret losing Strahovski. As Chuck's other handler (and sorta-real, sorta-fake girlfriend), Sarah, Strahovski's a star in the making: not only beautiful and increasingly assured in the fight scenes but a superb dramatic actress as well. She's the one who makes the show feel real no matter how silly it gets, who sells the high stakes and the action and the romance, and you don't want to be known as the people who let her go while you had her on your network in a perfect role for her.

6. It's the best show on your network right now. All due respect to some other fine series, it's been more consistent than "30 Rock" and "Friday Night Lights," funnier than "The Office" and more purely entertaining than them and everything else on your airwaves.

I know television is a business like any other, but in the end, keeping on the best shows and putting them in the best position to find an audience (as opposed to getting killed in an 18-car pileup on Mondays at 8) is what your business is supposed to be about, right?

You're smart people, and you've had the good taste to develop and/or stick by some other great series. I hope in two weeks time, you find a way to stick by "Chuck."

Sincerely,

Alan Sepinwall