Today's Guest: Scott Krinsky, actor, "Chuck" Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience of carbon monoxide-fueled psychopaths who probably won’t go on living after the last new episode of “Chuck” airs… in the NEW new media capitol of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! If you don’t think most TV shows are very good at character development and growth these days, I’d encourage you to take a look at NBC’s “Chuck” as it winds down its five year run with two final episodes, tonight, Friday, January 13 at 8 p.m. and next week, January 20. For a show that has lived under threat of cancellation almost from day one, “Chuck” has nonetheless evolved its overall storyline and the lives of each of its players. Chuck Bartowski, for example, is no longer an accidental spy with a supercomputer in his brain; he’s the real thing, doing the job without high tech enhancements. SCOTT KRINSKY podcast excerpt: "It was nice to, after all these years of playing Jeff one way, it was nice to see him have a little growth and maturity. He was at the Buy More for 20 years! It was nice to see he had some potential to turn his life around." And what about second banana Jeff Barnes? After years of being drug-addled, sex-crazed and just plain creepy, we learned that his best friend Lester Patel made him this way by pumping carbon monoxide fumes into his van! Turns out Jeff is a somewhat regular guy – with pretty good powers of deduction. Last week, after five years, he put together a series of clues and deduced that there was a spy ring operating beneath the Buy More. Imagine that! My suspicion is that restoring Jeff to normality was the show’s producers handing actor Scott Krinsky a parting gift. They had to know it might tough for him landing future roles with such a convincing portrayal of a loser and, I believe, gave his character back some semblence of normalcy to let future casting directors see Krinsky in a more employable light. But rather than guess, I’ll ask him. (By the way, this is Scott’s second appearance on Mr. Media. He was last here promoting his appearance as guest host at the Acme Comedy Theater.) Scott Krinsky  • • •