Bust out the footlong subs and, in a nod to last night’s Chuck season three premiere, a big tub o’ cheese balls, because the spy guy dramedy that sparked fans to fight for its survival last season debuted season three with some pretty awesome ratings numbers.

The rundown:

– Last night’s two-hour season premiere attracted 7.7 million viewers for the first hour, and 7.2 million for the second hour

– Chuck‘s viewership was up 58 percent from its lead-in, NBC’s Dateline

– The season three premiere’s ratings were up 21 percent on the show’s average ratings for season two

– The season premiere boasted the show’s highest average viewership ratings and viewership in the 18-49 demographic since last year’s post-Super Bowl 3-D episode

Additionally, as Alan Sepinwall points out at What’s Alan Watching?, one of the few bright spots in the ridiculous NBC/Leno/Conan mess is that NBC is now going to need a whole lot of programming to fill the vacancy left by The Jay Leno Show at 10PM, which only bodes well for Chuck‘s continued survival. And now with this excellent ratings news for the season premiere … it’s definitely looking good for Chuck (Zachary Levi) and company.

Well, except for Emmett. R.I.P., Mr. Milbarge (Tony Hale).

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Star Rating: 4 out of 5

Stars: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Ryan McPartlin, Sarah Lancaster, Vik Sahay, Scott Krinsky, Bonita Friedericy, Mark Christopher Lawrence and Tony Hale

The Big Idea: Who doesn’t love a fresh start? Brand new year – brand new decade – and brand new episodes of Chuck, off to a powerhouse season-three debut with three episodes (two on Jan. 10 and another new ep in the show’s regular timeslot, Mondays at 8PM, on Jan. 11). I’ve had the chance to watch the first five episodes, and I’m happy to report that Chuck still has the heart, the humor and the high-octane action/romance blend that inspired fans to launch a successful save-the-show campaign (and nosh a whole lotta Subway sammies) last spring.

As we learned in last season’s finale, Chuck’s Intersect 2.0 flashes can now provide him with some serious (and seriously cool) physical talents, namely all manner of martial arts, and this turns out to be a boon for star Zachary Levi‘s physical comedy skills. It’s pure joy to watch Chuck nervously summon up the appropriate proficiency in a tense situation, and then cycle rapidly through a full resume of emotions, from hesitant bemusement, to “This rocks!” giddiness at his newfound skills, to blasé mastery and back again.

And bonus, the worst kept secret in Chuckdom turns out to be true – the abilities don’t always appear on cue, and they tend to evaporate at really inconvenient moments.

To Watch or Not to Watch: So, Chuck’s not Superman – though his mysterious new boss Daniel Shaw is played by Brandon “Superman Returns” Routh, and Smallville‘s Kristin Kreuk shows up in episode five as … well, we’re not really sure. Kreuk, like Rachel Bilson in season one, and Jordana Brewster in season two, does seem to fit someone’s preference for casting brunettes who’ve been in the Maxim Top 100 as rivals to Sarah for Chuck’s affection. And speaking of the would-be primetime supercouple, for Chuck and Sarah (Strahovski) in season three … well, it’s complicated, mostly because of Chuck’s new abilities and his new commitment to using them in his spy guy job. There’s some good, old-fashioned clueless guy moves along the way as well, including one on a train platform in the season premiere that will make you yell “Idiot!” at your TV.

Finally, the Buy More gang is back, and they’re in top form. Morgan’s (Joshua Gomez) return, culminating in him living the dream of every name tag-wearing arrested adolescent, Casey (Adam Baldwin) dealing effectively, brutally and comically with a terrorist insurgency loose in the big box store and a hilarious homage to Fight Club that leads to a classic Lester (Vik Sahay) and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) plot are but a few of the moments in the first batch of new episodes that should make us all happy those post-season two rumors of big budget cuts for Chuck didn’t mean we’ll be spending less time in the land of Buymoria.

TV Screener Tidbits: In addition to an even beefier role for Levi, Ryan McPartlin‘s Captain Awesome also gets more play this season, as Awesome is sucked into the spy game and finds it, ultimately, not so much to his liking. Meanwhile, those rumors of a death in the season premiere? Sadly true. And it comes as a big shock.

Chuck season three premieres Sunday, January 10, at 9PM ET on NBC

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