NBC has decided not to wait for people to leak or pirate their new shows, but instead give them to saavy fans early, according to TVGuide.com says:

In an arrangement touted as “unprecedented in terms of its scope and participation,” all four of NBC’s freshman series — Chuck, Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Life — are being made available early, starting Sept. 10, as free video-on-demand offerings via Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter and other major cable operators, Variety reports.

Chuck isn’t due to premiere on TV until September 24th, as the lead-in to the second season of Heroes. Last year, a few tv shows offered their pilot episodes up for downloading on iTunes for free, but usually only a few days within their premiere date. I think it’s a great development, and NBC certainly seems to be thinking about ways to make people talk about their shows. There’s a lot of press lately about how to protect content from being leaked onto the internet, and one way to prevent “leaks” is to deliver the show yourself.

There’s a lot of talk about Chuck, and it’s been called one of the most anticipated shows of this coming season. Is giving us the pilot early going to whip the fans into a frenzy, or end up being a buzz kill?

With two weeks to get to know this episode, are people going to still be happy to tune in to episode two?

This post was Authored by Elizabeth, Our Resident Authority on all things Chuck