The Chuck Mystique

So when did Chuck become the go-to everyguy name? "Chuck" is the new NBC show -- two films reference Chuck in the title -- "I Now Prounounce you Chuck and Larry" starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James and "Good Luck Chuck" starring Dane Cook.

I need some background on how we went from Joe or Ed to Chuck so very quickly. Is this Charlie Brown syndrome? Has everyone turned into Peppermint Patty?

Other questions to ponder from upfronts:

"Darling" as the last name in 2 series -- "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Back to You". In the former series, the family is a mess, far from "Darling". In the latter series, Kelsey Grammer plays Chuck (!) Darling, news anchor and probably beloved in his own mind but nowhere else.

Christian already asked this, but it's worth repeating: What is ABC's fixation on a group of four friends? Check this out:

Big Shots: (From ABC press release) This is the story of four friends...

Carpoolers: (Again, from the press release) Less about saving the environment than male bonding, four guys from very different backgrounds...

Cashmere Mafia: (I wish I was making this up) Four ambitious and sexy women, who've been best friends since business school...

Women's Murder Club: (seriously) Based on James Patterson's bestselling novels, The Women's Murder Club, four working women in San Francisco - a detective, a district attorney, a medical examiner and a reporter...

So, uh, I guess four is the magic number for them? Mental note: create series with four leads for ABC...

Another trend: Chicks as series leads is in. (Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle, Women's Murder Club, Return of Jezebel James, Sam I Am, Private Practice, The Bionic Woman, Sarah Connor Chronicles, When Women Rule the World (reality show on Fox), and Miss/Guided)

I'll keep parsing data for more trends...