Sunday’s season premiere of NBC’s Chuck brought in higher ratings than network execs could have hoped for, which is good news for fans and the show’s executive producer McG. (Yes, THAT McG.) The first hour of the 2 hour premier brought in an audience of 7.7 million viewers and a 3 rating among the always important adults aged 18 to 49.

During an event to promote Human Target McG was asked about the premiers ratings, and what it means for the show:

“I’m happy, I just believe in that show, and we actually got rewarded last night. (WB Television President) Peter Roth seems really happy with the numbers. We’re happy with what it did, so hopefully it’ll keep on trucking.

“We were mid-3s, and that was above expectations. They wanted to have a 3 in front of it, so we were right around a 3.4 with the men 18-49, and I think they’re really happy with that, especially because I think the football game got a really good number on the other network and led into a big, strong Simpsons/Fox night.

I haven’t talked to NBC yet this morning, but we’re all on the same e-mail chain… executives are very personally vested in the show. They really want it to work out. They’re all like children to all of us. That show was on the edge of extinction, and the fans spoke, and people were really passionate about it. It doesn’t hurt to have Jon Stewart as a fan and Howard Stern as a fan and people like that touting the Chuck of it all.”

I’m a huge Chuck fan so it’s good to hear that the numbers were strong enough to have the execs take notice. I really like that changes that were made to the characters in the premier and I hope that they are able to keep the show fresh, while at the same time holding on to all of the things that make it so damn entertaining.