There’s no reason why you need an introduction to “GIFs of the Week” every Monday, other than I need something to fill up the space beneath the banner image. You guys are s-m-r-t; you don’t need me to tell you that when you click “Read the rest of this entry,” you’re going to see GIFs, from TV shows, from the last seven days. So, um, whatcha guys wanna talk about? Anyone catch Pro Bowl fever? I went to my cousin’s bat mitzvah over the weekend, and…actually, that’s about it. We ate bagels. True story.

/wipes flop sweat from brow

ANYWAYS. Here are our favorite GIFs of the (last) week.

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Chuck (NBC, Friday) – “Chuck” never got a lot of coverage around here, but it did have a weirdly devoted fanbase who stuck with it through a number of schedule changes. The show comes to its conclusion tonight, and I think I speak for the majority of Americans when I say, “Okay.”

Luck (HBO, Sunday) – Pilot episode. HBO aired this back in December as a sneak peek, but the new David Milch series starring Dustin Hoffman starts for real this Sunday night. I miss Barbaro. I said it.

Downton Abbey (PBS, Sunday) – Actual conversation I heard recently between two people who are clearly soulmates: HUSBAND: I like “Downton Abbey.” WIFE: Who’s in it? HUSBAND: Oh.. um… who’s that one British actress? WIFE: Maggie Smith? HUSBAND: Yeah, her.

The Good Wife (CBS, Sunday) – Sometimes watching this show makes me want to buckle down and get serious about my law career. Other times someone on the show will be eating Chinese food and it makes me want to order dumplings. My point here is that I’m easily influenced and often hungry.

Bayou Billionaires (CMT, Saturday) – I love you, you crazy hillbillies. I won’t watch your show, but I love you.

The Simpsons/Napoleon Dynamite/Family Guy/American Dad (FOX, Sunday) – Whenever people talk about “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, they say things like “he’s more hands off now” or “he’s not around much” or “Seth likes to have a drink.” This leads me to believe he is doing life properly.

Californication/House of Lies/Shameless (Showtime, Sunday) – Boobs.

John Mulaney: New in Town (Comedy Central, Saturday) – I mentioned the other day that John Mulaney is one of my favorite comedians. Not only was his last album one of the best I’ve heard in a while, he’s also the writer at SNL who’s responsible for the Stefon segments on Update. What I failed to mention is that because I am a big fancy TV blogger now, I got an advance copy of his new special earlier this week and it’s really terrific. You need to watch this Saturday night and/or get the album when it comes out on the 31st or I don’t see how we can be friends. (Clip after the jump.)

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Recurring characters are like inside jokes: They exist in part to reward viewers of television series, not just the episodes. They’re like drunk uncles or ex-girlfriends who drop by every few months, drink all your beer, dance naked in your living room, puke on the floor and vanish, only to return again six months later looking to crash on your couch. And we let them, goddamnit, because we have an unyielding affection for them, no matter how much they wreck the place.

The best shows use these recurring characters sparingly. They’re typically one note, but it’s a glorious note, and as long as it’s not overplayed, the character can continue to return without ever wearing out his or her welcome (see, e.g., Senor Chang, who was elevated to series regular on “Community” and almost immediately became unbearable).

I’ve taken the liberty of ranking, without comment, television’s best recurring characters. A note about the criteria: To be included on the list, the character must be in an on-going television show; he or she must have been in fewer than 30 percent of the show’s episodes; and he or she must have recurred in two or more seasons of the show. Limit one recurring character per series.

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Man, if I watched “Chuck,” that totally would have been the reason why I went to get a Subway sandwich during my lunch break today. Because every time I hypothetically think of getting a foot-long Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast, I hypothetically associate it with…that girl from “Chuck”…and that spy thing they do…and, um, Chuck.

So, yeah, I’ve never seen an episode of “Chuck,” but according to new figures from Nielsen, people really relate the two: the time “Big Mike says that his kidnapping hasn’t been that bad because his kidnappers brought sandwiches” was the fifth most remembered product placement of 2011. Rounding out the top five:

Sheldon using Purell and Amy suggesting everyone play Twister on “The Big Bang Theory” (#1 and #3), Tessa drinking Red Bull on “Suburgatory” (#2), and Beckett driving a Ferrari on “Castle” (#4).

The Nielsen blog posting also reveals that of the 10 series with the highest amount of product placement activity, four of them are on NBC and nine are reality shows (“Idol” topped the list with 577 occurrences). The only exception: “Friday Night Lights Goes to Applebee’s” at #8 with 201. Looks like “Modern Family” is going to have to step its Target-and-iPad-loving game up for 2013 – this is the only award the show hasn’t won.

‘HELL ON WHEELS’ DEBUTS STRONG. Sunday night’s series premiere drew 4.4 million viewers for AMC, the network’s second-best debut after “The Walking Dead.” I thought the pilot was okay, but I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that series star Anson Mount played Britney Spears’s love interest in Crossroads.

‘SONS OF ANARCHY’ GETS A BONUS EPISODE. Showrunner Kurt Sutter has worried publicly that Season 4 had too much story to fit into 13 episodes, so FX has given the green light for a 14th episode. The season finale will now air December 6th.

‘EBERT PRESENTS’ HAS RUN OUT OF MONEY. The intellectual successor to “Siskel & Ebert” will go off the air unless it gets more funding. Sucks to be on public television.

AUDIENCES AGREE: ‘CHUCK’ SUCKS. The hokey NBC crapfest is the lowest-rated show on primetime for any of the big four networks, drawing a .9 rating on Friday nights. The most recent episode was beaten by a repeat of “NCIS” on USA.