NBC’s “Chuck” – the thor oughly charming, off-beat sitcom about techie Chuck (Zachary Levi) who unknowingly had all the information in the world downloaded into his brain and now works as both a spy and a techie at a big box electronics store – is taking things even higher tech tonight. Or not.

Tonight’s special, special-effects episode, “Chuck Versus The Third Dimension,” will be broadcast in 3D – completing the two-day 3D collaboration between NBC, DreamWorks Animation and SoBe Lifewater that began with yesterday’s Superbowl ads.

Let me first say that the episode is a wonderfully funny one in which Chuck and his espionage handlers, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (Adam Baldwin), have to keep cockney rock star Tyler Moran (Dominic Monaghan in an homage to his lost “Lost” character) from being kidnapped.

Meantime, Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence) hires his old football buddy, Jimmy (Jerome Bettis), to work at the store after he gets sprung from jail. Bettis, a retired Pittsburgh Steeler and now football analyst for NBC, is such a great addition to the show that you’ll wish he was permanent.

You won’t think the same thing about the super-special 3D, however.

For one thing, the whole thing doesn’t look so much 3D as minus-3D, Instead of things popping out at you, they seem to retreat into the screen like an old View-Master.

So, no, you won’t be ducking the grenades or feeling like you are personally being snuggled by Sarah. In fact, it looks so old fashioned, I was expecting dinosaurs and Mickey Mouse to appear on the screen.

And then there’s the matter of the paper glasses that you have to pick up at places that sell SoBe water. Right. I can’t wait.

First off, can somebody tell me why – after what? more than half a century of 3D – we still have to wear the terrible paper glasses that as are comfortable as sitting with a fork on your nose? I mean, the first successful 3D movie was made in 1952. We’ve landed space craft on distant planets, cured diseases, nearly nailed Bernie Madoff and they still can’t figure out how to watch 3D without cutting a ridge on our noses and making us look like half-wits?

Luckily, they have figured out how to unblur the 3D picture so that once you tear off the glasses (which will be about two minutes into the show) you can still watch it . It won’t look like 3D – but then again, it doesn’t really look like it with the glasses on either.

“Chuck” in 3D

Tonight at 8 on NBC (but only a star for the 3D)