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Andy Barker, P.I.: Pilot (series premiere)

by Anna Johns, posted Mar 15th 2007 10:02PM
andy barker
(S01E01) I can't help but be afraid for this new series. I think it's great. I think people who enjoy the subtle comedy of The Office and My Name is Earl will also think it's pretty great. ("subtle", by the way, compared to a sitcom where we're told when to laugh) But it's going to take a while for this one to catch on. I can only hope that NBC will give Andy Barker, P.I. a fighting chance the same way it held on to The Office while it found an audience.

I've seen the pilot twice now since NBC made it and five other episodes available online. There are really two levels of comedy happening throughout the episode. There's the obvious one: an accountant takes a private investigator's case and solves it through tax records. The scene where Andy is doing work for one of his clients during a high-speed chase with the Russian mafia was hilarious! Barker is a straight-laced guy with a perfect, yet boring, life who decides to step out on a limb and take on the dangerous profession of private investigator. Clea Lewis, who plays his wife, is cast perfectly as the ultimate homemaker.

The second level of humor is a little less obvious. This is where I see Conan O'Brien's stamp all over the show (he's executive producer and writer). There were a heap of jokes about pop culture-- Sandra Bullock takes an especially hard beating in the pilot-- and Americana in general. Tony Hale, who plays video store guy Simon, is a total weirdo with a lot of great lines. He's one of those indignant nerds... the type many of us in this little online world are familiar with. And Marshall Manesh plays a great Afghani who "traveled here in the wheel well of a jumbo jet" and has American spirit spilling out of his ears. Sure, it's been nearly six years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, but a patriotic Afghani is still a funny joke, right?

My fear for this show is that not enough people will get it. They will only see the Andy Barker character and not all the other, hilarious stuff. Maybe, after all these years of watching brilliant television shows get canceled, I have lost faith in American television viewers. I dunno. I just hope the crowd that likes The Office and NBC's other Thursday night shows gives Andy Barker a chance because it really does fit in well with that comedy line-up.

This episode is full of so many great one-liners. Here's a sampling:

"Don't park in front of the Christian Bookstore unless you want to get towed." - Simon, the video guy
"MSG NO! USA YES!" - sign at Wally's Afghani restaurant
"Hakim! One Ronald Reagan, extra hummus!" - Wally, the Afghani restaurant owner
"I gotta go. There's a beefy goth chick in Horror." - Simon

What did you think?

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anni

Another cool show that will be pulled because the heartland doesn't get it and the network biggies will be too impatient to let it find an audience. Sigh.

April 11 2007 at 1:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
anni

I love this show and am so so sad to hear of its cancelation.
Another smart, funny, well-cast show bites the dust because of impatient suits.

April 11 2007 at 1:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gaz

And of course, Andy in his office and the woman coming in was a quote/hommage to Humfrey Bogart's Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon. The woman there wanted a sister found, not a husband, but also offered cash.
I liked the comedy and Conan's handprints were all over it. No one mentioned the priest, busy making hamburger... I thought it was hilarious.

March 19 2007 at 3:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jon

All we saw was the PILOT! This is a show that requires some setup. Keep in mind that it is from the mind of Conan, and per Tina Fey: "The Harvard guys are all about concept."

Conan was the only guy in charge of Harvard Lampoon for more than a year. Ever.

That sensibility requires humor to be built upon concept. And to allow for the comedy to come from that conflict.

All we have seen (on TV), is the setup for the concept.

The Harvard guys demand that it happens first.

I have chosen not to watch online, only for my hope for the timeslot. We have seen what has happened on FOX, NBC...all of them.

I'll bet the next episode rocks.

March 16 2007 at 7:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
khamel

"Who traveled here in the wheel well of a jumbo jet". That might have been the funniest line i have heard on tv since AD was canceled (the fact that it was Buster was just gravy). I was apprehensive about getting hooked to another andy richter show just to be disappointed but i hope this one works out. Great episode and good characters.

March 16 2007 at 5:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
qadir

I loved the pilot and pray that NBC don't go the asshat route drop the show. I've got an unshakable feeling something absolutely terrible thing will happen to the show. Not necessarily cancellation(although its far from impossible) but something more along the lines of a casting error or a tremendous flaw in writing.

as far as Raines goes, I liked it. Reminded me of House a lot for less reasons then you'd think. NBC seems to have a strong lineup going

March 16 2007 at 4:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bgdc

Yayaja - there are a BILLION PI shows - Psych, Monk, Veronica Mars.

March 16 2007 at 2:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JW

I missed Andy Barker P.I. due to Grey's Anatomy; but I know it has to be good with Andy Richter, after all he used to be and should still be Conan's sidekick. Did anyone catch Raines?

March 16 2007 at 1:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave Caolo

I liked it, and will watch again. But then again, I adore The Office. Some of us don't need to be spoon-fed comedy.

March 16 2007 at 12:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yayaja

I think I'm the only one who is excited at the prospect of an actually private investigative show! They have a great opportunity to make this into a great mystery show, with plenty of humor thrown in. They kept referencing Chinatown directly, but throughout the whole episode, I definitely got the old style PI shows.

March 16 2007 at 11:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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