Andy Richter Controls the Universe

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Andy Richter Controls the Universe

Genre	Comedy
Running time	20–22 minutes
Creator(s)	Victor Fresco
Starring	Andy Richter Irene Molloy Paget Brewster Jonathan Slavin James Patrick Stuart
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	FOX
Original run	March 1, 2002–January 12, 2003
No. of episodes	19

Andy Richter Controls the Universe was a sitcom which aired from 2002-2003 on the Fox network. The series was Andy Richter's first starring role after leaving Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2000. It ran for two seasons, totalling 19 episodes, and was cancelled due in part to poor ratings.

1 Characters
2 Structure/Production
- 2.1 Soundtrack
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Characters

[edit] Andy Richter

The character, sharing his name with the actor, was an aspiring writer living in Chicago who wanted to write short stories. However, he was forced to work as a technical manual writer for Pickering Industries, the fifth largest company in America, to pay the bills. Andy was shy and not good with women. He didn't really want to be working at the company, though he was very good at his job.

[edit] Jessica Green

Played by Paget Brewster, Jessica worked with Andy for years before she became the head of Andy's department, and thus, his boss. They tried dating once, but it didn't work out. She often had to act as an intermediary between her superiors, and Andy and his co-workers, forcing her to take sides. She is fairly superficial when it comes to men.

[edit] Keith

Played by James Patrick Stuart, Keith was a friend and co-worker of Andy's, and one usually stuck up for the other. He was the handsome guy in the office who had things handed to him because he's good-looking.

[edit] Wendy McKay

Played by Irene Molloy, Wendy was the receptionist at Andy's office. As of the pilot, she had only been working there a month. Andy was attracted to her, but found out that since he had not made a move in a month, Keith had started dating her.

[edit] Byron Togler

Played by Jonathan Slavin, Byron was a new illustrator who moved into Andy's office, which caused Andy annoyance in the pilot episode. Byron was fairly insecure and shy.

[edit] Other characters

Pickering Industries was founded by Mr. Pickering (John Bliss) in 1880. Despite being over 170 years old, and dead, he appeared in numerous episodes and had discussions with Andy within his imagination. His viewpoints were typically antiquated and contrary to political correctness to an extreme degree. His comments often seemed to represent a negative aspect of Andy's mind, such as guilt, or self-doubt.

Teak (Charlie Finn) and Phil (Sean Gunn) lived in the same building as Andy and were in the same fraternity as him (but ten years later). As such, they looked up to him.

[edit] Structure/Production

The series' plots were fairly typical of sitcoms with Andy getting himself into a situation and having to find a solution. The unique aspects were several unusual devices that defined the show. First was Richter's voiceover which essentially narrated the plot, as well as Andy's thought processes in each episode. Secondly, and connected to the first was Andy's imagination, which was presented onscreen as if it were reality until it was revealed in a smash cut accompanied by the sound of rewinding audio tape. This is often used to demonstrate alternatives to what actually happened for a given event. A theme of the show which uses these techniques was its original working title, Anything Can Happen; a thought which Richter imparts to the audience in the narration of the opening teaser of the series premiere.

Although cancelled after two mid-season runs (totalling fewer episodes than a single regular season), reruns currently air on HDNet. It was also shown on the Paramount Comedy Channel and the Irish Network TV3.

While currently not scheduled for release on DVD, a site has been posted requesting its release on amazon.com. [1]

The show was a co-prodcuction of Paramount Television and 20th Century Fox Television.

[edit] Soundtrack

All music from the show was written by Greg Burns, Jeff Burns, and Brian Kirk. The theme song is sung by Jason Cropper of Weezer. The song was written for the show, and there is not a full version beyond the short clip in the beginning.^[1] However, a slightly longer version of the song is evident on the pilot episode.

[edit] Trivia

The outside shots of Andy's office are taken from the Duke & Duke building from Trading Places.
Former colleague Conan O'Brien guest starred in the episode "Crazy in Rio".
The surnames of the characters are very rarely mentioned. Most only once in the entire series (except for Andy).