Andy Barker, P.I.

Andy Barker, P.I. is an American detective sitcom starring Andy Richter produced and broadcast by NBC, and co-starring Tony Hale, Marshall Manesh, Harve Presnell and Clea Lewis.

Richter plays Andy Barker, a certified public accountant who reluctantly becomes a private investigator after he is mistaken for the former office tenant, a private eye, now retired. Andy develops a taste for solving cases, assisted by the former P.I., a film buff owner of the downstairs video store, a surveillance-expert restaurateur and, as time goes on, his wife.

The show was produced for one season, and was scheduled to run a six-episode, five-week course starting Thursday, March 15, 2007 on NBC.^[1] However, the series was cancelled and removed from the Thursday lineup after the fourth episode aired. The final two episodes aired on Saturday, April 14.^[2] The series now airs on Universal HD.

Production

On March 7, 2006, NBC announced the ordering of the pilot episode, which was written by creators and executive producers Conan O'Brien and Jonathan Groff. The series is shot single-camera, and is presented without a laugh track. In early March 2007, NBC published all six episodes of Andy Barker, P.I. on the NBC website prior to its broadcast premiere.

NBC premiered Andy Barker, P.I. with another detective-themed show, Raines. Both shows, available on the iTunes Store, offered free downloads of the pilots for a short time.

The show is set in the fictional Los Angeles neighborhood of "Fair Oaks, California". There is a real Fair Oaks, California, near Sacramento.

Cast

Early promotional images released to promote the series feature the early cast set for the show — Andy, Simon, Lew, Wally, Ruth and Jessica. The roles of Ruth (Andy's wife) and Jessica (Andy's "assistant") were later renamed and recast before the show's debut. Ruth Barker, later renamed Jenny Barker (performed by Clea Lewis), was portrayed by Amy Farrington. Jessica, later renamed and reworked into Nicole (performed by Nicole Randall Johnson), was portrayed by Ion Overman in these images. These roles were presumably recast after the early photo shoot and prior to the filming and further development of the series as Farrington and Overman were not seen in the series itself.

Cast

• Andy Richter as Andy Barker: A middle-aged Certified Public Accountant, who, after starting his own firm in the pilot, reluctantly takes on a missing-person case brought to him by a mysterious Russian-accented woman who mistakes Andy for the former tenant, a real P.I. In subsequent episodes, Andy takes on (or is thrust into) cases that usually involve his friends and family and which he must solve in addition to his accounting duties.
• Clea Lewis as Jenny Barker: Andy's wife, who first disapproves, but gradually warms to his new side profession. She and Andy have an infant daughter named Molly and at least one son.^[3]
• Tony Hale as Simon: Manager of the "Video Riot" rental store who has extensive knowledge of movie trivia. He befriends Andy, and designates himself an investigative partner.
• Marshall Manesh as Wally: An Afghan restaurant owner who "went overboard with patriotism after 9/11," and has excellent surveillance equipment.
• Harve Presnell as Lew Staziak: The retired tough-as-nails cynical P.I. and prior tenant of Andy's rental office. Lew becomes Andy's mentor and aide, with mixed consequences. Lew antagonizes Simon, suffers from alektorophobia (fear of chickens), and his memory lapses cause trouble for Andy. Mickey Doyle, Lew's unscrupulous former partner, was the villain of the episode "The Lady Varnishes."

Notable guest stars

• Nicole Randall Johnson as Nicole: An unmotivated file clerk with attitude that appears in the pilot episode. However after Andy costs her the clerk job by stealing files, she matter-of-factly hires herself as his unwanted assistant in Fairway My Lovely. Simon is infatuated with her, but she ignores his advances. She has a deaf brother and is fluent in reading lips. Nicole is heavily featured in promotions, but is a supporting character in just two episodes.
• Vanessa Branch as Nadia Kerensky ("Pilot")
• Gary Anthony Williams as Ron ("Pilot")
• Traci Lords as Loretta Crispin ("Dial M For Laptop")
• Sarah Christine Smith as Alicia ("The Big No Sleep")
• Amy Sedaris as Rita Spaulding ("The Lady Varnishes")
• Edward Asner as Mickey Doyle ("The Lady Varnishes")
• James Hong as Jon Leibowitz ("The Lady Varnishes")
• Peter Allen Vogt as Guy Helverson ("Fairway, My Lovely")

Episodes

Season 1: 2007

The titles of all of the episodes are plays on the titles of actual classic mystery and private investigator films. The title "Fairway, My Lovely" is based on Farewell, My Lovely; "Three Days of the Chicken" is based on Three Days of the Condor; "Dial M for Laptop" is based on Dial M for Murder; "The Big No Sleep" is based on The Big Sleep; and "The Lady Varnishes" is based on The Lady Vanishes.

• Note: the final two episodes were aired on a Saturday at a special time of 8 and 8:30.

DVD release

Shout! Factory released Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series on DVD for the first time on November 17, 2009.^[4]

Reception

Critic reviews were positive in L.A. Times ("quietly delightful"),^[5] Entertainment Weekly (B+),^[6] and a 73% score based on 24 critic reviews at Metacritic.^[7] Some reviewers were reserved: Chicago Tribune ("some laughs, but the show fails to truly catch fire").^[8]

U.S. television ratings

Weekly rankings based on Fast National ratings.^[9][10][11]

References

External links

• Andy Barker, P.I. - Official Site
• Andy Barker, P.I. at the Internet Movie Database
• Andy Barker, P.I. at TV.com