''Andy Barker, P.I.'' is an American

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series starring Andy Richter produced and broadcast by NBC, and co-starring Tony Hale, Marshall Manesh,

Harve Presnell George Harvey Presnell (September 14, 1933 – June 30, 2009) was an American actor and singer. He began his career in the mid-1950s as a classical baritone, singing with orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States. His career re ...

, and

Clea Lewis Clea Lewis (born July 19, 1965) is an American actress, best known for her television role as Ellen's annoying friend, Audrey Penney in Ellen DeGeneres' sitcom ''Ellen''. Personal life Lewis was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to a writer ...

. Richter plays Andy Barker, a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

who reluctantly becomes a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

after he is mistaken for the former office tenant, a

private eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...

, 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. 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.

Development and production

On March 7, 2006, NBC announced the ordering of the pilot episode, which was written by creators and executive producers

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...

and

Jonathan Groff Jonathan Drew Groff (born March 26, 1985) is an American actor and singer . He began his career on Broadway, rising to prominence for his portrayal of Melchior Gabor in the original production of '' Spring Awakening'' (2006-2008), for which h ...

. 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 The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

, offered free downloads of the pilots for a short time. The show is set in the fictional Los Angeles neighborhood of "Fair Oaks, California". The real

Fair Oaks, California Fair Oaks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento, California, Sacramento–Arden-Arcade, California, Arden-Arcade–Roseville, Calif ...

, is near

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within 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

), was portrayed by

Amy Farrington Amy Farrington (born September 20, 1966) is an American actress and model who is best known for her role as Stacey Devers on ''The Michael Richards Show''. Farrington currently portrays Detective Lt. Piper Lynch in the CBS drama series ''S.W.A.T ...

. Jessica, later renamed and reworked into Nicole (performed by Nicole Randall Johnson), was portrayed by

Ion Overman Ion Overman (born November 9, 1976) is an American actress, known for her roles on television, such as Gabriella Garza in ''Port Charles'' (2000–2002), Candace Jewell in ''The L Word'' (2004–2005), Detective Sam Blair in ''Ghost Whisperer'' ( ...

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 Andrew "Andy" Barker: A middle-aged

, who after starting his own firm in the pilot, he reluctantly takes on a missing-person case brought to him by a mysterious Russian-

accented A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacritic ...

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. *

as Jenny Barker: Andy's wife, she first disapproves, but gradually warms to his new side profession. Andy and she have an infant daughter named Molly and at least one son. Andy mentions that his son went through a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

phase in "Dial M for Laptop." *

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 The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

), and his memory lapses cause trouble for Andy. Mickey Doyle, Lew's unscrupulous former partner, was the villain of the episode " The Lady Varnishes." * Tony Hale as Simon: Manager of the "Video Riot" rental store, he has extensive knowledge of movie trivia. He befriends Andy, and designates himself an investigative partner. * Marshall Manesh as Wally: An

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

owner, he "went overboard with

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

after

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

," and has excellent surveillance equipment.

Notable guest stars

* Nicole Randall Johnson as Nicole: An unmotivated file clerk with an attitude who 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 Vanessa Lynn Branch (born March 21, 1973) is an English-born American actress and model. She is best known in the United States as the Orbit Gum girl for its series of television commercials (her catchphrase is "Fabulous!"). Early life Bran ...

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 James Hong (; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in American media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. With more than 650 film and television credits as of 20 ...

as Jon Leibowitz ("The Lady Varnishes") * Peter Allen Vogt as Guy Helverson ("Fairway, My Lovely") *

Jesse L. Martin Jesse Lamont Martin ('' né'' Watkins; January 18, 1969) is an American actor and singer. He originated the role of Tom Collins on Broadway in the musical ''Rent'' and performed on television as NYPD Detective Ed Green on '' Law & Order'' and ...

as his ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' character Detective Ed Green ("The Big No Sleep") *

Nestor Carbonell Nestor may refer to: * Nestor (mythology), King of Pylos in Greek mythology Arts and entertainment * "Nestor" (''Ulysses'' episode) an episode in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' * Nestor Studios, first-ever motion picture studio in Hollywood, ...

as Dr. Cey ("The Big No Sleep")

Episodes

After the pilot, the titles of all 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 ''Farewell, My Lovely'' is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1940, the second novel he wrote featuring the Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times and was also adapted for the stage and rad ...

''; "Three Days of the Chicken" is based on ''

Three Days of the Condor ''Three Days of the Condor'' is a 1975 American political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow. The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel was based on ...

''; "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 ''The Lady Vanishes'' is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel ''The Wheel Spins'' by Ethel Lina ...

''. * Note: the final two episodes were aired on a Saturday at a special time of 8:00 and 8:30.

Home media

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

released ''Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series'' on DVD on November 17, 2009.

Reception

Critic reviews were positive in the ''L.A. Times'' ("quietly delightful"), Entertainment Weekly (B+), and a 73% score based on 24 critic reviews at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Some reviewers were reserved: ''Chicago Tribune'' ("some laughs, but the show fails to truly catch fire").Review-a-palooza Part 2.
Chicago Tribune. Maureen Ryan, March 14, 2007

U.S. television ratings

Weekly rankings based on Fast National ratings.Zap2It Ratings
Rating and Share.L.A. Times Calendar Live Ratings
Viewers and Rankings.18-49 Ratings
Media Life Magazine (18-49 numbers)

References

External links

* {{Conan O'Brien 2007 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings 2000s American sitcoms Television shows set in Los Angeles English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television Television series by Conaco