Skip to main content

Murder (Non) Mystery: NBC Bumps Off "Andy Barker, P.I."

It's no mystery why Andy Barker P.I. has disappeared from NBC's Thursday night lineup.

After airing four episodes of the Conan O'Brien-produced single camera comedy--which starred Andy Richter and Arrested Development's Tony Hale--NBC has decided to pull the struggling comedy from the lineup, effective immediately.

NBC will therefore return Scrubs to the Thursday night "comedy done right" lineup sooner than anticipated, while shunting Andy Barker to the death knell of Saturday night burnoff.

Sure, the series only had one episode left to air--scheduled for this Thursday night--and a "bonus" unaired episode available for streaming at NBC.com or for download at iTunes, but apparently even one or two episodes of a turkey like this (not to mention a poisoned chicken of a series) is too many for NBC. The remaining two episodes of Andy Barker P.I. will be quickly burned off between 8-9 pm this Saturday.

Sorry, Andy, you may have once saved the universe, but sitcom success just wasn't in the cards once again.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: NCIS (CBS); Dateline (NBC); Gilmore Girls (CW); George Lopez/According to Jim (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: The Unit (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search of the Next Doll (CW); Dancing with the Stars (ABC); House (FOX)

10 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); Boston Legal (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: American Idol.

The eight remaining contestants compete after getting coached by former tabloid magnet Jennifer Lopez but, with Sanjaya still in the mix, methinks I'll be tuning out for good now.

8 pm: Gilmore Girls.

I've given up on this once-great drama, but for the few of you out there still watching, here's what's going on. On tonight's repeat episode ("Farewell, My Pet"), Richard begins his recovery following his bypass surgery; Rory discovers that Richard's economics class is now being taught by an atractive (and younger) prof; Lorelai and Sookie plan a funeral for Michel's beloved dog. (Remember when Michel *actually* had something to do on this show?)
Labels:

Comments

The CineManiac said…
To bad NBC never gave this funny little show a chance. Anytime you place a comedy with a niche audience against the 2 biggest shows on Television the ratings are sure to be bad. It's almost like they want the show to fail.
4/10/2007
Anonymous said…
Nope, Michel has never had anything to do on (or contribute to) GG. A wasted salary that should've gone towards more screen time for Kelly Bishop.
4/10/2007
Anonymous said…
Aw, poor Andy....

Why even bother putting GG in the "What I'll be watching" section? Isn't that false advertising? ;)
4/10/2007
Anonymous said…
I wanted to like "Andy Barker." I really, really did. It had great potential (a stellar comedic cast...great comedy writers like Jane Espenson...) but never truly got there in terms of humor. The tone always seemed kind of off, as did the comedic timing. It looks like the same person directed them all. I wonder maybe if they had a different director?
4/10/2007
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.
253 comments
Continue reading full story...

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season
135 comments
Continue reading full story...

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj
55 comments
Continue reading full story...