Andy Barker, P.I.


Andy Barker, P.I. is an American detective sitcom television series 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. 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 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". The real Fair Oaks, California, is 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 and Jessica were later renamed and recast before the show's debut. Ruth Barker, later renamed Jenny Barker, was portrayed by Amy Farrington. Jessica, later renamed and reworked into Nicole, 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

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

Reception

Critic reviews were positive in the L.A. Times, Entertainment Weekly, and a 73% score based on 24 critic reviews at Metacritic. Some reviewers were reserved: Chicago Tribune.

U.S. television ratings

Weekly rankings based on Fast National ratings.
#EpisodeAir DateTimeslot SeasonRatingShare18–49ViewersRank
1"Pilot"March 15, 2007Thursday 9:30PM2006–20073.762.46.0# 63
2"Fairway, My Lovely"March 22, 2007Thursday 9:30PM2006–20073.552.25.3# 72
3"Three Days of the Chicken"March 29, 2007Thursday 9:30PM2006–20072.642.14.2# 92
4"Dial M for Laptop"April 5, 2007Thursday 9:30PM2006–20072.641.74.1# 95
5"The Big No Sleep"April 14, 2007Saturday 8:00PM2006–2007TBATBATBA2.1TBA
6"The Lady Varnishes"April 14, 2007Saturday 8:30PM2006–2007TBATBATBA2.0TBA

SeasonTimeslot Series PremiereSeries FinaleTV SeasonRankViewers
1 ' Thursday 9:30 P.M.
Saturday 8:00 P.M.
Saturday 8:30 P.M. 		March 15, 2007April 14, 20072006–2007#935.4