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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?)
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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
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