Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series

Andy Barker, P.I., was a short-lived NBC comedy created by Conan O'Brien. I don't care for O'Brien's humor and was surprised at how much I liked this show. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments packed into the 6 episodes, it was better than a night of comedies in Prime Time. There is a dry, quick humor that you have listen to closely so you don't miss anything. If you watch the episodes a second time, I guarantee you will hear/see something different, but equally hilarious.

Andy Richter is spot on with his comedic delivery, as are all of the supporting characters of this sharp, funny series. I just wish there were more episodes. I would even watch it online if it were revived.

If you only watch one episode, watch the one about the chickens.

Note: There are only six episodes of the show in this DVD set - all that were created. The series was canceled very quickly for low ratings. What some forget is that NBC released ALL of the episodes online before running them in Prime Time.

I watched this again on DVD recently and was depressed that this brilliant and laugh-out-loud comedy was overlooked and was not renewed in Fall 2007. The casting, writing, directing are all spot-on. Even the pilot ep is good- which doesn't often happen. This series should have run at least 2 years. Buy or rent the DVD- you won't be sorry.

While this show may only have six episodes, each episode is hilarilously funny.

So if you think of the purchase price in terms of the number of times you actually laugh out loud, you'll actually find this DVD to be a better buy than some regular purchases. (In any event, the total running time exceeds three hours anyway so in comparison, to say, a DVD of a comedy movie, you especially come out ahead on the deal.)

For its entertainment value, take the first episode, for instance, where we meet Andy Barker, an accountant ready to open his new CPA office at a strip mall (funny stuff, eh?). Played by Andy Richter, Barker is just funny sitting still. But no sooner than the first scene at his new office, he stands up and gets even funnier when a mysterous blond comes to him seeking PI work.

Before he gets to explain that he's just an accountant (or is he?), he gets four thousand dollars pushed into his hands with a mission to find the woman's husband (or is he?).

So as not to spoil the plot, let's just say that Andy spends the rest of the show proving that if you make enough wrong steps, you can actually end up going in the right direction again.

As you watch other episodes, you meet other quirky and fun characters from the Barker universe including a morbidly obese man who's death breaks the hearts of a shocking number of women, an evil chicken cartel, and a doctor (played by that guy who never ages from Lost) who's main practice consists of romancing young wives out of their husbands' fortunes.

It's pretty funny stuff and while I certainly would've been happier if they'd run and sold more episodes, I'm at least glad we've got these ones to watch, and re-watch and re-watch.