Andy Richter No Longer Rules the Universe

Cafe Society
1

. . . he’s now the dad in a crappy new teen sitcom. From today’s Times:

" . . . The retread plot has something to do with the quintuplets’ parents’ (Andy Richter, Rebecca Creskoff) trying to find time to have sex and listen to Bruce Springsteen, who is now officially parent music. When they head off for a concert (and a magic brownie, hee hee), the children host a boozeless party and try to hook up with other airhead television types. The laugh track keeps guffawing . . . the show’s a bust — and a sorry holding pen for the pleasant comic Andy Richter, for whom it’s a vehicle."

—How sad and depressing and annoying.

2

Holy crap! I thought this was another obit thread. Thank Og it wasn’t. Then again, if this is any indication of how is career is going then he’s probably better off dead.

3

Eh, don’t be too hard on him. Tom Hanks had to do “Bosom Buddies.”

4

I liked Bosom Buddies.

5

…Controls the Universe was just so damn good and mostly original. This new show of his looks like such a step backwards. Common sitcom tripe. I was hoping for better from Richter.

Anyone else get the feeling that Richter may just be in this for the consistent paycheck?

6

Don’t get me wrong, I did too, but I was only 10-12 years old so I’m not sure how good it actually was… :smiley:

7

He made it clear in talk show appearances that he only did “New York Minute” for the $. And the reviews indicate that he didn’t even phone in his performance well there, more like text messaged it.

Doing deliberate tank jobs in show business does have a tendency to backfire.

8

Anyone want to start taking bets on how long it takes him to go crawling back to Conan?

9

Andy Richter is such a good comic that I wish he had a decent show to take part in. I hate Conan and I would only watch it for Andy. Kinda like I listen to Stern to hear Arti Lange. :stuck_out_tongue:

10

Sounds like he’s following the same path as Dabney Coleman. Coleman played the lead character on two great sitcoms: Buffalo Bill and Slap Maxwell. Both were funny and original and both were cancelled. Then he got a third sitcom, Drexler’s Class, which had every item on the sitcom checklist: cute kids, teenage daughters, a wacky neighbor, an authority figure boss to defy, a lead character whose gruff exterior hid a heart of gold, a laugh track, and of course a weekly MOS. Unlike his two previous efforts, this show survived.

11

Um, isn’t that what all of us are kind of “in it” for?

The guy had an endearing, funny show that the public at large didn’t give a shit about. So he has to tread water a little right now with something less than fabulous- gee, that only puts him the same boat with about 90% of all working actors. Cripes, get off your high horses already.

12

How can the public at large get into a show that a network doesn’t properly support. I loved the few episodes I saw of Andy Richter Controls the Universe, but then Fox started preempting the show and moving it around on the schedule. If I can’t find it, or it isn’t even on, how can I support it.

People in general like consistency, especially when it comes to watching television. "It’s Thursday night! Friends is on at nine!" IMO, Joey will be an initial success just because it has been given a permanent timeslot, and a timeslot the general public is used to when it comes to turning on their TV.

If I remember correctly, MASH** was a last-place show in its first season. And I believe Cheers didn’t do too well initially either. It’s not hard to believe that there have been dozens of potential “classics” created recently only to be put to death or aborted by the people who run the networks.

Anyhoo…

13

Ooops!

I couldn’t imagine that anyone other than I had watched this show, so I didn’t even look for a Thread before starting my own.

If the Mods want to merge the Threads it’s O.K. with me if it’s O.K. with Eve. Though I kinda think it won’t be necessary- how much more could people possibly want to say about this crap show?

14

It’s the Razor Blade wars of family sitcoms.

Development meeting:

“Well, Damon Wayan’s has 2 kids. Raymond has 3. Malcolm in the Middle has 4. I know this is crazy, but what if we did FIVE kids?”
“That’s so crazy, it just might work.”
You know, it was actually sad to watch the few minutes I could stomach last night.

What an atrocious atrocious show. It’s bad when “Method & Red” is funnier than your show.

The laugh-track was killing me. You could just feel the guy sitting there with his finger over the “chuckle” and “guffaw” buttons.

The kicker was when wife says, “I need to go do laundry,” and Andy says, “that must be the new code word,” and the “audience” laughed and then CLAPPED.

(production crew: “oh that’s a damn good joke. am I right you guys? good joke. the laugh track just isn’t enough --let’s put applause in there. It’s the kind of joke that’s so well thought out and delivered that we should show full-on appreciation for it.”)

Without being too dramatic, the show was sad like it would be sad to see a horse that ran in the Kentucky derby pulling a donkey cart.

Like if you saw some guy that use to play in the NFL working security at the Mall.

If this survives longer than “controls the universe” I give up on ever trying to understand anything again.

It’s even more perplexing when it’s FOX, which is consistently trying to get outside the bounds a little, even if they fail occasionally.

[oh, and the difference with Tom Hanks was that “Bosom Buddies” was how he got his start, not something he did after “Philadelphia”]

15

Don’t give up yet, Eve. Next week, Andy takes the quints ice fishing. Madcap hijinks ensue.

16

Has Andy Richter done any movies? Maybe he needs to quit pussyfooting around on the small screen and get in with the real funny guys. I like him – I think. I haven’t seen him do enough good stuff to get a feel for him. It’s more like he eminates a “potentially really funny guy” vibe, rather than actually being funny.

17

Please excuse this little hijack , but I’m puzzled - What is “a weekly MOS”? The only thing I could come up with is “Moment of Silence”.

18

Trunk: There are now 5 kids on MitM.

Kalhoun: a. See my previous post. b. IMDB. (The only movie of his I’ve seen is “Cabin Boy” which doesn’t have good performances by anyone.)

19

Lots of sitcoms have bad pilot episodes, since the focus is on introducing the characters more than telling a funny story.

Still, a very vocal part of me actually said “I gave up the last half of an Enterprise rerun for this crap?”

20

If anyone needs to cleanse the memories of this show out of their minds, and has a hi-def TV and access to the HDNet network, they’re now showing the five unaired episodes of Andy Richter Controls the Universe.

Meanwhile, I’m STILL waiting for news of an A. R. C. T. U. DVD set. :mad: