![]() I'm not quite sure why the DVD set doesn't correct Fox's error and place the episodes in their correct order. Molloy is basically the pretty ingénue, but she makes the most of the occasional opportunities to display her comic chops (as in "We're All The Same, Only Different," when she becomes a guinea pig for an experimental drug that ends up lowering her voice to manly levels). Stuart wisely chooses to play handsome Keith (for whom everything- everything-comes easy) absolutely straight, even when he becomes dangerously addicted to self-fried foods. Slavin's Bryon is a little broad at times (they were clearly hoping to make him the show's Kramer), but he still lands plenty of laughs. Brewster is wickedly fun to watch she's great-looking, tough, and her timing can't be beat. Richter proves himself an unexpectedly strong anchor to the show-he's the kind of likably schlubby man-child that would be at home in an Apatow film. The cast also helps-it's a crackerjack ensemble, each character quirky, funny, and fully realized. Their best scripts combine a sure sense of character comedy, bizarre sight gags, and the occasional well-placed non-sequitur ("Sardines! They're lucky to even be a fish!"). The writing is top-notch, and no wonder many of the writing crew have continued to distinguished careers, including creator Victor Fresco ( My Name Is Earl), Jennifer Celotta ( The Office), and Matthew Weiner (who wrote for The Sopranos before creating TV's best current drama, Mad Men). But by the middle of the run, it was really hitting its stride-funny, odd, and charmingly likable. It takes them a few episodes to get the mixture just right some of the early touches of whimsy, like an unexplained morphing of a funeral parlor to a disco, are a stretch. ![]() The show is a strange brew of office comedy and absurdist flights of fancy it's rather in the mold of Scrubs (which was in development around the same time) or a male Ally McBeal (but, you know, watchable). When the show begins, Andy has a fierce crush on new receptionist Wendy (Irene Molloy), but she quickly falls for his handsome co-worker and friend Keith (James Patrick Stuart), so Andy's failures at love become one of the show's running themes. Andy's direct supervisor is Jessica (Paget Brewster of Friends), a tough career woman and longtime friend his officemate is odd and weasely Byron (Jonathan Slavin). Pickering (John Bliss) still wanders the halls (at least in Andy's eyes), offering outdated advice and outmoded opinions. ![]() ![]() Richter plays "Andy Richter" (fancy that), a would-be short story writer who pays the bills writing technical manuals for a Chicago manufacturing firm. But the show had a fervent (if small) cult audience, and with Richter returning to his sidekick slot as Conan O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show, it's as good a time as any to take another look at his first attempt at a starring sitcom. Andy Richter Controls the Universe aired for two half-seasons in 20 Fox aired 14 episodes before pulling the plug, in spite of Emmy recognition and terrific reviews (not to mention the fact that they had paid for five more episodes that never even made it to air). Andy Richter Controls the Universe was a series I knew by reputation rather than actual experience it was one of many, many quality shows that the Fox network mishandled in the early part of the decade, dooming to short runs by placing them in bad time slots, shuffling and pulling from the schedule at random, and airing episodes out of order (other examples include Undeclared and Firefly).
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