NBC puts all six episodes of the new Andy Richter show on its Web site
In hopes of building advanced word of mouth (we presume, at least), NBC has taken the somewhat unprecedented step of putting all six first-season episodes of its new Thursday-night comedy (read: quirky, no laughtrack) Andy Barker P.I. up on its Web site. Perhaps this means that NBC doesn't think the show will do well and thinks the unique marketing campaign will help - if enough internet users check it out, suddenly people will start talking and, lo and behold, the show's a hit, sort of. But also, it seems to us that NBC is trying to encourage viewers to stick with this show and avoid judging it based on two or three episodes. Most good comedies seem to take a few episodes to hit their creative stride - The Office (US), Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and most recently, 30 Rock. The ones that don't are the ones that burn bright for shorter periods of time, like Arrested Development, NewsRadio, and The Office (BBC). Perhaps someone over at NBC was watching these episodes and noticed improvement as they progressed and was hoping that if viewers could watch them all on their own schedule, they'd see that the show gets better as it goes on (rather than just giving up after the pilot.)
Or maybe they just thought they'd try something different. Who's to say, really? As for the show, it's not bad. We just wish there was some way they could wedge it into the schedule without pre-empting 30 Rock, which had been really impressing the last couple of weeks. You can watch those on NBC.com, also. Would anyone really miss My Name Is Earl?
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