NBC have now formally cancelled Andy Barker, PI. Oft described as one of the best comedies in recent years, sometimes described as one of the best comedies in all of television history, it simply had to be axed. That's the way with Andy Richter projects, it seems.
How he lasted so long in the seat by Conan, lord only knows.
Silver lining? The full collection DVD will be with us sooner than we thought.
Americans can stream the first six episodes of Andy Barker PI right now. Hopefully, somebody reading this will be able to sort out a special direct link or other trickery that will make it possible for poor little me in the UK to view them too.
The NBC are remaking Graham Linehan's The IT Crowd - as you probably knew. I mean, the UK-to-US sitcom remake path is well trodden but rarely yields exciting results. Now, though, a glimmer of interest as it has been revealed that Richard Ayoade is to reprise his role as the wonderfully overcoiffed Moss, whereas Chris O'Dowd and Katherine Parkinson have been ditched in favour of Joel McHale, sometime host of The Soup, and Jessica St. Clair who can be seen in For Your Consideration.
Oddly, St. Clair appeared in a TV show called Smoking Gun and McHale was in Kuntz and Maguire's ill-fated Onion Movie - not entirely dissimilar projects. Factor in Aoyade's turns in Time Trumpet and you've pretty much got a hat trick.
Ayoade is really quite superb - he was easily the best thing about Nathan Barley - and I'm pleased to see him get this profile boost, though I expect he'll be lambasted for taking the opportunity and get chalked up as a sell-out. Good luck to him, though. I dare say he'll be directing episodes of the US series before long, and soon after that find himself in charge of a feature film. A Garth Marenghi movie, anyone?
In the UK IT Crowd, Chris Morris appeared as Denholm, the very, very odd boss character. I'm almost certain that somebody has thought of Conan O'Brien for this role in the remake - his guest spot in Andy Richter Controls the Universe guarantees he'd nail it. Here's hoping.
The special Xmas episode of Jim Gaffigan's Pale Force can now be streamed in it's entirety and the world can, at last, find out how history would have been different if Conan O'Brien was tanned.
