8A - Wednesday, April 4, 2007

ART

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

"What? My career is calling?"

Rosalie Ginsberg Awards for
Community Service and
Social Action & Poster Fair
April 5th, 4PM
Michigan League
Greek Awards Night
Office of Greek Life
April 5th, 7PM
Michigan Union Ballroom .
Sponsored by Interfraternity Council, Multicultural
Greek Council, National Panhellenic Council, and
Panhellenic Association.
MESA/Trotter House Year-end
Community Festival
A festival atmosphere celebrating all UM graduates
Saturday,April 14 2007, 12PM-6PM
Trotter Multicultural Center
1443 Washtenaw Avenue
Free and open to the entire campus community.
Lavender Graduation
Office of LGBT Affairs
April 25th, 4:30PM
Pendleton Room, Michigan Union
The Program on
Intergroup Relations
Patricia Gurin Certificate of
Merit Ceremony
April 26th, 2PM
Vandenberg Room, Michigan League
This year's winners of the
Michigan Leadership Awards
The Office of Student Activities & Leadership
Advisor of the Year
Philip Akutsu
Benjamin Hummel
Martha Reck
Robert Harmon
Volker Sick
Outstanding New Member
Douglas Sayranian
Prateek Chourdia
Outstanding Student Leader
Cara Levine
Jennifer Hsu
Jonathan Krasnov
Joshua Kersey
Julia Samorezov
Jessica Terbush
Rachael Tanner
Stephanie Garbern
SanjayaThakur
Mitchell Zoerhoff
Oustanding Student Organization
Pi Kappa Alpha
Prison Creative Arts Project
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
Health in Action
Peers Utilizing Leadership Skills for Education
Program of theYear
Motown and the 1960's & 1970's
Helen Newberry Residence Hall
DP Day 2006
The Detroit Project

James Bond Week
South Quadrangle Residence Hall
U Shabbat
Hillel
Student Legacy
David Clark
Stephanie Tillman
Tapestry
Denny Chan
Elizabeth Eaman
Jaime Nelson
Yeoman Service
Andrew Bogaard
Gabriella Harrison
Robinson Chin

A day job with attitude
NBC'S 'COMEDY NIGHT DONE RIGHT' SCORES AGAIN
WITH 'ANDY BARKER P.I.'

By IMRAN SYED Like Jake Gittes, Dick Tracy
Daily Arts Writer or Sherlock Holmes before him,
Barker's methods are cunning, his
Who would have expected NBC cover impenetrable. Don't let those
to build another quality comedy pressed collars, sack lunches or
lineup so quickly? Just a couple piles of W-2 forms fool you; when
of years after Andy Barker means to get some-
the "Friends" thing done, it gets done. Teaming
finale marked *** up with an obsessive video store
the end of its owner, a slightly over-patriotic
"Must-See TV" Andy Afghani kabob-house owner and
comedy era, the a geriatric retired private investi-
new Thursday B gator, Andy anchors perhaps the
"Comedy Night Thursdaysat greatest team of crime-fighters
DoneRight"has 9:30 p.m. with day jobs in TV comedyhis-
garnered both NBC tory.
critical raves After a somewhat shaky pilot (a
and solid rat- mildly amusing homage to "Chi-
ings. Added to that night is "Andy natown") subsequent episodes of
Barker P.I.," the latestin a round of "Andy Barker" - all streaming
quirky, multi-layered sitcoms that online at NBC.com - are colorful
manage depth and intricacy in a and consistently funny. Though
way that the old laugh-trackers far from fresh, the show's situ-
couldn't have conceived. ational element is never contrived;
Andy Barker (Andy Richter, the characters are real enough
"Elf") is a simple man. He works that it's all too easy to imagine
as an accountant, lives in a quaint yourself in their shoes. The mis-
suburban colonial and drives a fits are a great compliment to the
Saturn - all in a little slice of upstanding, righteous Andy. After
American monotony known as all, what's a crime-fighting team
Fair Oaks. His loving wife packs without attitude?
his lunch every day and even in The star of the group is Sinon
the most frustrating situations, the video store guy, a smoothly
the most you'll ever hear him mut- neurotic, painfully blas incar-
ter is "Cheese and crackers!" He nation of Tony Hale (who played
talks pleasantly, nods cordially the incomparable Buster Bluth on
when you greet him and always "Arrested Development"). Always
uses his turn signal - even while ready with a quote from "Jungle
being tailed by the Russian mob. Fever" or a zinger for "Miss Con-
And that last one is a problem geniality 2," Simon is a surprising-
because, you see, Andy Barker is a lyuseful sidekick for Andy. Even if
detective. he won't disarm the bad guys, he

is pretty good company for those
long stake-out hours.
In its complete lack of self-
consciousness and the off-the-
wall storylines that logically
follow, "Andy Barker" is a lot like
"Knights of Prosperity," a surpris-
ingly entertaining show that pre-
miered on ABC earlier this year
and is now effectively cancelled.
Both use naivete as the basis for
far-fetched situations and ben-
efit from the presence of totally
original characters. Both carry
out their eccentric plots in the no-
holds-barred,all-or-nothing-man-
ner of "Arrested Development."
But "Andy Barker" is different
in precisely the areas that count. It
stars Richter, an actor with more
name recognition than anyone on
"Arrested" or "Knights." It's also
slightlymorestraight-forward and
kempt, making it more accessible
to those who catch on as the sea-
son progresses. And "Andy Bark-
er" isn't an outcast of its network
- it fits in very well at NBC, right
alongside "The Office," "Scrubs"
and "My Name is Earl," all of
which were reactions to the main-
stream sitcom of the late '90s.
Though it will likely give up the
Thursday spot to Tina Fey's "30
Rock" in a couple of weeks, it's a
good bet that AndyBarker will fin-
ish this season strong and return
as a highly touted show next fall.
Perhaps like "The Office," it will
blossom into a cult favorite. - it
certainly has the characters and
writing to go just that way.

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