Andy Richter's TV shows are like the drawings in Mad magazine in its glory days …

full of funny little details, marginal jokes, that can sometimes be more amusing than the parody as a whole. And in "Andy Barker, P.I.," the NBC comedy with Richter as an accountant becoming a private eye, there are jokes big and small — including the way it embraces the conventions of '70s action shows and turns them inside out. The music, the way a scene climaxes in the symmetrical arrival of police cars, the plots that make little sense — it's "Starsky & Hutch" made even more absurd (if that's possible), Starsky an accountant, Hutch running a video store.

But, like those Mad bits, does "Andy Barker" ultimately add up to a funny show? Not really. I probably chuckled more of the sidelights than the show itself. And after watching three episodes, I've done enough close-up viewing. From here on, it's a show worth a pause while channel-flipping and not much more. But you may have fun with the DVD, freeze-framing here and there for the jokes on the margin. MSG No, USA Yes, indeed,

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