Talk:Andy Richter Controls the Universe

Objectively lovely
removed POV 'the lovely'. Can you objectively prove 'Irene Malloy' was lovely? and why wasn't Paget Brewster called 'the lovely' too? (Irish irony there!!!) ÉÍREman

I have removed 'the lovely' again. I'm no fan of political correctness which can be seriously OTT but such a term is not encyclopædic and sexist and is unlikely to be left in place. It would simply get flak for the article, which it does not need. ÉÍREman 06:50 Apr 27, 2003 (UTC)

not encyclopedic, yes. Sexist? Are you kidding me? i have heard the term used for both men and women. How is the term "the lovely" at all sexist? because its being used to describe a female in this case? I guess calling shaq tall is also racist. 174.42.164.149 (talk) 18:57, 15 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Just a comment, you're responding to a statement that was written almost seven years ago. A lot of water has passed under a lot of bridges since it was made.--Cube lurker (talk) 19:05, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Call a male stranger "lovely" and let me know how that works out for ya. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.69.76.43 (talk) 16:04, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

DVD
DVD?

Yes, there's a DVD. Amazon and other vendors sell it. Get it now! 134.114.59.41 03:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Link to DVD please?

Keith Richards?
Keith is listed on IMDB as "Keith Richards" (I believe it's IMDB - one or more of those publically sourced sites). The problem is that there is no reference to this name in the series itself, as I watched the entire series while cleaning up this article and only added surnames when they were mentioned on the show itself. Everyone's but Keith's appeared. Only information about characters sourced from the show, or perhaps from primary sources such as production staff, scripts, dvds, etc. should be used to source this. As such, it's requested that if you find such a source, that you make point it out here so that we know there's a primary source of the info; because as of right now, there doesn't seem to be one. Thanks TheHYPO 18:19, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I fully agree that Keith's last name is never mentioned in the series. Would anyone have any objection to something like the following sentence being appended to the description of the character:  "IMDB lists this character's name as "Richards" but this surname is apocryphal as it is never mentioned in the series."  Just a thought.  Fish Man (talk) 19:05, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Production format / aspect ratio and DVD
At least one editor was under the impression that the show was produced in SDTV and 4:3 format and that the widescreen DVD cropped the picture. This is absolutely false. The show was produced in HD 16:9 and the DVD release retains the original aspect ratio and displays the entire HD frame (but, reduces the pixel resolution to 720/480, the maximum that the DVD format is capable of). That the show was produced in 16:9 is obvious in several scenes. The most obvious one is a scene in which Jessica is on a 3-way telephone conversation with Teak and Phil and the screen is divided into 3 sections with Teak on the left, Jessica in the middle, and Phil on the right. In the widescreen presentation (as seen on the DVD) the middle section, showing Jessica is considerably narrower than the two side sections showing Teak and Phil, and Teak and Phil are positioned toward the middle section with noticeable empty space to Teak's left and Phil's right. This was done so that when the show was cropped down to 4:3 for SD broadcast, the 3 sections would appear about equal in size. So, to accommodate 4:3 cropping for original airing, the 16:9 actual original production, looks to be framed a little strangely, apparently "wasting space" on the left and right of the screen. However, this proves and demonstrates that this show was, indeed, an early HD 16:9 production. Fish Man (talk) 13:39, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The blog entry link that "references" that the DVD is cropped is completely bogus. It is a personal blog entry and the screenshots in it are fake.  IP evidence of the creator of the blog and the IP that the edit of this article came from indicate that the blog entry may well have been created by the same person who made the edit to this article.  Andy Richter Controls the Universe was produced in 1920x1080 and presented in 1440x720P in 16:9 ratio on the original FOX broadcasts.  The original 16:9 format and full 1920x1080i resolution were shown when the show was rerun on HDNet.  The DVD presents the original 16:9 frame in DVD widescreen (720x480) resolution.  The SD feed of the show in it's original run was, in fact, a pan and scan of the 16x9 frame.  I have this on extremely good authority but must find a 3rd party on-line confirmation (that's not MY OWN BLOG ENTRY) in order to meet Wikipedia guidelines and remove your erroneous information.  My information would constitute "original research" which is not permitted on Wikipedia.   The screenshot in that bogus blog entry that shows the opening titles looks like a "postage stamp" crop of the middle of the actual DVD frame.  A simple viewing of the DVD will immediately show how ludicrous the "screenshots" in the blog entry actually are. I will attempt to find a reliable source on the web as to the actual format of the DVD.  In the meantime, you must understand that personal blog entries can not be considered reliable sources.  Fish Man (talk) 20:19, 1 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Confirmed: The so called "reference" was created by the editor who added the false information to this page AFTER THE PAGE WAS ORIGINALLY EDITED WITH THE FALSE INFORMATION!!  Seriously, Mr. anonymous editor.  Creating your own bogus, manufactured "references" to back up your bogus information?!  Fish Man (talk) 20:22, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

More about HD Production
The poster that asserts that the DVD is cropped posted a very polite message on my personal talk page (click on the "talk" link of my signature to see it). Below is my response to him. I post it here as he is not signed in as a registered user, I don't know if my response to him will be seen. The short of it is, the first 9 episodes produced (not shown, produced, they were shown very much out of order) were shot on 35mm film, which, admittedly, opens up lots of opportunity for the producers to "creatively" format the 4x3 vs. 16x9 presentations differently from one-another. However, the remaining episodes were shot directly to digital media, in 16x9, making it almost certain that the DVD shows the entire frame, and the 4x3 broadcast does not. The one thing I can be certain of is that the DVD presents the 16:9 frame as shown by FOX on their HD feed in the original run, and that shown by HDNet in their subsequent reruns.

Here's the complete text of my reply:

I have compared my DVD to the 4x3 version on several occasions. The widescreen version clearly shows things on the SIDES in many scenes that are not visible in the 4x3 version. I gave one example in my initial posting on the Talk page of the article, specifically, the 3-way phone call with Teak, Jessica, and Phil. It's in the episode "Saturday Early Evening Fever". I also watched the original FOX airing in 16x9, and the HDNet reruns in 16x9. The formatting of those original arings and the HDNet reruns were absolutely identical to the formatting on the DVD. I can say this for absolute certain about the HDNet airings because I had my DVD set before HDNet stopped running the show and compared them then. (I'd love to have a blue ray, because 1080i masters of this show exist, but, that's not likely to ever happen...)

The fact is, production codes 001 - 009 were shot on 35mm film. (See the production codes here: List of Andy Richter Controls the Universe episodes.  Note that the shows were presented WAY out of order.)  It is conceivable, that in that first 9, shot on film they played various games with how the 4x3 vs. the 16x9 broadcasts were cropped from the 35mm film frame (and I do not know if the 35mm film frame was "closed matte" (16:9) or "open matte" (4x3).  However, production codes HIGHER THAN 009 were shot directly to Betacam HD tape, directly in 16x9 format and edited electronically in the digital domain.  It's essentially inconceivable that the 16x9 frame shown to the viewer on these episodes shot directly to tape are cropped.  And, in fact, since the SD presentation was not letterboxed, it, by definition, must be a crop or a "pan and scan" of the digital HD frame. Fish Man (talk) 13:17, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

Explanation of edit I made today and more about HD production
Is soon as I finish this comment, I'm going to remove the statement about the Widescreen DVD being "cropped". The statement is supported by a "source" that is created by the same editor that made the statement, by his own admission.

The edit was in good faith, but the assertion that the Widescreen version is "cropped" is simply not accurate. It is the result of a misunderstanding of how the series (and indeed, many HD TV programs and movies) are produced.

Here's what's really going on:

Production codes 001 - 009 (shown very much out of order in broadcast) were shot on 35mm film in open matte format. (Please follow the link about open matte if you don't know what it is.) When shooting "open matte" the camera viewfinder contains a reticle and sometimes even an outright mask, to let the cinematographer know what the audience will be seeing in the final widescreen presentation (which is less than the entire 35mm frame - "cropped" - in a manner of speaking). The cinematographer, and director, carefully compose the shots for the final widescreen presentation (wherein the 35mm frame is masked, "closing" the "matte" for the viewer). The scenes are composed for widescreen. The widescreen presentation is what the cinematographer and director intend the viewer to see!

Before the days of widescreen television, many theatrical movies that were shot in "open matte" format were brought to television and home videotape via simply presenting the entire 35mm frame, without the "matte" or frame mask. The result was a movie with lots of stuff in the frame that the director didn't intend the viewer to see, such as boom microphones above the actors heads, the lack of a ceiling in the soundstage set, hardwood or carpeted floors that end and the concrete soundstage floor with cables snaking all over it at the bottom of the frame, etc.

Two movies who's early television and video releases "opened the matte" and were replete with these defects include Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Walking Tall. Both of these movies show jaw-droppingly egregious defects in their early video releases. The early video releases of Walking Tall have scenes where for minutes on end a boom mike is clearly visible waving around above the actors' heads.

The good, and attentive, pan and scan artist may "open the matte" where the resulting frame is still acceptable (doesn't show boom mics, lack of ceilings, cables running across the soundstage floor, etc.), and then he will pan and scan shots where "opening the matte" results in an unacceptable framing or in defects. This is exactly how the first 9 production episodes of Andy Richter Controls the Universe were adapted for 4x3 format. Some of the shots "opened the matte", others panned and scanned within the wide screen.

The episodes greater than production code 009 were shot from the beginning on digital video, not film, directly to a 16:9 widescreen format. The 4x3 conversions of all of these is a strict "pan and scan".

One of the clearest examples of the difference is in the title cards: The earlier title card, with the "title scrawled in pencil", was produced on 35mm film and the 4x3 conversion of this title card "opens the matte" giving the impression that the widescreen version of the title card is "cropped". However the later title card with the "Saturn rings" title, was produced and rendered digitally. The widescreen version of this title card has empty space to the right and left of the "Saturn" title. The 4x3 version is, in fact, cropped, and centers the "Saturn" logo.

'''The bottom line: All of the episodes, be they produced on 35mm film or digital video were shot for widescreen composition by the production crew. The DVD set shows you the compisition on ALL THE EPISODES that the director intended.''' Fish Man (talk) 20:42, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Music Change on DVD
When it comes to things to lament about the DVD release, in my opinion the biggie is the music change. The original show incorporated quite a bit of popular music, all of which was replaced with generic license-free substitutes for the DVD release. However, I can't find a reference that wouldn't constitute original research. However, some examples:

Fish Man (talk) 13:52, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
 * In the episode "Grief Councilor", Andy says, "Who am I kidding, Charlie's dead corpse is more likely to pop out of that casket and do the hustle than I am to ever have sex with Wendy." Just then, Wendy comes up to Andy, tenderly adjusts his tie, and asks if he'd like to "get out of here" and "get a drink".  Immediately the casket pops open and Charlie's dead zombie-looking corpse dances to The Hustle by Van McCoy and winks and Andy.  (Replaced with generic disco music.)
 * In the pilot episode, Andy imagines Wendy coming to his bedroom in skimpy lingerie. Musical backdrop is Joan Jett's cover of Crimson and Clover.  (Replaced with an orchestral flourish.)
 * In "Final Fantasy" the end credits roll over Andy dressed as a hunchback dancing around a stripper pole to I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred. (Replaced with a generic stripper-sounding song.)