On the Richter entertainment scale, he's yet to hit earthquake proportions.

Andy Richter, who gained some fame in the '90s as Conan O'Brien's late-night writer and on-air sidekick, left in 2000 to strike out on his own.

His first go-it-alone project, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, premiered on Fox in 2002, receiving positive reviews but lukewarm audience response.

Richter, in Walter Mitty fashion, portrayed a mild-mannered employee of a huge company who detailed what happened in his life and what he wished had happened.

Fox pulled the series after an intermittent 15-month run.

His second effort on Fox, Quintuplets, was so bad I wonder why Richter even lists it on his résumé. Playing a frustrated father of five teenagers, the series made shows like Eight Is Enough look like Peabody Award winners.

Richter returns to the situation comedy wars on NBC Thursday for six weeks, with Andy Barker, P.I. (8:30 p.m. 9News), portraying an earnest accountant who stumbles into the private detective business.

I've always admired Richter's laid-back comedy talent. And I was expecting a real winner with his latest effort since Andy Barker provides a major comedic reunion; O'Brien and Jonathan Groff, a former head writer for the late-night star, are co-creators.

The problem is the energy level - or lack thereof.

Andy Barker is so low key in concept and execution that viewers may not hang around long enough to pick up some of the subtle humor that enriches the last half of the premiere and the second half-hour.

Barker's failing accounting business occupies an office in a mall storefront that once belonged to a private detective.

In walks a seductive, cigarette-smoking blonde who offers Barker a wad of dough to find her "missing husband."

The scene, a marvelous send-up to the old Bogart-type Warner Bros. movies, sets the stage for some marvelous satire, which, unfortunately, seldom appears.

Thursday's premiere (no laughtrack) is also bogged down by tiresome car chase scenes.

Actually, a January press conference featuring O'Brien and Richter provided livelier humor because of the easy repartee between two friends.

When O'Brien was asked if he needed a studio audience to perform, the late-night host said: "Yeah, I couldn't do my show without a studio audience."

Richter egged on O'Brien about his public TV interview with Charlie Rose (which didn't have a live audience).

"I've died on Charlie Rose . . . but there's no dying on Charlie Rose because he's just a freaking mahogany table," O'Brien said. "He's that guy with the weird shoulders.''

Now if we could only get that ad-lib humor to surface more often on Andy Barker, P.I.

Maybe the comedic environment of late-night TV and prime time comedy just don't mix?

Dusty's pick for tonight

The Departed won the Oscar. The Sopranos is returning. Is their room for another Mafia-oriented project? A&E cable, re-entering the original drama field, thinks so, offering King of South Beach (7 tonight) a TV movie based on the true story of a young New York thug who became a major figure in Miami society until his bloody past came to haunt him. Donnie Wahlber-g and Jason Gedrick make a familiar story sound a bit fresh.

Three's really a crowd

The most popular half-hour on network television?

The 8 p.m. (Mountain time) Monday slot when Fox's 24, NBC's Heroes and CBS' Two and a Half Men collide.

The trio, among the top 15 most-watched shows every week, averages more than 45 million viewers weekly.

The audience strength of 24 and Two and a Half Men was a given before the 2006-07 season started.

But the surprising popularity of Heroes, the freshman serialized drama, has produced a three-program audience race.

The success of Two and a Half Men has rubbed off on Rules of Engagement, a comedy with David Spade that follows it.

Major assignment

He's a tall man with a tall order.

Six-foot-seven-inch Rick Kaplan, who's played key roles in news production for 20 years, has been named executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

His order: restructuring the weeknight newscast to improve its declining ratings.

Kaplan replaces the reassigned Rome Hartman, who took that role last September.

Among Kaplan's past duties: Running CNN and, most recently, MSNBC.

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