Archer (2009 TV series)

Archer
File:Archer 2010 Intertitle.png
Genre	Spy fiction Action/Adventure Blue comedy Off-color humor Black comedy
Created by	Adam Reed
Voices of	H. Jon Benjamin Judy Greer Amber Nash Chris Parnell Aisha Tyler Jessica Walter George Coe Adam Reed Lucky Yates
Country of origin	Template:TVUS
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	29 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Adam Reed Matt Thompson
Producers	Neal Holman Eric Sims Casey Willis
Running time	19–21 minutes
Production companies	Floyd County Productions Radical Axis (season 1) FX Productions
Original release
Network	FX
Release	September 17, 2009 (2009-09-17) – present

Archer is an American animated television series created by Adam Reed for the FX network. A preview of the series aired on September 17, 2009. The first season premiered on January 14, 2010. The show carries a TV-MA-LSV rating.

Inspiration behind Archer came to Reed while in a cafe in Salamanca, Spain. Finding himself unable to approach a beautiful woman seated nearby, Reed conjured up the idea of a spy who "would have a perfect line". Reed conceived the show's concept while walking along the Vía de la Plata in 2008. He pitched his idea to the FX Network, which accepted it and ordered six episodes, along with an additional four scripts. The show ended its first season on March 18, 2010, and the second season premiered on January 27, 2011. The season 1 DVD was released in Region 1 on December 28, 2010. On December 17, 2010 the first season of Archer also aired in Germany on Comedy Central Germany. On March 29, 2011 it was announced that FX Network had ordered a 16-episode third season of Archer. A three episode special dubbed "The Heart of Archness" was aired in September 2011. New episodes from season 3 began airing on January 19, 2012.

Premise

Set at the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) in New York City, suave but incredibly self-centered master spy Sterling Archer deals with global espionage; his domineering, hypersexual mother/boss, Malory Archer; his ex-girlfriend (and fellow ISIS agent), Lana Kane; her ISIS accountant boyfriend (later ex), Cyril Figgis; and a less-than-masculine code name, "Duchess".

The show has an unusual style and ambiguous time setting, in which technologies/clothing styles and historical backdrops of different decades coincide. The characters wear 1960s clothing and hair styles and several episodes feature references to the Soviet Union as a current nation and to Fidel Castro as the current leader of Cuba. The technological sophistication within the series varies, with characters using computers that are dated (e.g. reel-to-reel mainframe systems, dot-matrix printers and punchcards), but also cell phones, GPS devices, and laser gunsights. In addition, modern day insults are prevalent (such as "suck it", "screw you", and "douche bag"). Adam Reed was asked about the conflicting style, and concluded, "I just think it's ill-defined."

Episodes

Main article: List of Archer episodes

Characters

Main characters

• Sterling Malory Archer (H. Jon Benjamin), codename: Duchess, is 184 lb, 6'2", 36 years old (computer screen readout in the show's first episode), and is considered the world's most dangerous secret agent. Though he shows proficiency in stereotypical spy skills—weapons, driving, martial arts—his only real interest in the job is the opportunity to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle full of sex, alcohol, thrills, lacrosse, fast cars and spy toys (in that order). Egotistical and self-serving, Archer generally lacks empathy towards anyone. He was largely reared by his valet Woodhouse, whom he constantly belittles. A Picture of Archer in "Placebo Effect" shows Archer graduating from college implying he is at least smart enough to receive a bachelors degree in an unknown major. At the graduation Woodhouse is conspicuously present while Malory is not suggesting he was a better parent to Sterling than Malory was. He is almost always seen with an alcoholic drink and also refuses to wear anything other than "tactical" turtlenecks during operations (he will take the time to change into one rather than immediately disarming a bomb). He claims he was the first to recognize the garment's tactical potential (referring to it as a "tactile-neck") and becomes enraged when his style is copied. He appears to carry the classic James Bond Walther PPK as a personal sidearm, despite being consistently insulted as to the gun's diminutive stature by his co-workers, (Ray Gillette: "You'd better put that back in your purse", Conway Stern: "Oh I'm queer, coming from the man whose gun came with a matching purse"). Although Archer has a high success rate, having stopped and killed a number of highly dangerous criminals, he usually does so not out of a desire to uphold the law but for his own personal selfish reasons. He has, however, demonstrated compassion for others on occasion; in "Placebo Effect" he genuinely cared about fellow cancer patient Ruth and was clearly upset over her death, and in "El Secuestro" he expresses concern that Cheryl's pet ocelot is under-stimulated and advises her to buy some cat toys. In "Double Trouble" Archer also attempts to stop Katya Kasanova and Lana from fighting as he doesn't want them to hurt each other. Despite his numerous numerous personality flaws such as insensitivity, callousness, and a casual attitude towards murdering anyone who crosses him (or even sometimes merely crosses his path), he is also undeniably an intuitively good operative with a fairly high degree of personal bravery, as shown during his escape from Moscow when he consistently outwitted and outfought the numerous soldiers dispatched to recapture him despite never having a functional firearm and "three pounds of glass" in his feet. When he was finally cornered in an elevator, he blindfolded himself and fully intended his last words to be "F*** you, you douchebags". A recurring joke of the show is Archer forgetting his pre-planned witty one-liners swearing "I had something for this" before saying something different. Archer also has an intense fascination with the actor Burt Reynolds. He often quotes famous lines and re-enacts scenes from Reynolds' many movies and asking Lana constantly if he looks like Reynolds. His encyclopedic knowledge of completely irrelevant things allows him to make clever references on a moment's notice (e.g. "Lana, you'd better call Kenny Loggins 'cause you're in... The Danger Zone!" or referencing the Herman Melville short story "Bartleby the Scrivener") and yet he is often completely unaware of core concepts such as keeping the fact that he is a secret agent a secret (He tells almost everyone he meets, especially beautiful women). Even though he's not the brightest, rival agents consider Archer a serious threat, in part due to his genuine combat skills but also due to his "instinct-based" field work style, which tends to be short on any kind of preparation on his part. Because of this Archer is equally likely to kill a room full of enemy agents as he is to accidentally cause an international disaster.

• Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler) is the top female agent at ISIS and Archer's ex-girlfriend. A beautiful, competent and deadly agent, she also has incredibly large and strong hands, which other ISIS staffers regularly mock as being mannish or "Truckasaurus-like." Smart and tough, she is constantly frustrated that she is still seen as second fiddle to Archer and passed over because his mother heads the agency. Like Archer, Lana is an expert in Krav Maga, in which all ISIS agents undergo training, and is usually seen carrying two Tec-9 submachine guns in shoulder holsters. Before Lana was an agent, she was an animal-rights activist; at a protest, she tried to throw red paint on Malory's fur coat but was stopped when Malory pulled a gun on her. Lana's fearlessness so impressed Malory that she offered Lana the chance to become an agent. Lana has a complex love-hate relationship with former flame Archer. In season one she moved on to dating ISIS comptroller Cyril Figgis, whose main appeal was that he was Archer's exact opposite, but broke up with him due to his constant neediness and after she caught him cheating. She is clearly still attracted to Archer but his arrogance, foolhardiness and problematic relationship with his mother enrages her. However, it is usually Lana who sympathizes with Sterling when he is genuinely in pain and she is stunned by his admission in "Heart of Archness, Part III" that he considers her his only friend.

• Malory Archer (Jessica Walter), Sterling Archer's mother and the head of ISIS, is a self-centered alcoholic who regularly hatches half-baked, invariably disastrous schemes to use the agency's resources to her own personal advantage (she has staged a false assassination attempt on a U.N. official to secure a lucrative government contract and called in a fake bomb threat to get a luxury cabin on a dirigible "cruise"). Greedy, short-sighted and materialistic, Malory has gone so far as to haggle ransom prices for her own son and has little concern for her other employees. She also has some kind of a grudge against an as yet unseen character called Trudy Beekman, in the episode "Killing Utne" it appears she is her neighbor and this grudge continues in "Skytanic" also. In the second season, it is revealed that she was an aspiring actress during World War II, when she was recruited into the OSS by Wild Bill Donovan. During her days as a black-ops spy, she had clandestine affairs with KGB head Nikolai Jakov (an affair that has lasted 40 years), rival spy agency ODIN's boss Len Trexler, and jazz drummer Buddy Rich, so she's not sure which one fathered her son. She had told Sterling that his father was John Fitzgerald "Black Jack" Archer, an ace pilot who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. She was a highly inattentive parent, shipping him to boarding school for 13 years and leaving him stranded in a train station one Christmas Eve because she never told the school she was moving. Malory demonstrated some of her parenting techniques, heavy on negative reinforcement, when she baby sat the Wee Baby Seamus in "The Double Deuce." In various flashbacks Malory is shown to have been a highly capable field agent in her younger days. Like her son she was proficient at the practical things such as martial arts and firearms; she is shown to have been a merciless killer and at some point used to wear an eye patch for as yet unexplained reasons. Malory and her son share a hugely dysfunctional relationship. There is little affection on either side but due to her position Malory has kept Sterling almost entirely dependent on her. There are occasions when Malory has shown concern for Sterling however; in "Job Offer" she was clearly jealous when he left to join ODIN and became upset when she realized she had drunkenly issued a burn notice on him realizing she may have killed him as a result. In "White Nights" she pleaded with Nikolai Jakov not to kill Sterling. Whether this is genuine concern for her son's well being or just her inability to cope without him being totally dependent on her is unclear; either one is possible.

• Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell) is the comptroller of ISIS. Cyril is portrayed as quite competent at his job but is plagued by a number of personal issues. He was Lana Kane's love interest at the beginning of Season 1, but due to residual trust issues from her relationship with Archer, she refused to call Cyril her boyfriend or say she loved him. Cyril is a buttoned-down nebbish who wears browline glasses and chops vegetables for supper in his office. Cyril is also so remarkably well-endowed that he once put in a claim for "penis ensmallment" surgery, as Pam and Cheryl are shocked to learn when they hack into the company's medical records. Manipulated by Cheryl, Cyril cheats on Lana with her, ISIS office drone "Scatterbrain" Jane, Trinette the hooker and Framboise (a secretary at ODIN whom Archer calls "the Pele of anal"). Lana broke up with him when she caught him with Framboise. In Season 2 there are frequent references to Cyril calling a phone-sex hotline, spending much time looking at Internet porn and attending sex addiction meetings. In the episode "Tragical History" it is clear he had a dysfunctional relationship with his father, who was an elementary school superintendent. There are hints in that same episode that the villain, George Spelvin, may actually be Cyril's estranged father. Cyril is also portrayed to be extremely clumsy about gun safety, as seen in the episode "El Secuestro", when he injured Brett Buckley after mistaking whether or not a gun's safety was on. In Season 3 Cyrill is promted to field agent to replace Ray Gillette. While this decision is ridiculed by Archer and Lana due to Cyril's lack of practicality he quickly proves however he has a penchant for quick witted lying to develop a cover in the Mexican drug cartel. He ingratiates himself with their boss and is able to maintain a convincing cover to infiltrate their organisation and engineer the other's escape. This is a Machiavellian skill neither Archer or Lana have demonstrated any skill for.

• Cheryl Tunt (Judy Greer) is Malory's secretary. She regularly legally changes her name, going by Carol, Carina, and Cristal during the series. In the pilot episode of the show, she was portrayed as a love-sick and ditzy secretary frequently taken advantage of by Archer, but that side of her character was gradually phased out as her behavior became more and more unhinged: she has pyromaniac tendencies and is often sniffing or swallowing rubber cement. She regularly fantasizes about being choked during sex, and after office trysts she has prominent ligature marks on her neck. Her lovers have included Cyril, Archer, Krieger and Conway Stern. Despite believing herself to be the smartest person in the office, Cheryl is actually stupid (trying to turn on her computer by typing O-N, wondering aloud who brings Jewish people their Christmas presents, thinking that a website can tell her that she's pregnant, believing that LSD-laced paper strips are breath strips, etc.) In the second season it is revealed that she and her brother are heirs to the billion-dollar Tunt railroad fortune, although her half is in a trust controlled by her brother. She works as a secretary but lives in an extravagant mansion with an ocelot named Babou, possibly after Salvador Dalí's own ocelot. She spends most of her time bickering with Pam.

• Pam Poovey (Amber Nash) is ISIS's Human Resources Director. She condescends to the staff by talking through a dolphin puppet in disciplinary meetings, and she regularly gossips confidential information to the whole office (within an hour, everyone knew when Archer was on a secret mole hunt). She's constantly subjected to cruel jokes about food and her weight. She's also extremely desperate to get just one colleague, male or female, to have sex with her; she succeeds in "Dial M for Mother" when Lana agrees to have sex with her after breaking down in Cyril's office (She does, however, insist on pretending that Pam is Alex Karras). She was raised on her father's Wisconsin dairy farm, named "Poovey Farm." Known for having an extraordinary alcohol tolerance, she regularly totes a dispenser of Schüzenmeister (a parody of Jägermeister) at parties. "El Secuestro" revealed that she is an expert bare-knuckle pugilist and has a stanza of Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib" tattooed on her back. Her favorite exclamation is "Holy shitsnacks!" It is revealed in Season 3 that she has taken up drift racing against the Yakuza as a hobby.

• Doctor Algernop Krieger (Lucky Yates), is the head of the ISIS applied research department. He spends most of his time working on projects to facilitate his kinky sexual fantasies, including an advanced sex robot named Fister Roboto, a mechanical hand to choke Cheryl when his own hands are not strong enough for her taste, a drug that instills homosexual urges in its users (this eventually kills Danny the Intern), various animal-human hybrids, and a holographic girlfriend simulation so sophisticated that the state of New York legally allowed him to marry it (their plans were scuttled because "society couldn't deal with it"). He kills another intern, Chet, by having him wear a not-quite-bulletproof vest during a live-fire test. He's alluded to frequently drugging other co-workers, admitting to Pam "I've had good results with ether" when advising her on how to increase her odds for having sex with co-workers. For the first three episodes Krieger did not speak. His first lines, during the fourth episode, are a passionate defense of his reasoning for creating Fister Roboto. In Season 2 it is revealed that his 'father' was a Nazi scientist who escaped to Brazil, and Krieger is possibly a clone of Adolf Hitler (a reference to The Boys from Brazil). At the end of Season 2 it was revealed that he had been working on a project that, as KGB agent Katya Kazanova puts it, could "shift world power." But when he learns that the Russians have technology to build cyborgs, he remarks that his 8 years of work was wasted. He also had a van with illegally tinted windows and the words "EXIT... VAN LEFT" airbrushed on the side, however in the Season 2 episode "Double Trouble" the van was destroyed when Archer's fiancée Katya Kasanova sacrifices herself when Barry Dylon, now a cyborg, is attacking Archer by jumping off Archer's balcony taking Barry with her. Barry survived the fall, due to his cyborg modifications, unfortunately this was not the case for Katya and Krieger's van.

• Ray Gillette (Adam Reed) is an openly gay intelligence analyst and one of the few competent members of ISIS. He and Lana are such good friends that he can discredit her clothes as knockoffs and she will merely laugh it off. When she offers to bed the whole agency and Cyril asks why he is queueing up, he quips, "Nobody's that gay!" He loathes Archer and especially loathes Archer's mother Malory, even willing to help Archer at the expense of his mother. In "A Going Concern" he reveals that he was once married to a lesbian he met at a "Pray Away the Gay" rally. Early in Season 2 he reveals he's an Olympic bronze medalist in Men's Giant Slalom. A recurring character in Season 1, Ray's much larger role in Season 2 depicted him as a more-than-capable field agent. In the Season 2 finale he reveals that he is an ordained but out-of-practice minister who is still allowed to perform marriages ("the irony of which is not lost on me"). He commonly wields a colt 1911 with ivory grip inlays. He is paralyzed from the waist down in the third season premiere "Heart of Archness," ending the episode in a wheelchair. His injury looses him his position as a field agent and he is now confined to missions within Isis Headquarters.

• Woodhouse (George Coe) is Sterling's long-suffering British valet who patiently accepts the unending stream of abuse hurled at him by his employer. His name is a tip to the Jeeves and Wooster creator P.G. Wodehouse. Woodhouse speaks in a very similar manner as Wodehouse's Jeeves character as they are both valets/butlers who are quite involved with the happiness and well-being of their employers. An avid heroin user, he frequently hints at a mysterious military career which has included experience with cannibalism in the King's African Rifles. In "The Double Deuce" he discusses being beside his squad leader (and, it is heavily implied, lover), Reggie Thistleton, as he was killed by a sniper during World War I; Woodhouse then killed and scalped over 50 German soldiers with a knife in an apparent berserker rage and was subsequently medically discharged. It was later revealed he received the Victoria Cross for his service. Woodhouse met Malory when she staggered into his Tunisian bar in the throes of labor; after Woodhouse assisted in Archer's birth, even inadvertently naming him, he stayed with the family; she sent him to America to raise baby Sterling while she finished her assignments. When properly motivated, Woodhouse has proved to be a proficient killing machine, even with a single knife. Notably, Woodhouse is one of the few people Malory treats with respect. Archer, however, is quite unreasonable with him, routinely disciplining him by throwing his clothing, shoes and other belongings over his balcony. It is also made clear in the Season 1 episode "Killing Utne" that Sterling perceives Woodhouse as more of a house pet than a human being: When Woodhouse arrives at Malory's dinner party, Sterling states "I don't even know how you got out," and when Malory invites Woodhouse to sit down for dinner, Sterling scolds him and asserts that they should not be kind to him or "he'll think he's people". In "The Double Deuce" Woodhouse reveals that he is occasionally roused to action, as he beats Archer into unconsciousness with a pistol butt and announces his plan to "yank his pants off, splash a lot of scotch and women's underthings about, and then tell him he slipped and fell chasing a terrified Asian prostitute out onto the patio," which he has been forced to do to cover his tracks at least three or four times a year.

Recurring characters

• Len Trexler (Jeffrey Tambor) is the head of rival spy agency ODIN (Organisation of Democratic Intelligence Networks), a Paris-based organization which regularly undercuts ISIS for lucrative government contracts, which is revealed because they regularly engage in bribery. ODIN enjoys fancier offices, higher salaries and more advanced equipment than ISIS, but is bogged down in the same kind of petty office politics. He may be Sterling's biological father. He nearly manages to marry Malory, but Archer and crew manage to brainwash him (with the assistance of a KGB mind-control chip salvaged from Archer's head) into no longer finding Malory attractive. The effects of the brainwashing may be permanent as well as not limited to his perception of Malory; he displays such a decrease in cognitive function that even Sterling expresses guilt about it.

• Nikolai Jakov (Peter Newman) is the head of the KGB. He is in a controversial relationship with Malory (the two would be ruined should their affair become public) and shares Trexler's status as possible biological father of Archer. He has a large video screen link directly to her office, which he uses to talk with her on a regular basis. He continually tries to persuade Malory to live with him in Moscow, often going to extreme lengths such as staging the assassination of a U.N. official at her dinner party and using a whole KGB surveillance team to make a sex tape of her for blackmail purposes. He desperately wishes to be Archer's father, even calling him "son," but promises that if he discovers that Archer is not his son, he will kill him. Although his subordinates address him as "Major", this may be an in-joke ("Major Jack-off"), as he wears a Major General's uniform with KGB royal blue colors. (Actually he wears a Lieutenant-General's Uniform = 2 big stars).

• Barry Dylan (Dave Willis) is Len Trexler's former number two at ODIN, and has helped in his official actions with ISIS. He has a major grudge against Archer, who was responsible for shattering Barry's femur during a botched operation in Berlin, as well as several other incidents which almost always result in Barry being injured. Eventually Barry loses his right leg after Archer drops him from a fire escape in Moscow. Archer is also responsible for the termination of Barry's engagement after sleeping with his fiancée, Frambroise. Trexler regularly berates Barry as an "asshole," and Barry is indeed often dickish and petty, frequently mocking ISIS's incompetence and going so far as to offer Lana her dream job, contingent on her sleeping with him. In the finale of Season 2, the KGB rebuilds Barry as a cyborg under the name "Comrade Bionic Barry" to seek vengeance on Archer. He ends up murdering Katya, Archer's fiancée, on their wedding day.

• Mannfred and Uta (René Auberjonois and Kathryn Cressida) are a pair of German freelance assassins. Uta resembles the main character from the film Run Lola Run. The two are in a relationship despite Uta being 19 and Mannfred being middle-aged (Uta admits during an argument that they are together mainly because of her unresolved issues with her father). Uta desperately wants to have a baby to the extent of wearing a prosthetic pregnancy belly and believing that she is actually pregnant. Mannfred reluctantly tolerates her delusions, and she is later seen caring for a life-sized doll as if it were a child. Jakov regularly hires them for New York-based activities like assassinating a U.N. official or kidnapping Archer to implant a mind-control microchip in his brain. Mannfred is almost always seen wielding a Mauser C96 broomhandle pistol.

• Trinette Magoon (Maggie Wheeler) is Archer's favorite call girl. She answers to a pimp named Popeye. In the second season she has a son named Seamus Sterling Magoon-Archer (generally referred to as "The Wee Baby Seamus") and forces Archer to submit to a paternity test overseen by ODIN. Archer, sure that he is the father, switches his own blood for Cyril's, who turns out to be the actual father. Archer is then stuck paying child support to Trinette and looking after Seamus occasionally, although Trinette knows he isn't the real father.

• Brett Buckley (Neal Holman) is an ISIS worker who is frequently injured in the office by being shot. He was heard(and shot) several times in Season 1, but was not seen till the Season 1 finale.

• Katya Kasanova (Ona Grauer) is a sexy KGB Agent who wishes to defect to ISIS. When Archer goes to Russia, hoping to find out whether or not Nikolai Jakov is his biological father, Katya saves his life. She makes Archer promise to take her back to the States, which he does, and asks to become an ISIS Agent. Archer quickly falls in love with Katya, and even tries to quit drinking for her. Later, Archer asks her to marry him, and she agrees. The impromptu ceremony takes place on Archer's balcony, but when Barry Dylon appears and attempts to kill Archer, Katya grabs Barry and jumps off the building, committing suicide in an attempt to save Archer. Archer cries hysterically and ends up vanishing for three months. He is later found attempting to get over his grief by working as a Hotel Bartender in the South Pacific and sleeping with newly-married women. He has to be forcibly kidnapped to return to ISIS but after some adventures and a lot of sex, returns to work as normal and can barely remember her name.

• Bilbo (Adam Reed) is a heavyset ISIS worker who mans the control room. Bilbo likes to work Lord of the Rings references into his conversations, and is occasionally victim to Archer's verbal and physical abuse. He also enjoys meatball subs.

• Rip Riley (Patrick Warburton) is an adventurer and former ISIS agent recruited by Malory (who appears to be an old flame) to track down Archer and bring him home after he disappears following Katya's death. Rip flies a seaplane he calls 'Loosey Goosey' which he adamantly claims is practical despite its obvious shortcomings for the mission. Savvy and level headed Rip is familiar with the threat of modern pirates and has a good knowledge of geography. As a former ISIS field agent Rip also has good combat, weapon and survival skills. Although Rip is confident and pragmatic he is short-tempered with Archer (mainly due to Archer's personality) and somewhat arrogant.

• Noah (David Cross) is an Anthropologist turned slave pirate, who becomes Archer's First Mate and translator when Archer becomes the Pirate King in the "Heart of Archness" arc.

Judy Greer and Jeffrey Tambor also voice one-off minor characters in addition to their primary roles: Greer as Framboise, the human resources director at ODIN, and Tambor as Torvald Utne, a United Nations bureaucrat from whom Malory wants to secure a lucrative weapons contract.

Supporting characters have also been voiced by Coby Bell (Conway Stern), Shelly Desai (Crenshaw/Kremensky), Audrey Wasilewski (Elke Huebsch), Ron Perlman (Ramon Limon), Thomas Lennon (Charles), Ben Garant (Rudi), Rafael Ferrer (Skorpio), Stephen Stanton (Captain Lammers), Kari Wahlgren (Anka), Clarke Peters (Popeye), Peter Serafinowicz (George Spelvin), Darren Criss (the Irish Mafia), and Joan Van Ark (Ruth).

Production

Screen shot from Archer TV series.

Each episode of Archer takes a couple of months to produce following the completion of the script. The show is mostly animated by Reed's Floyd County Productions in Atlanta, Georgia, while 3D background models are made by Trinity Animation in Kansas City, Missouri. Originally, Radical Axis housed the show's animation staff for Season 1, but the crew has since moved to their own facilities close to Emory University.

The artistic style of the series was designed to be as realistic as possible, so the character designers used as much reference material as they could. The character drawings are based on Atlanta-area models; they coincidentally resemble some of the voice actors in the series. As Chad Hurd, the lead character designer for the series, noted, the end result resembles "a 1960's comic book come to life." Television critics have also compared the show's overall visual style to that of the drama series Mad Men, as well as noting that lead character Sterling Archer, in particular, bears a substantial resemblance to Mad Men's protagonist Don Draper. The artwork is also similar to the original "Jonny Quest" cartoon series penned by artist Doug Wildey in the 1960s.

Stylistically, the show is a mix of several different time periods; show creator Adam Reed described it as "intentionally ill-defined", noting that the show "cherry-pick[ed] the best and easiest from several decades". Numerous plot details arise from contemporary culture, such as diversity hiring and sexual harassment complaints.

From left to right: Aisha Tyler, Adam Reed, H. Jon Benjamin, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer and Amber Nash at Comic-Con International in 2010

Archer is influenced by the early James Bond films, as well as OSS 117 and The Pink Panther, and can be compared to Reed's former shows for Adult Swim, Frisky Dingo and Sealab 2021. Driven by rapid-fire dialogue and interaction-based drama, the series is "stuff[ed]...with pop-culture references" and features an anachronistic style, using fashion from the early 1960s, a mix of 1980s-era and modern technology, and a political status quo in which "the Cold War never ended".

Relation to Arrested Development

Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor, David Cross and Judy Greer previously starred in the Fox critically acclaimed comedy series Arrested Development. Since both shows largely revolve around feuds and rivalry disputes between family members, Archer has been described by its creator, Adam Reed, as "James Bond meets Arrested Development". There are also notable similarities between the characters played by Greer, Walter and Tambor. Greer's character is a "lovelorn secretary", Walter is the wealth-wielding matriarch and Tambor, while not the husband, is her long-lost passion interest and possibly Sterling's biological father as well (which is similar to Tambor's secondary role on Arrested Development, Oscar). Both shows also frequently use callbacks and catchphrases. Walter stated in an interview that she became interested in "Archer" after her manager saw the pilot script describing Malory as "Think Jessica Walter in Arrested Development" and sent her the script. The show also makes reference to past work by the actors as well. In the episode "Jeu Monegasque", Malory tells the hotel concierge that "this isn't my first grand prix, you know", referencing Walter's role in Grand Prix. Further, in the Season 1 episode, "Killing Utne," when Malory complains about her relationship with her unseen neighbour Trudy Beekman, Archer remarks that she does not get along with her neighbours anywhere, a reference to Walter's character's adversarial relationship with her neighbor Lucille Austero in Arrested Development.

Relation to Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo

Just as some series voice-actors have worked together previously, notable people on the Archer animation and production teams (such as Adam Reed and Matt Thompson) were also cooperatively involved in several shows for Adult Swim, most importantly Frisky Dingo and Sealab 2021. All three shows share similar animation styles; a trademark which initially began with Sealab's cut-and-paste juxtaposition of vintage cartoon clips and modern dialogue, was modernized with computer animation for Frisky Dingo, and continues with essentially unchanged appearances for some characters in Archer. The show also shares numerous stylistic and character development similarities with its two predecessors.

Reception

The show has seen favorable reviews, scoring a 78 on Metacritic for its first season and an 88 for its second. Entertainment Weekly called it a wittily raunchy spy spoof, and the Miami Herald referred to it as "a millennial (and very much R-rated) Get Smart that acerbically and hilariously plays on our post-9/11 fears that 'U.S. government intelligence' might be a grim oxymoron."

DVD release

DVD Name	Region 1 release date	Region 2 release date	Region 4 release date	Blu-ray release date	Episode count	Discs	Additional information
Season 1	December 28, 2010	May 2, 2011	March 2, 2011	December 27, 2011	10	2	An allegedly unaired Archer pilot (essentially the first episode with Archer replaced by a human sized velociraptor), an unaired network promo, deleted scenes, a six-part "The Making of Archer" featurette, bonus episodes from The League and Louie.
Season 2	December 27, 2011	May 7, 2012	February 29, 2012	December 27, 2011	13	2	Archersaurus - Self Extinction; Ask Archer; Semper Fi; L'espoin Mal Fait; ISIS infiltrates Comic-con.

Awards

In 2010, H. Jon Benjamin was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for outstanding voiceover performance. On July 17, 2010, Archer won the NewNowNext award for "Best Show You're Not Watching". It was also nominated for Best Comedy Series at the 2011 Critics Television Awards.

References

Notes

External links

• Official Site
• Archer at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com