The Drew Carey Show

I don't usually like shows starring stand-up comics. They end a great comics career and usually aren't acted that well. Drew Carey is different. Every part is played pitch perfect and it has good, plausible storylines.

The show went downhill after Kate and Oswald broke up, but that happens with all shows. The Mimi/Steve pairing was well-played and emotionally fulfilling. I'm not much of a fan of Drew/Kate and the show would have been better without it. Wick is the strongest character, albeit cartoonish. But the whole show is.

My favorite episode would be when they attempted to win an Emmy. It was the epitome of the show-goofy.

Network: ABC; Genre: Sitcom; Average Content Rating: TV-14 (language and strong scatological humor); Classification: Contemporary (Star Range: 1 - 4);

Season Reviewed: Seasons 6 - 9

To keep myself from stretching back into the halls of TV history I've roped off the turn of the century/millennium as a benchmark forward to look at a particular show's season. In the 9 years that 'The Drew Carey Show' was on the air it went through 3 big phases. The first was of a standard comedian-vehicle sitcom originating back in the days when every 2-bit comedian was getting their own self titled sitcom (signified by the 'Moon over Parma' intro). However, Drew Carey was better than the rest. The 2nd phase was the show hitting its prime- in that, its longest phase, it was a free-for-all comedy barn-burner. Like a little weekly Farrelly brother movie, 'Drew Carey' was crude, bawdy humor at its finest.

The show had the guts to center around a group of characters that where, without question, losers and made no attempt to glamorize them in the usual sitcom way. Drew was the ultimate, put-upon everyman and this show epitomized the workaday world of office life better than any other on TV. The cast was exceptional - with breakout performances from Ryan Styles and Diedrich Bader, who make their Louis and Oswald the classic drunken, aimless stooges. The writing was sharp, bawdy, crude and was often bust-a-gut hysterically so. Stick with the '5 o'clock World' or original 'Cleveland Rocks' intro that accompanies these seasons and you'll see a show that was heading for 'classic' status.

However, as we pick up with season 6 and forward the show is in its 3rd phase - a flaming, chaotic tailspin that strips away everything that made it great and innovative in the first place and ultimately sending it sinking into the abyss with barely a whisper. How did this happen? I can say the turning point where I lost interest came when Drew's transvestite brother Steve married and brought into the family Drew's long-time rival Mimi. But that was nothing compared to all the insane turns the show would take for the next 3 years. Drew nearly dies and sits in a coma for several episodes? Drew accidentally gets married to two women? To his long time loves and his boss Mr. Wick (a terrific Craig Ferguson by the way) no less? Drew looses his job at Winford Lauder and gets one at an internet company. The show was always absurd, but it used to have a solid foundation that it honored.

Worst of all Drew ditches his old persona - growing his hair out, losing weight and tossing his trademark glasses. In it's final years the show doesn't seem tired as much as it does a complete about-face, doubling-back to undo everything that it has set up and spitting in the face of the fans. It's unclear if Carey is mellowing with age, trying to conform more with the acceptance of the Hollywood establishment or has simply become arrogant. Arrogant in dragging this show out past it's prime and into territory it should know would disenfranchise it's audience. And arrogant into thinking that he can sing and is a great comic improve and so revamping special shows of nothing but musical numbers and live improve. What was once the voice of the working stiffs is now just a mouthpiece to nourish Drew's ego with a talented cast going to waste in the process. What was once the anti-sitcom has now taken turns fitting of an NBC tent-post series.

It's a sad state of affairs. The only one quick enough to jump from this sinking ship was Christa Miller. Caught in the thankless role of the straight-women in the locker room atmosphere of the show, she left for NBCs 'Scrubs' leaving 'Titus' alumni Cynthia Watros to fill the void. Anybody that thought the richly developed and sophisticated 'Titus' was just a standard dumb sitcom should have a look at the talented Watros now going to waste in this plane crash.

Jerry Seinfeld taught us all that the sign of a great comedian was one who knows when it is time to pull out and leave the audience wanting more. Drew should have been taking notes.

*

Series: * * ½ / 4

What I like about this is that Drew Carey is such a normal, C-average underachiever. It's such a nice change from all the other comedy shows out right now. I normally don't like sitcoms, but I make an exception for this one. The whole cast is made up of comedians, and it shows. Here's a guy whose life is one long losing streak, just like most people's (you know this is true). I love it.

First clicking onto this show in late 2007, wow! what I had been missing in comedy world. I love Drew Carey in this, basically adding a few notches up to his character of.... Drew Carey. He works as personnel in one of these top floors at a department store. Lewis cracks me up, as the no hoper with women, larrikin character. Oswald is something of a laugh too, if an oddity as Lewis's best friend. He reminds me of someone I went to high school with. Mimi, Drew's nemeses with that loud blue eye shadow, spouting that famous three letter word that's constantly projected at Drew, is another quirky character, who deep down, really has the hots for Drew I'm sure. Drew, quick witted genius he is, is good as dishing it back at her. We have the pretty Kate, Lewis brother who falls for Oswald and Drew. What a strange world. But the real acting force is Craig Ferguson who does us one solid, as Carey's boss, Mr Wick, who's firing of people is a daily occurrence, as much as it is a warmth of satisfaction. Ferguson, off camera, has proved to be more quick witted than Carey as judged by his late night show, which for me, replaced Letterman as my favorite host show. I fell in love with this show, and I could of smashed my head against the wall many times, for not watching it, when it first came out. I suggest you watch this comedy classic too.... "Yeah pig." Footnote: On the top of my head, I loved all of the opening themes, where they used 4-5 different, that were very original. A truly memorable show, that surely won't die for ages.

This is one funny sitcom! Drew Carey and his co-stars (especially Kathy Kinney as Mimi Bobeck) each have an ingenious sense of comic timing! In addition, the show itself fairly accurately portrays the plight of the normal, everyday guy who's trying to find both love and success in today's world. Plus, the show sometimes has some highly loony episode storylines and crazy sight-gags that are normally only seen in movies! I would highly recommend this TV series to any serious comedy buff!