Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza

The best show I have seen. It's wonderful to see intelligence at work in a visible form. I simply cannot stop watching but binge for hours all day with my mouth open either gazing out of amazement or actually laughing out loud.

Each resident has his own specialty. Chip Esten and Brad Sherwood are excellent making up lyrics on the go. Jeff Davis is great at hosting. Greg Proops is full of humor. Ryan Stiles has quick wits on top of his drole facial expression. Colin Mochrie's hair, did he dye it, is so foxy. Jonathan Mangum is my favorite, most brilliant and energetic. Drew Carey holds court while passing the reign to others. But vibe or not, none of the guest stars can match up. A little embarrassing but it just goes to show that improvisation is not something anyone can pull off.

About the cast, it's amazing. Simply the best on the planet united in one show. If you watched Whose Line you'll be happy to know they're all here. The older guys like Colin Mochrie, Ryan Styles and Greg Proops, share the stage with a younger generation in Jeff Davies, Chip Esten and Jonathan Mangum. This new generation, which didn't have so much exposure in the more static format of Whose Line, is just amazing. All solid performers that work really well together.

Some are noticeably below that level, like Drew Carey and Kathy Kinney, but even them have improved substantially.

So if the cast is so good, what about the format? Those who have been devouring the old Whose Line episodes for all these years for lack of any worthy substitute, may not like to know that mostly everything changed.

There's no host. Each participant take turns introducing the games. There's no buzzer. Music is used much more freely through the games. Different combinations of cast members are used each time in every game. Lastly, of course, it feels much more refined with this big, glamorous stage, instead of the small studio.

If you move past the initial disappointment of not being able to see Colin and Ryan playing every scene together, you'll realize that this is some of the best entertainment you can get out there, all crammed up in a 20 minute package through some editing.

In all this time between Whose Line and Improv-a-ganza, these guys have been playing together, sometimes in smaller groups, sometimes the whole gang. They've been changing stuff, refining and perfecting the show. What we see in this show is the result of that evolution, adapted to a form that fits the TV network. There's almost no waste of time, the show feels very organic and dynamic, the actors have no specific roles, the games chosen for this are fast paced and some take advantage of the fact that they have many more people than in previous formats. The flexibility to have different combinations of cast members playing each scene is especially welcome. The fear of experimentation is gone and you'll see actors playing together that may seem like non-intuitive choices initially, if you've watched Whose Line, and end up showcasing the amazing talent of some of the new guys.

Now, are there any negative aspects to this at all? The only things I can remember seem like small details but I'm going to post them anyway: 1. One thing that I didn't like was the fact that most shots were too tight. There was always a preference of wider angles in Whose Line and even in Improv All Stars (which is essentially the same format as Improv-a-ganza). These wider shots are entertaining because it allowed the viewer to see the reactions of other cast members to the scene, and the way they act and react to something that's being made up of the top of their heads is one of the biggest attractions of improv. In here, you're usually stuck with a zoomed in angle of the actor that's delivering the line.

2. Another thing I didn't like was the editing. Some of it was too noticeable, even amateurish. It cuts from a shot where the actor is on the right and suddenly, he's in the center with some laughs being carried over from a different shot. This happens a lot and I reckon it may be necessary to cram so much material in 20 mins but it should be done better.

3. Another thing about editing is the repeating shots of the same people laughing over and over again. After watching all shows, I can clearly remember the same shot of the laughter of the same person being used in at least 3 different episodes. This is worse than my last point because, more than amateurish, it breaks the immersion because we're no longer sure if any subsequent shots were really taken at that moment or inserted there in editing for some purpose.

4. I could do without the 20 minute limit. This show should be 1 hour long and have a more relaxed pace. This limit requires some juggling of the material to fit the form-factor which gives rise to problems with editing. Many transitions feel very unnatural because of this.

In conclusion, these negatives are details compared to the amazing value in this show. There doesn't seem to be enough demand for improv these days which is a shame, I hope this more mainstream, fast-paced approach can gather some new fans. I hope they keep doing this.

This is as close as we're gonna get to having Whose Line back on the air. I can see this show lasting a LONG time because of it's hilarity. It will, however need time to become such a classic and iconic show like Whose Line is, and just by watching the first few episodes, I can tell that that moment is not far off. If you don't get the GSN, try the GSN website for episodes or the Improv-a-ganza's facebook page as I've found the first episode is posted there. I have never written a review before here on IMDb, and I found Improv-a-Ganza worthy of my time to review it. It is so good to have all the guys from Whose Line back together again, even if Wayne Brady isn't a full time member (which is kind of a bummer really). Go ahead and enjoy it. I can tell this is gonna be on TV for a while so just kick back and enjoy Drew Carey's Improv-a-ganza and laugh you butt off.

I was a big fan of Whose line, and i wanted badly to the show to be back.

Well, here is it. I have to say it, when i first watch it, i didn't liked it so much because it has changed so much, the good thing is that i don't abandon shows after 1-2 episodes.

What i liked about whose line pretty much has gone, like certain combos (ryan/colin) etc,though it still happen, they are uncommon, but instead we have a bigger cast. Imagine colin, ryan, jeff, brad, gregg, and drew at the same time. All those heavy weights together, certainly worth some few less games.

The game has also introduced new cast, though a bit less known, certainly good, specially Jonathan, he does an amazing job, he is certainly at the same level of chip or brad.

Since the rotation is is heavy, you never know who might be appearing except from jeff and drew. I thought Jeff was amazing in whose lie, he has more participation here, the weight of the show pretty much falls on him instead of wayne, and he does a great job.

The only drawback in the show is Kathy Kinney, she is not good at all, but fortunately, she is not a regular, and don't appear too often.

The show has more interaction with the public, not only from games like sfx or a singing game, but rather asking pretty much all of the suggestions for the games at mid game. Which makes it funny in its own way.

At the end, we get a new show, with the hearth of whose line, but very different to know that is not a carbon copy. Give this show a try, you will not regret it.

WLIIA is formulaic, but it's worked since the 80's. Gave this series a six episode try and it's just not that good. The skits go on too long, and even though they share a lot of the same games, most fall flat. The hardest part is that this has the entire male cast of Whose Line involved, and somehow it just doesn't hold up. Ryan, Colin, Brad, Jeff, Jon, Greg, Wayne, Drew, they're all in it. Usually the stage is slammed with six performers. But somehow it just didn't mesh. It always feels like the show got cut short, or the previews fill up lack of time, and there seems to be some rough cuts. Almost like jump cuts. Not a whole lot of celebrity guests, unless you count Charlie Sheen right after his "WINNING" spiral post Two and a Half Men. (Remember, this was 2010-2011.) This also was the start of Drew's strange healthy transition. And it is strange. We all grew up watching the Drew Carey Show and especially early 2000's Whose Line where jovial, crew cut Drew made us smile and cringe simultaneously with his flat punchlines and occasional dead shot repartees. Here, he's like a new age hipster punching above his weight class. With a soul patch.

I'm glad things worked out and Whose Line came back with Aisha while Drew took over for Bob on Price Is Right. This was not the show to invest in. At the time of this writing CW is releasing the final season of Whose Line, but I'm sure something will come along in the same vein as this entity between projects. And I'm sure it will do better.