Green Screen Show

Somehow, I missed the first few programs of this show. I am a fan of the old "Whose Line is it Anyway" especially the original British version and was hoping that this would continue that tradition. But "Whose Line" had a spontaneity and intimacy which was achieved by few means besides the wit of the performers.

In adding the green screen technology and a much larger cast, this intimacy was completely destroyed and any wit the performers could bring to the program is lost in the feeble animated "cleverness" which also contradicts any concept of "spontaneity".

What is left is completely boring which the old show rarely was. (ok, maybe later on.) And a desire to see how the cast aged. That having been satisfied, there is nothing else.

It would be a kindness to perform euthanasia on this program and the sooner the better.

(added:7/05.08:) And so they did, not to my surprise!

The use of the technology on the Green Screen Show is very clever but looks like a lot of hard work. As others have written though, the concept of drawing in details later definitely clashes with the whole premise of improv. This is two halves that don't come together.

Firstly, the improv: the performers are doing their thing ad-hoc, and they're funny. They have a live audience that laughs at their jokes.

Secondly, you have brilliant animation. This would be great in its own right, but it has no live audience (which is fine for animation, ordinarily, but here it doesn't work).

The reason this combination feels so odd is that you can't shake the knowledge that the studio audience are only seeing the improv, and only laughing at the improv, whereas we (the home audience) get to see the added detail and jokes - which have no audience laughing at them. The result is the same uncomfortable feeling you get when you realise that a sitcom has a laughter track (canned laughter).

Great effort, but the format (Whose Line is it Anyway) wasn't broke, so why try to fix it?

This show isn't funny at all. They completely ruined the whole improve theme. The cartoons aren't that great and they dim down the funniness from the show. It funnier when there's nothing there. Whos idea was it to cancel Whose Line is it Anyway for this? Another big glitch, how can you have an improv show without Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady? What the heck is going on here? Poor Colin doesn't have his comedy partner anymore. This show just isn't good at all. Some of these people I never even heard of. They're not Whose Line is it Anyway patrons. There just some plain bland comedian that came out of nowhere. Sadly I bet this show is going to be a success.

I loved this show. Loved it loved it loved it.

It's like going to see a performance of "Drew Carey's Improv All-Stars" but without the $85/seat price-tag. They play a lot of the traditionally live games that were never/rarely shown on "Whose Line," like New Choice, Freeze, and Conducted Story, and these 3 games turned out to be the highlights of the show's short-lived run (??? Not cancelled yet). I absolutely loved Jeff Davis's "rubber baby buggy bumper business" Swedish new choice, messing up the "Yoga Hurts" punchline in Freeze, and the "Onion Sam" conducted story.

What's more, "Whose Line's" supporting but rarely featured actors really got a chance to shine in "The Green Screen". I had no idea Jeff Bryan Davis was so funny! Brad Sherwood stole the show on more than one occasion, often by popping up in games he wasn't supposed to be involved with (like as the Grim Reaper in "Hollywood Moments). And it's always a pleasure to watch adorable Chip Davis and smarmy Greg Proops.

I don't really get why hardcore "Whose Line" fans are bashing this show. The animation really adds to the experience (like the horse that censored Drew Carey), and it's a pleasure to get to watch The Gang in action, especially since "Whose Line" stopped production. Sure, the games are different, but it doesn't matter what game they are playing - I got a good laugh out of most of them. And Ryan Stiles wasn't there, but the show was canceled before they could air the episode he guest-starred in. Besides, we get to see more of Chip/Brad/Greg/Jeff, as well as reliable Colin, and TV newcomers Sean/Jonathan/Kathy/Julie (and unaired Kaitlin Olson), so there's plenty of talented performers! Bring back "The Green Screen." I really miss it. It was a fabulous show. Just give it a decent time slot so it's not up against "Will and Grace", "Survivor", and "The OC" (Really WB executives - that time slot was suicide).

Being a huge fan of Whose Line is it Anyway (both the British and American versions), I kept counting down the days until Drew Carey's Green Screen show had its debut. When it finally was showed, I was a little disappointed with the comedy - there were many boring parts. However, the technical aspects were amazing! I absolutely loved the animation. It really looked good, especially the 3D graphics in "Zeppelin".

Something I didn't like was the way they laid out the commercial time. There would be one game, then a commercial, then a game, then a commercial and so on. The total time of the pilot episode turned out to be 20 minutes (as compared to other 30 minute shows which run around 23 minutes).

I was hoping that the second episode would show some other games that worked, but it only showed the same games, some working and some not working.

The third episode will air next Thursday, and I am going to try my best to enjoy it fully. I think that after the first season, if the show gets picked up again, they are going to have to work out the kinks. Hey - even "Whose Line" had it's bad points, and I am hoping that the Green Screen Show will fix its problems and get better.

As of now, the show is okay, but it has the potential to be so much better.

-Ken