Despite having little fanfare, no program guide information for Tivo, and a premise that sounds "same old blah with new blah on top," Drew Carey's Green Screen Show is turning out very well. The American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? that Carey imported paled before its British predecessor, so you might think that rehashing the same grits with "drawrings" would be a step in the wrong direction. Instead, I've been drawn in (ha) by the bouncy theme music and perfect opening expository montage, and now I want to stick around.
The animation is really neat. There are obviously some cool artists working on this--in fact check out an article at Animation World Magazine: "Drew Carey'Â’s Green Screen Show: Behind the Animated Curtain of Oz" for the engaging story. The rub of the matter, though, is that all the spiffy animation would be for naught if the source comedy sucked. I think the improvement over Whose Line is the live performers. Using more people in each episode helps, and they seem to have really improved their improv, perhaps on their live tour. Carey, in particular, is no longer a massive black hole from which no laughter escapes; he has some funny moments, and also respects his limitations.
The particular set of skits I just saw was perhaps their best yet, from the gameshow "Catch That Knife!" to animal training with audience-member-provided sound effects, to a freeze tag game that breached the etiquette of improv.

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Posted by erik to HipSmart at 11/30/2005 01:03:00 AM