A few cancelled shows remain as faint blips on the radar because their creator now has a blog and keeps reminding people of them. (No names because I don’t want to call any of those almost perfect people out.)
But rarely do you have a long-running series that has completely disappeared into the ether. You figure a show that stayed on the air for nine seasons would be in syndication or on a streaming service or the complete series would be available on DVD. BECKER, which deserves way more credit, still pops up on Netflix and is occasionally seen in syndication.
MURPHY BROWN had its day but the topical nature of the humor proved to be its later-life downfall. Still, you can rent one season on Netflix.
But then there’s the case of THE DREW CAREY SHOW. From 1995-2004 this show aired on ABC. It was never a smash. The best it did was finish 13th for a couple of years (which is damn good). And then the ratings dropped like a stone. It’s last year it finished 150th. (Not sure why ABC kept picking it up, but whatever.)
There’s a couple articles about this in Uproxx.
If anything, you’d think the show would still be on the air in Cleveland.
But nope. After an initial limited syndication run, it’s been gone for years. And even then, only five of the nine seasons were shown. Due to music rights, it’s not even on Netflix or another streaming platform. You can only find the DVD of the first season.
I just find it odd that a series that ran for nine full seasons has vanished from the cultural landscape. And it brings up several questions I have for you dear readers: Do you remember THE DREW CAREY SHOW? If not, what is your age? And for those that do remember it, is it something you miss and would like to see again? I’m very curious. For all I know there is mad love for THE DREW CAREY SHOW. Or the distributors are right and no one gives a shit. You decide. Thanks.
122 comments :
I've heard of it. It was shown briefly in the UK on early mornings when most people were either at work or school. I have never watched it.
By the way, Happy Back to the Future Day everybody! I'm disappointed we still need roads and there are no hoverboards. Or pizza hydrators, or self-drying jackets, or power laces, or payment by thumbprint. Actually, the real 2015 sucks. But I'll be watching the entire trilogy on the big screen tonight!
I watched it occasionally. Mostly because Ryan Stiles had been on the British Who's Line is it Anyway.
It was one of those shows that I enjoyed when I saw it, but I never went out of my way to watch it.
The show that I really wish I could find somehow would be Anything But Love starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis. Late 80's/early 90's show. It only aired for 3 or 4 seasons, I think, but it was really well written and funny. I think John Ritter was a producer or something - he guest-starred a couple of times.
I keep hoping I'd find it somewhere, but it just faded away. Makes me sad.
I personally think it would be fun to watch Murphy Brown now. Like looking into the past.
And PS: Wizards and Warriors. One season, early 80's, fabulous show. Can't find it anywhere.
I do remember watching the show in my mid to late teens. The theme song really sticks out. I love Ryan Stiles. I think I started to bail on the show when they started doing alot of meta things like the live shows and the super-overly-self referential things. I do remember it being funny though.
What a great show!
I remember the show and I liked it. My sister loved it. I watched some of it in first run and a little in syndication.
The one episode I remember the best was when they did the production number of The Rocky Horror Picture Show vs. Priscilla Queen of the Dessert.
It is currently being featured a lot on a digital channel called "Laff" which was recently added on Verizon FIOS (at least in New York area)
I remember the show. I thought it was funny. I still youtube the clip where Drew, Oswald and Lewis audition guitar players for their band. I liked the musical stuff they did (Although turning all the bits into a clip show was a bit much.)
I would binge watch if it showed up on Netlfix or Amazon.
Yes, I do remember the Drew Carey Show. Primarily because Drew had so much clout with ABC that he got Whose Line is it Anyway on the air. I started watching that one boring summer and was hooked.
And yes you can watch Drew on one of those mutant networks that popped up lately. It's on Cozi or METV or DECADE. These are networks that have popped up in the last few years that play these old forgotten shows. It you want to watch decades-old episodes of To Tell the Truth, they're there.
As to why Drew was on for nine years, halfway through season 7, when the show was still relatively popular, ABC renewed it for two years, which was sort of like signing up an aging but storied pitcher for $75 million, only to see that pitcher decline fast once under contract.
But this is normal. I went on a Columbo binge recently on Netflix. Really enjoyed these 40 year old stories. Mentioned this fact to some young adults and many hadn't heard of the show, and those that had, hadn't seen it.
Way of the world. Who under 35 has ever seen an episode of Barney Miller? Classic show. Heck your friend James Burrows' father was a writer of Duffy's Tavern, a show that I've heard of, but have no idea what is about.
The musical numbers were a lot of fun, especially the Rocky Horror v Priscilla dance off, and the Brotherhood of Man routine from How To Succeed In Business, but I struggle to recall any other moments.
I do remember the show. There were some funny interactions among the characters (e.g. Oswald and Lewis) and Craig Ferguson was a funny foil/boss of Drew's. However, it's not a show I'd be clamoring to see again. If I ever caught it while flipping through, I might watch a little of it before moving on. I'm 35 but I think only a handful of shows from the 80's and 90's would get frequent viewing from me now (e.g. "Cheers", "Frasier", "Married With Children" and "Seinfeld").
I wonder if "Modern Family" may go the way of "The Drew Carey Show". It's enjoyed now (though I'm finding it less funny as time goes on, but that could just be me) but it may not do well in long-term syndication once it's off the air.
The show aired when I was in high school/college. Can't say that I miss it. Shirley Jones as Drew's girlfriend for a season or two was enjoyable in an odd way.
The Laff Network carries two episodes every weekday, at 8PM Eastern and again at midnight ET (9PM Pacific). I get it OTA; ask your cable or satellite company. They carry all kinds of series from the '80's. Here's their schedule: http://www.laff.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/LAF-Website-EST-Grid-10-05-15-thru-11-29-15.pdf
Speaking of shows that disappeared, St. Elsewhere. Only one season on DVD, nothing on any of the streaming services I can get to. Similar story with Hill Street Blues and LA Law.
I was actually just looking for TDCS on Netflix the other day, because I remembered it fondly and thought it would be something that my son would enjoy. (I'm mid-'40s.) AppleTV has the first season (for a lot of money!) but that's all I could find.
By the way, I also tried out Barney Miller on my son and he liked it, but not to the point of working his way through more than just the first few episodes.
Loved it, miss it, would totally watch again.
From the coma episode:
(In the coma) Mimi: I hope I didn't book too much into your schedule, sir. At two o'clock, you have a threesome; at three o'clock, you have a foursome; and at five o'clock, you have sex with George Clooney. (pause) No one's here to judge you. Drew: Did you ever stop to think I might want to have a nap before I have sex with George Clooney?
I watched it occasionally and enjoyed it when I did, but it wasn't appointment television for me. Like others, I liked some of the big musical numbers. Those were generally high points. At that time, nobody else did things like that, and I remember the network promoting the hell out of them. I should probably check YouTube and see if any are posted.
I remember the great song and dance routines they would sometimes do. Fantastic stuff. Drew is a real smooth dancer for someone who I don't think was ever trained in dancing.
And does anybody remember Kate gracing the cover of the first edition of Maxim (USA)?
(I'm early 40's)
I watched it for all of the seasons it was on and enjoyed most episodes. Marion Ross as Drew's mom was fun (another Mrs. C) and all of the moms (Adrienne Barbeau and June Lockhart) were fun. I think the show started to tank when Kate (Christa Miller) left. Our local TV station ran it at night for a good long while, at least a few cycles through, right through to the finale where Drew marries Kelly (Cynthia Watros). Another great show that ran for more seasons than it should have.
I watched and enjoyed The Drew Carey Show, but I'd much rather Netflix get hold of Night Court
The Drew Carey Show! Only the purveyor of the greatest (and possibly only) comedy moment of American television. Which is posted on this blog everytime that Price Is Right article comes around. Or now.
@Carol: Wizards and Warriors and Warners. Complete. Manufactured on demand.
Can't find Drew on my TV for all the Two and a Half Men reruns. Ally McWho?
47 and I remember it. I never watched it regularly, but if you took it on its own terms, it had some really funny moments. Those musical openings were a hoot, and I think they deserves points for doing something very few shows would attempt.
It's funny you should mention this show, because I recently realized that it's showing again nightly on one of the minor broadcast digital channels here in Chicago (7.3, owned by the local ABC affiliate, and which is our local version of the "LAFF" network several other commenters have mentioned). I too initially wondered why this show had completely disappeared in the ensuing years, which led me to the show's Wikipedia entry and the fascinating history of its later years. Apparently ABC went ahead and renewed the show all the way through season 9 way back at the end of season 5, back when the show was still doing well and ABC was desperate for reliable hits (this was the same general period when the Carey-centric "Whose Line Is It Anyway" first started running on ABC). But then the show's ratings started slipping rapidly beginning in season 6, and the more they did, the more the show's producers got yet more experimental, because they had an ironclad contract that ABC couldn't get out of. This reached such a level of acrimony that ABC literally held the ninth and final season's episodes (in which the cast moves to Guam, and a different set of opening credits were used for each episode) for an entire year unaired, then burned them off in unadvertised chunks on summer nights in 2004, just to be rid of them, the main reason these last four seasons have never been put into syndication or released on DVD.
I remember it better than I probably should. I didn't watch its entire run, but I watched a lot of episodes. It was never a true favorite, mainly because I couldn't stomach the character of Mimi. I'm sure she was a favorite of many, but she was one of those I just couldn't stand ... a dealbreaker for me.
You know what show I'd like to see again. "Newhart". I haven't checked the MeTV schedule, is it showing on that?
I was in my early twenties when the Drew Carey show debuted and loved the first three-four seasons (and enjoyed another couple before jumping ship). I think the stunts and more outrageous plotlines in the later years are what came to define how the show is remembered but the early seasons remain one my favorite runs from any sitcom.
The group dynamic felt a bit like a Cleveland-set bizarro Seinfeld (but not THE bizarro Seinfeld), with a less selfish George is the winner of the gang.
I'm 47 and would definitely watch "The Drew Carey Show" if it streamed on Netflix.
I am still using an antenna to watch TV so KIRO 7.3 in Seattle and KABC 7.3 for you in LA Drew Carey was an inventive show with lots of jokes, remember those?
I'm 36 and I remember the show, but I was never a huge fan. Frankly I have more of a desire to see the old 50s stuff TV Land ran when I was a teenager - The Phil Silvers Show, Car 54, stuff like that which pre-dates me by decades.
As far as shows of my era - I remember "Madman of the People" with Dabney Coleman being really funny, but I haven't seen it since its original run (I was in high school!) so maybe I'm mis-remembering. But I'd love to see that again.
This is more a business comment than a creative quality comment, but the Carey show is similar to Mad About You. I loved the first four seasons of Mad About You, and if I remember correctly, the ratings were good, similar to Carey's. I believe Newhart's ratings were even better.
But from what I can tell, Mad About You and Newhart, like TDCS, bombed in syndication.
Mad About You was in the 10pm slot on Nick at Night or TV Land for a month or so and then yanked. Newhart, most recently started on Antenna TV in prime time and now is on at 1am ET. Hallmark had the Bob Newhart (psychologist) Show on in overnights for several months a few years ago.
I get that it's expensive to launch a DVD series, but I just wish a way could be found to make some of these show that have a limited audience available through downloads. Distribution and packaging costs would seem to be next to none.
It's too bad a music licensing fees. I'd love to see the original WKRP's again with ALL the original music.
Yep, watched it, loved it (I'm 33).
Like your first couple of posters I watched on the UK Channel 4, and probably started watching it because I recognised the faces from the other Channel 4 show "Who's Line is it Anyway?"
I only ever saw this show when it was in syndication after it stopped production. I loved it. I didn't love it enough to make it appointment TV but enough to stop what I was doing and watch anytime I happened upon it. If it were on Netflix, I'd put it on my list of shows to watch front to back.
One other thought: You Tube is a great resource for seeing an episode of an obscure or forgotten series. But sometimes you find that a series didn't age well and is best left in the past. I found an episode of Desilu staple, The Real McCoys and half an episode was enough.
Absolutely remember it. I'm 26 and I always used to watch the Fox rerun block from 4 to 6 when I got home from school. It would air two episodes of The Simpsons, one of Malcolm in the Middle, and one Drew Carey Show. Shame it can't be found anywhere now.
I'm hitting mid 30s and really enjoyed Drew Carey -- and Murphy Brown as well. Have tried to rewatch both -- both have proven difficult to rewatch, sadly :(
In my 40s here and I loved it when it was originally on and have been catching some reruns on the LAFF network as others have mentioned. I either didn't watch or blocked out the last couple of seasons because I have no memory of those episodes when I see them now.
My favorite line from the show (not that you asked) was an episode where Drew won the Batmobile (the Tim Burton version) in a contest and subsequently got it taken away after he was caught having sex in it with his girlfriend in a public park. There was a morals clause in the contract Drew had to sign, prompting Lewis (Ryan Stiles) to say: "Batman has a morals clause? He kept a young boy in a cave!"
I remember it existed, but I never watched it.
Your point about Murphy Brown's topical is a good one. I had no idea how long that show was on the air. A while back, a cable channel was showing episodes to tie in, I think, with the DVD release. My jaw just about hit the floor when I heard a Monica Lewinsky joke. Turns out the show didn't go off the air until 1998. But in my head, Murphy Brown is a 1988-vintage show. The joke felt as jarring and out of place as a Beatles joke on MASH would have been.
I remember The Drew Carey Show. I got into watching it when it was syndicated on Ion back in 2005. I really enjoyed the show.
I still check periodically to see if I can find it on streaming services or local cable channels. I'd absolutely watch it again if I could.
It was really nice to see a show where:
1) the characters lived somewhere other than NYC or LA;
2) the cast didn't all look like they moonlighted as models;
3) the characters weren't rich; and
4) it reflected the tedium and grind of daily life, which I could relate to.
It's kind of a shame that criteria seems to be rarely met these days.
My memories of the Drew Carey Show are positive. I watched it on ABC when I was in grade scool and junior high. Channel 11 in L.A. used to run it in a late night slot as well. Silly and often gimmicky, it was nonetheless very funny. The digital subchannel Laff has finally brought it back.
Looking at it now, I can identify it's singular flaw: the writing was all over the place, particularly in the later seasons. Some episodes dealt with everyday stuff, others would be elaborate set pieces revolving around a gimmick. For contrast, look at "Laughs, Luck, and Lucy," by Jess Oppenheimer, the creator of "I Love Lucy." "Lucy" is seldom thought of as exemplary writing, but Oppenheimer makes it clear that he and the staff wrote the show in a very disciplined, systematic manner. Particularly, he mentions that he would take a final pass at every script, reading and making changes, so as to give the show a consistent style, and says that every show should have its scripts filtered in such manner. This goes a long way towards explaining the show's long-term success.
BIG Fan of the Drew Carey Show - I was in middle school / high school at the time and completely dug the low brow humor combined with smart character writing. Not sure if I'd go out of my way to watch it again, tho
I watched it when it originally aired on ABC. It started slow the first season, but it picked up steam in the second season when Craig Ferguson came on board, and it got really funny. Drew was the every-man who couldn't get ahead at his job no matter what, and Mimi was a perfect foil. The group dynamic with Oswald, Lewis, & Kate was funny & witty (I'm a fan of Diedrich Bader & Ryan Stiles). I enjoyed or at least admired most of the music videos and the "out there" episodes that they tried. Eventually the show ran out of steam (and funny) around late season 5 or early season 6, and the plot lines became more and more ridiculous. I had pretty much given up on it, but when I checked in during the last couple of seasons, it terrible and all but unwatchable.
As for seasons 2-5? I'd watch any of those episodes again.
It was way better than the sitcom Wink Martindale and Bert Convy did before they became game show hosts.
I did like this show. The only celeb I saw in NY was Kathy Kinney. She was doing a promo and came up to me and liked my blouse. Someone in my Oregon hometown saw me on TV with her.
Yeah I remember it and enjoyed it as well. I probably didn't stick around for it's whole run, but I'm sure I tuned in for five, maybe six seasons.
Other long running shows that have seemed to disappear for ever? Some above have mentioned "St. Elsewhere" and "Hill Street Blues", but I guess hour long dramas are a harder sale in syndication than sit-coms. I guess "Murphy Brown's" dated jokes have hurt it's syndicated ability. But what about "3rd Rock From The Sun"? It's humor was mostly broad, with a lot of farce, but what happened to it? Or in the same vein, "Night Court"? And why does METV have just the original "The Bob Newhart Show" but not the follow-up "Newhart"?
This is totally off-topic and I bet a dozen people sent this link your way already, but when I saw today's xkcd baseball-themed strip I just had to post it here somewhere: http://xkcd.com/1593/
Late-40s here and used to watch it fairly frequently in its early going. I remember when the opening theme was "Moon Over Parma" before they did the Presidents of the United States version of "Cleveland Rocks" production number. I still occasionally think of Buzz Beer.
Christa Miller was such a cutie on the show, but totally wrecked her looks with plastic surgery. When she was on Cougar Town, I wouldn't have recognized her by looking at her. (Didn't watch Scrubs.) She didn't look like a plastic surgery disaster, but changed enough to lose her fresh uniqueness. Why do attractive people mess themselves up this way? (Looking at you, Rose McGowan. No, the auto accident doesn't explain it away.)
Who's Line replaced Friends for me. I used to watch Entertainment Tonight and Who's Line followed immediately afterward and because I hadn't flipped the channel, I discovered the show and was blown away by how hysterically funny it could be. Wayne Brady blew up out of there, too.
Most arcane bit: Questionable Impressions (where you have to ask a question while imitating someone) and Colin Mochrie (IIRC) asking, "Got any photos for Craig T. Nelson."
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@benson - "It's too bad a music licensing fees. I'd love to see the original WKRP's again with ALL the original music."
They released a complete series box set with as much of the music as they could get. Some tunes simply aren't available because the artists won't license them at any price and/or they want insanely high amounts. It doesn't make sense to pay $100K for a 15-second cue for some song Johnny is playing when Andy walks into the broadcast studio.
When the first (and only) season of WKRP was released about a decade ago (before the complete box in 2014), I saw some people claiming they'd be willing to pay $100 per season if it got all the music. First, they're lying; second, they're lying; third, there aren't enough people as crazy to buy at that price to make the investment worth it. Shout Factory famously spent over a million dollars to secure the rights to Freaks & Geeks' songs, but I wonder if they recouped on the deal considering it drove the price higher.
I never really watched THE DREW CAREY SHOW, persay, however, I did used to watch WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? quite often when Drew hosted, and I know Ryan Stiles was involved with both shows, in addition to the other Whose Line performers making occasional appearances on Drew's show (mainly those live episodes they did). From what I've read about THE DREW CAREY SHOW, it honestly sounds like a show that was prone to really absurd plots and storylines (but then again, that's a lot of people's complaints about the post-Larry David seasons of SEINFELD), but then again, there's a lot of shows that may sound odd on paper but turn out to be pretty good when you watch them.
I would say that THE DREW CAREY SHOW hasn't completely disappeared, however: the Whose Crew has a tremendous cult following, and I'm sure THE DREW CAREY SHOW is a favorite among said cult following: I have a friend from Parma (which is around Cleveland) who watched and followed both shows - and anything the cast was involved in - religiously. But Ken does have a point, you'd think they'd at least air the show regularly in Cleveland: I mean down here in the south, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW has never been off our screens.
I remember THE DREW CAREY SHOW very well. I was about 13 when it started and watched the first two or three seasons then watched very sporadically thereafter.
As I recall, the tenor of the show changed a lot. Originally, it had been similar OFFICE SPACE in tone, but it progressively became more over the top, and it broke form a lot. There were live, improvised episodes, an episode that recreated THE FULL MONTY, episodes with contests to spot all the things out of place, and an episode with Daffy Duck. As that grew more outrageous, I lost interest, and I think the ratings dropped as well.
I know that later seasons returned to a more natural tone. However, I do vaguely remember seeing an episode from the last season in syndication where Drew had had a heart attack, and his life was flashing before his eyes that reminded me a lot of the time-travel episodes of MORK & MINDY (I may just be thinking of MORK & MINDY, in fact).
My understanding is that the show had been renewed at the peak of its popularity and got a big contractual commitment, which is why it stayed on as long as it did. I think the last two seasons were burned off very quickly over the summer. It was somewhat like what happened with the last season of 'TILL DEATH. It is interesting that the studio didn't make a bigger push to get the show into syndication and online, but music rights will often stop something like that from happening.
A number of shows seem to have ended up in similar situations. There was an email released in the Sony email hack from Paul Reiser trying to get more seasons of MAD ABOUT YOU released on DVD. That show did experience a real decline in quality and popularity in later seasons, but it was still so valuable to NBC that they paid Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt $1 million per episode. ALLY MCBEAL wasn't available for a long time because of music issues (each episode featured covers of a lot of standards), but it seems to be available on YouTube now. I'm not sure what deal was arranged to make that happen. And, the last time that I checked, only the first season of BARNEY MILLER was available on DVD or streaming.
Yes, I remember "The Drew Carey Show." In the beginning, the show was average -- not bad, but not great either. Then came the gimmicks and the bizarre stories in an attempt (I guess) to attract more attention. Still, I wouldn't have called TDCS appointment television. If it was on, and I had nothing else to do or watch, I'd watch. But that's about it. Would I watch again if the entire series were available to me? Probably not.
I definitely remember it (being from Cleveland and all). I was just thinking about it a few days ago for this very reason...no place to watch it!
I think ABC gave them a multi-year pickup late in the series and then it just sort of dropped out of favor. The final season(s?) aired at different time slots and just went out with a whimper.
It seems like somebody somewhere would have some interest in syndication
-Sammy
i remember it being on but never watched it and don't recall Carey ever doing or saying anything funny.
I do vaguely remember it, although I was never a big fan. My suspicion for why it has mostly disappeared is that while it's audience was loyal, it was pretty narrow. In most shows, you can have a group of sad sacks or outcasts, but you also need someone relatable to ground the show. I don't think the show had that. Drew Carey might have been the central character, but not a terribly strong one. Then that narrow audience grows up.
Which is why so many of today's shows, focused so intently on 20 somethings, are here and gone. You are writing to a market that will outgrow you tomorrow, if they are even watching today (in my experience, that age bracket is not home watching tv).
I was at a filming once and learned a lesson that I think the writers of the show did NOT learn. The punch line for a joke was given to a character who, when it was delivered, was not featured on the monitor (which everyone was inexplicably watching instead of the actors not ten feet away from them, but whatever...), Because of that the joke was lost and did not get a big laugh. It was quite good (as I remember), but THE AUDIENCE SIMPLY DID NOT HEAR IT. Ken, you know what happened. All the writers gathered around to come up with a different line. It wasn't as good and did not get a solid response. The writers confabed again and another line was written. This generated an even more tepid response. I think they tried one more and then moved on. I'm convinced that if the original line had been SEEN it would have gotten the laugh it deserved.
Haven't read all the comments, but the show is on the Laff Network and runs 3 or 4 hours/day.
The Drew Carey Show is still on TV. It's being shown on LAFF, one of those digital OTA sub-channels. Matter of fact it seems to be the one show they run non-stop seemingly on an endless loop and, yes, it is shown in Cleveland. Whether it's still being watched, who knows? I'll stop and watch it especially if it's an episode I've never seen before.
Until it's final season I never missed an episode. I thought it was one of the funniest show on at the time, but I was very underwhelmed by the last season. Still a great show, very creative. The ep where they were infiltrating Drugco to get Drew's dog back from Charles Nelson Reilly's character was one the funniest ever. It does seem kind of weird that it's so hard to find.
I definitely remember the show - it was part of a block of some pretty good sitcoms (I think Dharma & Greg were one of them). The show was often hilarious and, as you pointed out, had one of the funniest casts on TV. I would say that possibly all the beer-drinking they did on the show turned syndication folks off, but it never hurt Cheers...heh. ;)
It's too bad it's not around in syndication. It's still funnier than a lot of shows out there.
The Drew Carey Show was unique in that after 7 seasons the network renewed it for 2 more seasons all at once. Then it went down hill. I used to enjoy the show until they introduced the storyline where Drew "accidentally" got married to two different women at the same time and tried to keep each from finding out about the other. Desperately unfunny. Repulsive actually, but apparently they came to believe that anything they did was funny because they were the ones doing it (like the last couple seasons of Moonlighting). I stopped watching it then and just didn't like the character any more and never went back and the ratings, as you pointed out, hit rock bottom as the audience left the show in droves. And going from the star of your own show to game show host isn't exactly a step up.
@Carol -- Anything But Love got its first two seasons released on DVD a few years back (still available). Of course the first "season" was a short spring tryout season with a partially different supporting cast. The set even has a commentary track or two.
@Rock Golf -- I hear you about St. Elsewhere and L.A. Law, but at least all of Hill Street Blues is available in a DVD set. As the ancestor of the serialized multi-arc format we now take for granted in "serious" primetime drama, it *should* be available, so I'm glad it is. (It has a handful of extras for the first season, from when that was issued separately.) It was shown in syndication for a year or so after its network run ended, but like most hourlong dramas that aren't Law & Order, it didn't survive too long in that environment. I have no hope it could happen, but I wish someone would also release the two "Hill Street adjacent" series on DVD too, short-lived though they were: Beverly Hills Buntz and Bay City Blues. As it stands, I'll never see them in their entirety, such as it is.
I remember The Drew Carey Show with affection. I saw it mostly in syndication years ago, and enjoyed spending half an hour with it every day, even as I saw it evolve from the life of the poor working slob to Zany Hijinx. I'd love to catch up with it again.
Its on in the WI market. Just pulled it up on my TiVo looks like seasons 2 - 9 episodes are playing in Milwaukee & Madison markets on NBC's LAFF sub channel. Quite frankly theres a lot of old content on these channels over the air.
Early 30's here. I was vaguely aware it existed, but never watched it. It's one of those shows I haven't thought of... ever.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laff_(TV_network)
Yes, I have the first season dvd and wondered why there was no other sign of this great show.
Music rights again. Grr...greed.
I remember it! I'm 31 and used to watch weekly. Good series. I met Kathy Kinney (Mimi) at a women's conference in 2014 where she was signing a book she authored.
I watched it regularly for the the first five or six years. I LOVED how it had three different theme songs - Moon Over Parma, sung by Drew Carey, in Season 1; Five O'Clock World in season 2; then Cleveland Rocks by the Presidents of the United States from season three on (as far as I know.) I even have a CD of the show's soundtrack, with all three openings. Oh, and I got Five O'Clock World clue correctly when I was on JEOPARDY! in 1998.
That said, it ran out of gas at some point, and I moved on. I might watch it if I were flicking through the stations, but I have no burning need to see it again. (I'm 62)
Oh, and Kate Walsh hasn't been on on Grey's Anatomy in years, and the spinoff, the terrible Private Practice, ended a couple years back.
I'm 30. Fond memories of watching this being 10 or 12 years old and not getting it but loving it anyway (getting to watch Christa Miller sure didn't hurt either) then watching again as reruns as I got a little older and really laughing hard. Pretty funny show. And a killer theme song.
Another one I feel is an overlooked gem: 3rd Rock From the Sun.
I'm 31. I loved The Drew Carey Show and watched it religiously in its heyday. My viewership did fall off towards the end but I have very fond memories of the show. It still holds the gold standard in backyard setups: your own beer in the garage and an all-weather pool table. I've been chasing that dream for years.
I haven't seen an episode in ages but thinking on it now, there are a few jokes they made that I think about twice a month and crack up:
- Drew saying that his body was a "human orchestra" when he slept.
- Drew's brother (John Carroll Lynch) said that he when he was young he had hair like James Taylor. Drew's response was, "you still do."
Now I really wanna revisit it! Off to start a petition...
-Kurtis
'
I miss Head of the Class from the late 80's. I grew up with that show and got so much enjoyment out of it. It's disappeared without a trace, AFAICT.
I watched a HILL STREET a few years ago when it popped up on some cable channel, and because the show was so serialized it was like reading a middle chapter of a novel. The storylines were all in progress at the beginning and didn't resolve at the end. So unless you watch the series in its entirety it's kind of pointless. Same thing with ST. ELSEWHERE, LOST, and any number of serialized shows.
I definitely enjoyed the Drew Carey Show back in the day. I'm an old fogey at 41, though. These young whippersnappers with their cellular phones and iwhatsits would rather watch Dog with a Blog, I guess.
I agree with the general consensus that the show definitely went down in quality in the later seasons, but there was plenty of good stuff to justify keeping it around in some form.
Also, that whole "music rights" thing totally sucks. And it's a shame to see it crop up in such a relatively recent show. You'd think that by then they'd at least be considering VHS releases of the show.
Ah, forgotten shows.
I stumbled into "Caroline in the City" midway through its run when a female friend kept talking it up. For a show whose pitch must have been "The 'Cathy' comic strip without paying for it", it was surprisingly appealing, largely on the strength of two extemely appealing female leads. The series finale was almost a series a blackouts; it looked like they expected one more complete season and whipped through planned story arcs in twenty-odd minutes. It seems to have vanished.
"Thirtysomething" was the watercooler show of its day, and I enjoyed a lot of it. I drifted away from it at some point (a lot of my evenings went into community theater in those years) and didn't notice when it was cancelled. Lifetime made a big deal of reruns, adding intros by cast members, but that too faded from sight.
Perhaps the most improbable of the semi-lost is "Walt Disney's World of Color" (AKA "Disneyland", "Walt Disney Presents" and "World of Disney"). It SEEMS like it's still around, because individual episodes crop up in various forms (on DVD and lately on TCM's Disney nights), and a lot of the show was converted from or to theatrical releases that are out there. But after 60 Minutes finally killed it on Sunday nights it was over, aside from a last gasp on CBS. I recall spotting the old show in syndication just once, but it wasn't the same on a Saturday afternoon packed with low-rent commercials. Early in the Eisner era there was a glitzy revival in a two-hour movie format, but the original hour episodes were thereafter banished to a greatly-missed late night spot on the Disney Channel , where it ran alongside Zorro and the Mickey Mouse Club.
I'm wondering what happens when "South Park" finally retires (my guess is only when the original creators say enough). While a lot of it is still funny and sharp years after the fact, there's still the fact that it's all about very current events.
Wow! Amazing the posts that brings people out. The comments section of this blog has been in low gear for weeks, and a post about "The Drew Carey Show" causes a flood.
"The Drew Carey Show" is one of those I'll watch if I'm flipping channels and run across it, but it's not a series I ever seek out.
The problem with getting the rest of both "Drew Carey" and "Murphy Brown" out on DVD is that neither series sold well enough in its first season for Warner Home Video to feel like they'd ever be able to recoup the expense of the music clearances.
Something about music clearances: it's generally the publishers who get blamed for being the greedy bastards who are causing all the problems, and in some cases, that's true. The other side of the situation, though, is that often, it's not that a song can't be cleared, it's that the video company just won't pay what's being asked, and that's not always because the music publisher is asking a fortune. A series being prepped for video release has a budget for music clearances--a budget that isn't always extremely high--and when that budget is gone, it's gone. Sometimes you have to pick and choose. This piece of music is important enough to pay for, but if we pay for that one, we won't be able to afford this other one. Video companies don't like to present the situation that way because it makes them look bad. They'd prefer you to believe that they'd be willing to pay almost anything to clear every piece of music in a series, but these gangsters called music publishers are thwarting them by asking the moon for rights to a couple of songs. And in some cases, that's true. More often, the video companies just don't want to spend the money. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of greed on both sides. The video companies are just very concerned that you think of them as the victims in this situation, and not as one of the causes of it.
Sure, I used to watch the Drew Cary show. (I was in my 30's then). I liked the the "Cleveland Rocks" and the "Five O'clock World" song and dance bits.
The show was OK, and I would watch on Netflix streaming if they had it.
Loved the show. Thought Christa Miller was very pretty and later learned that she is the niece of Susan St. James. BTW, "Newhart" is on every day on Antenna TV.
I loved the show for a few seasons then it (as often happens with sitcoms) it changed. It wasn't funny anymore and it wasn't the same show anymore. This happened with Community.
How did "Alice" (nine seasons, many of them in the top 10) fall off the face of the earth? While the first four seasons are on DVD, it doesn't air in reruns anywhere and never even made it to TV Land or Nick at Nite in their heyday.
It is in near constant syndication here in the netherlands. On nearly as often as Friends.
The digital subchannel Laff has it on their regular schedule.
But yes, for a very long time, it just disappeared from the TV landscape.
The premise - working HR in a department store - seems dated today, but I still catch it on LAFF and laugh. Drew was always creative - especially with music numbers, and for a husky guy (then) he could move. In addition to being the niece of Susan St. James, Christa Miller is married to Bill Lawrence, creator of SCRUBS, and appeared in it. Great that so many people responded favorably to Drew Carey.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 79 COMMENTS ABOUT THE DREW CAREY SHOW? I have been reading this blog daily for almost 2 years, and I can count on one hand the number of times there has been a subject so interesting that it got anywhere near that many comments. AND THE DREW CAREY SHOW IS ONE OF THEM? I give up; the universe cannot be understood.
I liked the show, and loved the musical numbers, but………I just don't know what to say.
Off-topic, but here's a new Friday question:
Occasionally on AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, Tom Bergeron will playfully mention he can make all the references and mentions to Mickey Mouse and related characters he wants without getting in trouble as both properties are owned by Disney. I've also noticed from time to time GREEN ACRES would mention/acknowledge other CBS shows of the time like THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (a given, Paul Henning was involved with both shows), GOMER PYLE, and HOGAN'S HEROES. And yet another example being THE MUNSTERS referencing LEAVE IT TO BEAVER (from the same creators). Can a show actually get into legal trouble for mentioning another show or associated characters from a rival network or studio?
I'm 36 years old and I loved The Drew Carey Show. I do have the dvd of season one and hope one day they get all the music rights b.s. sorted out so they can do a full series set or at least put it on Netflix.
I'm 49 and remember the show rather fondly. They did numerous episodes just to shake things up, like episodes with numerous intentional mistakes, and other gimmicks that once they'd built up enough goodwill with their audience, they could easily get away with.
ABC did renew the show prematurely, and from what I recall of the final season, Carey and the crew knew that ABC wasn't going to air the shows when anyone would see them, so they just went balls to the wall crazy and experimental. This may be apocryphal, but I also seem to remember a story where ABC offered to buy out Carey from the final season but he insisted they get paid in full and produce all of the contracted episodes so that their crew would keep their jobs. If that's true then Carey really is one of the good guys.
And to the commenter above who said that Carey going from sitcom star to game show host was a step down: I'm rather sure Carey is making 8 figures a year for what is pretty much two days of work a week for 42 weeks, and it's not exactly a stressful job. If that's a step down, then I'll take a demotion like that any day.
I prefer to think of it as "The Christa Miller Show," but yes.
THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN is now on Netflix (several people mentioned it, not that I have slogged through 85 COMMENTS yet).
Hey, here's a Friday Question for you: it's reported that the creator of Gilmore Girls is going to bring back those characters in four 90-minute programs for Netflix, which iis sure to make fans of the denizens of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, happy. How difficult, though, is it for a writer or writers to extrapolate the story arcs of characters if they revisit them years after their network finales?
I remember and liked the show when I saw it. A friend from Cleveland loved it. Highlights I remember were the coma sequence, the Brotherhood of Man, and some other things. I really like the actress who played Mimi, whom I first saw in the movie PARTING GLANCES as an earth mother type. Because Mimi was so different, I always respected how good she was.
wg
....The Drew Carey show was very funny, and viewers enjoyed his success for the first couple of years. But the show ran out of steam early, and relied too much on Drew's unique success, rather than solid comedy. Shows such as M.A.S.H, Cheers & Frasier are excellent vehicles for rolling plot-lines and fixed, temporary or re-occurring characters. Those elements, along with excellent writing and comedic timing, make those shows classics. Drew Carey's show was not one of those.
RJ O'Guillory
....any suggestions for finding a single, or couple of down-on-their-luck, drug-addicted or drunken screenwriters who need a personal shot at a redemptive opportunity...and still have a spark of creativity that may be capable of producing an award-winning, redemptive screenplay for a brain-damaged author? I wrote a memoir, I have people interested in financing it for a film, but they want to see a screenplay. However, after I retired from US DoD in 2010, I was diagnosed as being epileptic, and suffering from hundreds of unobserved seizures throughout my life. Then, while in a post-seizure-fugue-state, I drove off a 200 foot cliff at 70mph...and was tossed a couple hundred feet across the cliff...breaking my back, neck ribs, tailbone and ripping a 19 staple gash in my brain. So my memory is not great, damaged really... as are many of my cognitive abilities from time to time after a series of seizures. But I'm told that my memoir has 4-6 hours of ..."film-ready"...material, so I need to find someone who wishes to partner. Any suggestions?
RJ O'Guillory
Author- Webster Groves
I've seen it from time to time on Laff TV. They also air Ellen, Spin City, Grace Under Fire, Bernie Mac, and Empty Nest... all shows that haven't had strong lives in syndication but are seen from time to time.
A couple shows that I am DYING to see on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, DVD, or a cable network are all shows that I wonder if I'll ever see again with music rights issues: American Dreams (seasons 2 & 3), Homefront, Brooklyn Bridge, and I'll Fly Away. Those are without question my top 4 on a wishlist. It's amazing how some random junk can easily be seen but these stellar, well-written shows are impossible to find.
Just saw that Instant Mom has been cancelled!!! Damn! Really enjoyed it!
I was particularly taken with Katy Selverstone, who played his girl friend on the first season--very pretty and whip-smart funny. Really thought she was gonna go places, but sadly, no.
I remember The Drew Carey Show very well. As a lot of your readers have commented, I loved the first few seasons. Great cast with terrific and original writing. As the years went by the show changed and it was almost like the show's creators were daring the studios to cancel it. The stories became absurd and Drew Carey seemed to sleep walk through it half the time. I remember being real disappointed. It seemed the minute they made any money, they just started phoning it in.
Aloha
Fuck. I'm not going to read 94 comments. I watched 'The Drew Carey Show, and enjoyed it. I had a friend who taped it. It was entertaining and fun. Hard to believe that the complete set isn't on DVD.
Unnecessary swearing, Blair. Class it up.
@tavm: ’Newhart’ (the inn one) is aired on the digital Antenna TV channel.
@Richard John Marcej: 2 episodes of ’Hill Street’ is shown nightly starting at 8pm Central time on one of the Me-TV channels, followed by 2 episodes of ’NYPD Blue’.
I liked that show. I would buy it on DVD, but like Northern Exposure, they would
probably change all the music because of licensing rules.
I don't get why NBC still hangs on to "Undateable" in it's first run it was dubbed "unwatchable" it has a typical formula, but it's not funny and in an attempt to save it, it's running it's episodes live this season. Why?
I don't give a damn about "The Drew Carey Show." I just wanted to be the one to push this post to over a hundred comments
@Danny: You failed. This is the 101st Screaming Eagle.
Well, nice going, dude. Take away my one little accomplishment for the day.
And let's not forget thar Caroline Rhea played Drew's love interest early on before mutating into Sabrina's witchy but funny Aunt Hilda.
Yes, I remember it. Yes, I'd love to see it stripped at 11PM weeknights (which IIRC it once was, maybe 6 years ago).
I'm hoping there's a follow-up to this re why you're asking. Like... Was this something you and some writer-buddies were discussing?
Last time I remember seeing reruns of "The Drew Carey Show" around here was a few years back on one of our independents. They'd dumped it to early afternoons, when pretty much no one with a job was going to be around to see it.
Ok, I'll bite. I grew up about 20 blocks away from the general area that the show was located ( in Parma HEIGHTS, don'tcha know....as you will see, the distinction is important :+). It was amazing how true-to-life the show was....a quasi-real representation of life in Parma. Many of the shows were based in incidents that had taken place in Parma....just one example is the pool table in the backyard....I knew of at least 3 in the larger neighborhood, 2 of which were stolen.....and they also used quite a few Parma-based suburban myths, especially in the bar chatter and plot-lines.
Carey grew up in east-side Cleveland, while Parma is located south-west of town. What most folks aren't aware of is that Parma had been the butt of inter-Cleveland humour for about 20 years (yes, whereas Cleveland has been the butt of many jokes, Parma was the butt of the butt), which I'm sure had something to do with the choice of Parma as the gang's home base.
He had also watched an Ernie Kovacs-inspired late-night horror flick host by the name of Ghoulardi, whose schtick was as proto-beatnik-hippy, complete with goatee, wild hair and a button-loaded lab coat outfit; intimation of pot and alcohol use; blew things up on-air; placed himself IN the movies while they were running; and who UNmercilessly berated Parma (Parma was predominantly Polish, so the joke there was The Keilbasa Kid, a warped Lone Ranger-type who rode his horse backwards, and carried 10" sausages as guns in a holster.) Here's a taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U41MxzxvPNA
To put it bluntly (get it?), we ate this shit up.....and so did Carey and at least two of his producers. (Ghoulardi was Ernie Anderson, who moved to LA, temporarily lived with an earlier comedy partner Tim Conway, and became the "voice" of Chevrolet commercials, which then led to hearing him EVERYwhere on national tv....but the funny was gone by then.....dammitt!)
Lastly, Cleveland really did rock back then. From about the late 1950s through the early 70s, Clevelanders bought more records than any other city in the world on a per-capita basis (yep, even more than NYC, LA or London). This then led to many groups from overseas having their 1st North American appearances in Cleveland because of an almost guaranteed sell-out and positive critical reaction (ex.=The Dave Clark Five, The Who, David Bowie). Admittedly, it was also a good place to open the tour away from the NYC/LA media spotlight, work out the kinks (literally), and then hit the big time. It was a hard-workin', hard-partying kind of town.....which was all reflected in the series.
So much of what you saw wasn't too far from the truth. We got away with so much shit.....which today would have ruined lives and shamed families. Good times!
(And I apologize for not remembering the exact date/reference, but on a local Cleveland tv interview shortly after the show ended, Drew made it quite clear that he wasn't hell-bent on pushing for DVD releases, or even syndication. I'm pretty sure he was worried about being type-casted....also remember he had some personal difficulties in the years before game show host became a possibility, so he sounded a bit lost in the interview. I personally was hoping that he would return to stand-up, but he's the multi-millionaire and I'm not, so up mine ;^)
(Also just slightly humorous that spell check says Parma is misspealt EVERY time I've typed it in this comment.....suburb just can't get a break!)
i'm 33 and i remember it. i used to watch it every day in high school, both in syndication and the new eps on abc. it was very popular among my age group, especially because of its cast member overlaps with the hilarious whose line is it anyway, also on abc. i owned the soundtrack and listened to it a million times. and i thought it was still on tv today. i feel like it's been less than a year since i last caught a rerun on tv. you'd think there would still be interest given whatever following drew carey must be cultivating as the host of the price is right.
i think the drew carey show's downfall came from big changes in the last two seasons, most of which were probably motivated by plummeting ratings. christa miller left the show and they brought in cynthia watros. the familiar department store where drew worked closed down and drew started working for the online retailer that took its place. the directors experimented with single camera setups. and every week, the theme song would be a new cover of one of the show's previous three theme songs (5 o'clock world, moon over parma, and cleveland rocks). i think this was too much change for a show so well-worn, but i respect their willingness to experiment. it was always an innovative show, never afraid of spectacle, frequently doing elaborate musical numbers and wacky live episodes.
apparently, abc renewed the show through season 9 right before they started airing season 7, and the ratings tanked immediately after that, and abc had no choice but to keep airing it for the next three years. if i recall correctly, they burned off the last season two at a time in the summer of '04. i remember watching it and thinking "it's still funny."
I remember that when The Drew Carey Show first came out, it was dismissed by many critics as a “Blue-Collar Seinfeld”.
I enjoyed the first few seasons, but they seemed to be intent on not letting Drew’s character be happy. He mooned over the Katy Selverstone character, and she liked him, but they couldn’t date because she worked in the store where he was in the HR department. Then he got promoted and was allowed to date her, but then he dumped her after a few episodes (for no discernible reason).
I thought they really missed a bet not doing a Dilbert show or movie during that time period with Drew as Dilbert. Danny DiVito would have be perfect as the pointy-haired boss, and I could see someone like Kathy Griffin as the female character in the strip. Oh well, too late now.
I watched it faithfully and remember it fondly. I still wish I could find Buzz Beer.
Loved the show! My understanding is that the show was unable to get music clearances, and so no DVD releases past the first season, and not much in the way of syndication.
I was a big fan when it first aired (I'm 53). But apparently like most of the viewers, I lost track during the last couple of seasons. Few shows can hold me through their entire run.
@Danny: You took it to 100. You're the Ton-Up Kid.
I always thought the short-lived "George Carlin Show" on Fox was more of a blue-collar "Seinfeld" than Drew's series was.
Hank: IIRC, Selverstone was dumped because they thought that Drew having a hot girl friend went against the character, and that he'd be more believable as a single guy looking for women and/or just hanging with his pals.
As a Northeast Ohio resident, I always had a fondness for Carey and the show. It would sometimes have nods to Cleveland, like a cameo by hometown rock star Michael Stanley. (Very big up here, destined for the cut-out bins everywhere else.) It once used ex-Browns owner Art Modell's name as a verb, not in a flattering way. And its first theme song "Moon over Parma" was from the local late-night bad-movie show Big Chuck and Little John.
When the Browns returned in 1999, Carey introduced the team before it came on the field. They lost that game to the Steelers by about 87-0. Not that I'm blaming him...
29 year old here, own 3 seasons of Barney Miller on DVD. We are out there!
I don't know why anyone would imagine that Cleveland stations would run a show that made the city look bad as often as it celebrated it... and didn't celebrate it terribly well. "Oh, hey-- here's Bernie Kosar!!!!! Wow, man, it's Joe Walsh!!!!!" Let's have a mention of the Indians.
It always struck me as the sort of grafted-on "Canadian Content" that CTV would mandate. Had Drew Carey been from Indianapolis, Albany or Pittsburgh, you could have cut and pasted some new stuff.
It was a little better than Hot In Cleveland or Howard The Duck, but not anything to write home about.
Clevelanders come in two forms. One are the people who've lived in the city most/all of their lives, are scarred from the job Jack Hanrahan did on the city during Laugh-In and are hypersensitive to anything resembling a punchline and desperate for approval. (This is how a poor city gives $100 million of tax money to a Hall of Fame that doesn't even hold its inductions here.) Those sorts tended to wuv the show wif all their wittle hearts.
The other type are the people who got out, have lived elsewhere, grok both the the city's strengths and its weaknesses and find it odd that it gets mentioned so often when it's not all that remarkable a place.
It's a backwater, but the Internet lets me work anywhere, so why not here? I live in a home built 100 years ago by a nationally-known architect. 3,200 square feet on 1.5 acres of land for $225,000. I can commute from the edge of the county to downtown in 25 minutes. We don't have drought, earthquakes or hurricanes; oodles of farmers grow all sorts of good produc that can be used to make great meals. (None of which were ever served at "Parma Pierogies.")
BTW, if you want to talk about shows that dropped off the face of the earth, that would be KATE & ALLIE. 3 Emmy wins, 12 nominations (against very tough competition), crew includes names like Bill Persky, Mort Lachmann, Saul Turtletaub, Bernie Orenstein and less immortal names, such as Anne Flett-Giordano and Chuck Ranberg.
Two years on WE, one on RTN and if you want it on DVD, you have to go to Canada, eh?
update to my earlier post: the drew carey show is still on in syndication. on the abc affiliate laff. on primetime.
I love "The Drew Carey Show". I grew up watching it and am fond of it. The show wasn't your usual show, and got more absurd and quirky as it went on. I am been wondering for years why it isn't anywhere. I heard it had something to do with music rights. It's vanished from syndication, or even YouTube.
Just saw a post somewhere about how Petticoat Junction has been forgotten despite having been such a huge hit. I watched it in reruns as a kid (and was baffled by the changing cast) but never realized just how big a hit it originally was.
To DrBop: The show was never set in or centered around Parma. Drew's TV house was in his real life neighborhood, Old Brooklyn, which is also where the Warsaw was, now Murphy's Law (Memphis near Fulton - see Drew Carey Show mural as evidence).
Signed, Parma Native - Old Brooklyn Resident
I'm in my mid-thirties and I loved the show. Like many others, I've been enjoying its appearance on the LAFF network, but I wish I could just pull it up on Netflix.
I liked the experimental episodes, but the magic departed with Kate. And the last few seasons, my local station was airing it around 2:30am on Saturdays. I never had a chance. This was in Iowa, which was perfect for the show, so I'm kind of surprised.
Oh, well. Maybe in the future, the music rights will be resolved. It's kind of ridiculous, given how "free" music is these days, that the rights' holders would be so begrudging.
Why would you wanna watch St elsewhere the series ends with you finding out the entire show was an autistic kids imagination!! Worst ending ever!!
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