The Drew Carey Show

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The Drew Carey Show

The Drew Carey Show Cast
Genre Sitcom
Running time 22 Minutes
Creator(s) Drew Carey
Bruce Helford
Starring Drew Carey
Ryan Stiles
Diedrich Bader
Christa Miller
(1995–2002)
Kevin Pollak
(1995–1996)
Kathy Kinney
Craig Ferguson
(1996–2003)
John Carroll Lynch
(1998–2003)
Cynthia Watros
(2002–2004)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel ABC
Original run September 13, 1995–September 8, 2004
No. of episodes 233
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Drew Carey Show was a long-running American sitcom (set in Cleveland, Ohio) and known for its "everyman" characters and themes. It starred Drew Carey, Diedrich Bader, Kathy Kinney, Craig Ferguson, Ryan Stiles, and Christa Miller. The show debuted on the ABC network on September 13, 1995, and was highly-rated for three years before sliding in popularity. Because the network had few hits on the schedule in 2001, it renewed the show for two additional seasons. However, the show further sank in ratings the following season. The last two episodes, including the series finale, both aired on September 8, 2004. In the United States and Canada, re-runs can be seen on cable network TBS. The show was produced by Mohawk Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Contents

[edit] Cast and characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Drew Allison Carey (Drew Carey) - The protagonist, a perpetual "nice guy." For most of the series, he works in the human resources department of Winfred-Louder, a multinational department store chain. He's portrayed as a lovable loser, though he's the most successful of his group of friends. Drew is the founder and co-owner of Buzz Beer, a special coffee-containing brew. He has a long-standing feud with Mimi Bobeck; his pranks have included destroying her clothes, shredding her vacation requests, and masquerading as Antonio Banderas to taunt her.

Lewis Michelangelo Kiniski (Ryan Stiles) - Forms a double-act with Oswald. Lewis, who is tall, lanky, and blonde, is in his forties and can be counted on to nonchalantly say bizarre and offensive things. He possesses an IQ of 180 but works as a janitor for a company called DrugCo. Due to accidentally releasing a virus into the population, he was busted down to janitor from a position that required him to wear a lab coat. It's uncertain if he was a scientist or lab assistant, though it's possible he was joking. At one point, he posed as Drew to take his physical exam for him, inadvertently taking a psychiatric exam as well. The results showed him to be mentally unstable and possibly criminally insane.

Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader) - Lewis's slightly shorter, dark-haired friend is the dumb one of the double-act, which tends to be his most distinguishing characteristic. Lewis described him once as a "man-child stuck in a state of prolonged adolescence." At one point Oswald trained to be a nurse, but he proved unsuitable. Oswald was a deejay at the beginning of the first season but later on became a delivery driver for Global Parcel (a fictional package-delivery service). His name is a play on Lee Harvey Oswald. In the episode Bus-ted, it is revealed that Oswald joined the group of friends to replace Adam, a childhood friend who fell through the ice on a lake.

Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller) - Friends with Drew, Lewis, and Oswald since they were kids. Kate is a bit of a tomboy and a hothead. She and Oswald almost got married at one point, but she called it off just after Oswald threw her a surprise wedding (essentially leaving Oswald at the altar). Kate later found out about Drew's long-standing crush on her at their high school reunion, and she realized that she had feelings for him too. They dated for a season (even becoming engaged) but broke up when they disagreed about having kids. Drew and Kate were married for a short time in a later season, although this was illegal, as Drew had just become married to his old girlfriend, Nicki. Eventually, Drew's sham was discovered and Kate felt betrayed. Drew eventually regained Kate's trust and they became friends again. Kate left at the beginning of the eighth season, marrying a Marine and moving from Cleveland to Guam.

Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney) - Mr. Bell's, and then later Mr. Wick's, assistant/secretary. She is an overweight woman who wears a lot of make-up, but has very high self-esteem. Mimi is Drew's arch-nemesis; she vowed to make Drew's life a living hell after Drew denied her a job based on her makeup. Mimi's pranks have included gluing Drew's hand to a pornographic magazine, covering Drew's desk with garbage, and eventually sending Drew to China. Her character can be seen as an attack on societal norms of beauty, much as the main character of Rosalie Goes Shopping is. Mimi's past has a lot of connections to the world of music; she often talks about being a roadie for Foghat and was married to Eddie Money for two weeks after appearing at his first concert. Additionally, she admits to sleeping with both Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton. Frampton still carries a torch for Mimi; he has a tattoo of her likeness on his chest. Later on, Mimi becomes more of a friend to Drew (they agree to put their feud on hold while Mimi dates/marries Steve) and a good, if unconventional, mother to Gus. Early in the series, it was revealed that Mimi was of Polish ancestry, and inherited the title of Duchess of Kraków after her aunt died. However, the episode with this content received a great deal of complaint from the Polish community, and all mention of Mimi's heritage has been removed from the show (with alternative footage placed over these bits in syndication).

Nigel Algernon Wick (Craig Ferguson) - Drew's boss after the first season, replacing Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak). British, crude, boisterous and offensive, he was also a cocaine addict before he was forced to go into rehab. For some time, he and Drew were in a homosexual marriage (technically a civil union) in order for Mr. Wick to get his Green Card and Drew to get his job back. When he first appeared on stage in guest episodes in the last two seasons he was greeted with thunderous applause. Wick always had unusual methods of firing employees (and always fired someone named Johnson). He is almost always referred to as "Mr. Wick," and his first name is rarely used. In the show's first April Fools episode, Mr. Wick was shot in the crotch with a crossbow and had to have one of his testicles removed (a gag that was referred to for the rest of the series). Wick also lost a toe and a nipple in a fox hunt that went terribly wrong.

Steve Carey (John Carrol Lynch) - Drew's cross-dressing brother. He came to Cleveland and got a job in the cosmetics department at Winfred-Louder. He fell in love with Mimi and after several seasons of dating they married. In later seasons the concept of Steve being a cross-dresser is abandoned entirely with little explanation (though it is hinted that he gave it up to make Mimi happy). He left, along with Kate and Wick, early in the eighth season.

Kellie Newmark (Cynthia Watros) - Drew's gorgeous high school friend. She has had a crush on Drew since high school but never told him. She was married but her husband cheated on her with her sister. Her mother is an alcoholic and leaves her father, eventually hooking up with Lewis. After Kate leaves, Drew realizes that he loves Kellie. Drew is afraid to tell Kellie because it may ruin their friendship like it did with Kate. After Lily leaves Drew, they confess their feelings for each other. When Kellie comes out while Drew is talking to his dad and asks Drew what they are going to do about their feelings for each other, Drew's dad falls off the roof and dies. Eventually during the beginning stage of their relationship Kellie finds out she is pregnant with Drew Jr. but won't marry Drew because she doesn't think he is ready for marriage. During the finale she decides Drew is ready. But her water breaks and she and Drew get married right when the baby is born.

[edit] Drew's marriages

Much of the show's humor revolved around Drew's single life. However, Drew was married a number of times during the shows' run. His series-spouses include:

  • Diane (Nicole Sullivan) - A cocktail waitress Drew met on a business trip to Las Vegas. She tricked Drew into marrying her because she believed having a husband would give her an edge in winning custody of her children. Drew agreed to help her with the social workers, and they divorced a week later.
  • Mr. Wick - Drew's boss for the majority of the series, desperately wanted a spouse when his visa expired and he was threatened with deportation. He bribed Drew with a promotion and several benefits to get Drew to marry him in Vermont (technically, this is considered a civil union and not a wedding). They stayed married for just over a year to throw off any suspicion from the INS. Drew kicked Mr. Wick out of his house once Wick became too "clingy" with Drew's friends and life. Incidentally, in real life the INS does not recognize civil unions from any state nor same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts for purposes of granting legal immigration status to foreign spouses of gay/lesbian Americans. In fact, the federal government is prohibited from recognizing same-sex marriages for all purposes as legislated in the Defense of Marriage Act.
  • Nicki - A real estate agent whom Drew dated and became engaged to; she dumped him after gaining a large amount of weight while they were dating (and, in her own words, "couldn't be with a man who would tempt [her] to eat"). She lost the weight, got married and came back to Drew after her divorce (when Drew had just left a mental institution). Drew asked her to marry him on an impulse, and she agreed. Unfortunately, Drew also got married to Kate soon after (thus becoming a bigamist) and she left him. Nicki returned later, having regained all her previous weight, and attempted to kill Drew because she blamed him for all the recent problems in her life. Drew let Nicki stay at his house until she could get back on her feet, after which she was never seen or heard from again.
  • Kate - The love of Drew's life and his best friend since childhood, Drew and Kate first broke off their engagement after a disagreement about having kids. After Drew's stint in the mental hospital, Kate realized that she still loved Drew and asked him to marry her. Drew agreed (despite having recently married Nicki and still being married to Mr. Wick) and kept both his marriages a secret for a time. Both wives discovered the situation, and Kate, furious, dumped Drew and told the newspapers about the situation; Drew became known as "The Impotent Bisexual Bigamist."
  • Lily - A Southern belle who met Drew after Oswald and Lewis started a campaign to find him a wife. Drew brought Lily to Cleveland and attempted to establish a relationship with her, but found it difficult to deal with Lily's night terrors. Drew ended up proposing to Lily on three different occasions: once in his house, another in a movie theater, and finally, back at his home again. After Drew tore up all of his pre-determined wedding plan receipts, Lily agreed to marry him. Lily left Drew after the wedding, driving off without him after giving Drew his ring back. At the reception, Drew and Kellie expressed their hidden love for each other and began their relationship, which would also lead to Drew's final marriage.
  • Kellie - Drew's childhood friend who was introduced in the eighth season. Drew went to a strip club and discovered that Kellie was working as a stripper to support herself after her divorce from her husband. Drew takes her into his house and their friendship buds. They were both reluctant to confess their feelings for another, but they became a couple after Drew & Lily's wedding. Kellie soon becomes pregnant, but refuses to marry Drew for another eight months. On their wedding day and the series finale, Kellie gave birth to Drew Jr.

[edit] Other characters

King Augustus Antonio Carey - "King Gus," Steve and Mimi's son (and Drew's nephew). Before he was born, he saved Mimi from being fired by Drew in the episode "Drew Pops Something On Kate". Just as Drew is about to fire Mimi, Gus kicks while in the womb for the first time, and Drew has compassion for Mimi, preventing her from getting fired. He was born while Drew was in a coma, and his spirit (voiced by Jon Polito) met Drew up in Heaven before being born.

After hearing Drew make jokes about how horrible Mimi was, Gus was afraid to be born. Drew convinced him that Mimi would be a good mother by going back down to Earth and spending time in the baby's body. Drew told this story to the others after coming out of his coma, but nobody believed him. Gus was an infant for most of his time on the show, but received an age boost (putting him somewhere between 5 and 6 years old) for the final season. He burns down his house with a wood-burning kit that Drew gives him as a gift. Since Mimi and Gus had nowhere to live, Drew offers his home to them, and they stay there almost until the end of the show.

Gerald Bell (Kevin Pollak) - Drew's boss for the show's first season. The interesting thing about Mr. Bell was that he was never seen. We only heard his voice on Drew's speakerphone, despite the fact that Drew had his desk very close to Mr. Bell's office. Little was known about him, but he did not come across as a nice person. He seemed sexist and self-centered and had an office romance with a staff member (unlike Drew's romance with Lisa, Bell was only after the sex). In the last episode of the first season, Mr. Bell finally appeared on camera as he was seen leaving his office after getting fired from the store.

[edit] Eras

The Drew Carey Show ran for nine years. Like many shows with long runs, the show's run can be broken down into several generally agreed-upon "eras."

[edit] "Moon Over Parma"/Chemistry Titles Era (1995–1996)

The first season of The Drew Carey Show was significantly different from the rest of the series. Drew and Mimi worked under Mr. Bell, who existed only as a voice on Drew's speakerphone. Other characters that appeared exclusively in this era were Drew's hillbilly neighbor, Jules, and his family. Drew's first girlfriend, Lisa, was introduced in this season, and she remained with the cast until the early episodes of the second season. Many of the episode titles were related to chemistry in some way. No explanation for this was ever given, and the tradition was abandoned at the end of the season. Buzz Beer, beer that had caffeine and tasted like coffee, was invented by the main characters in the last episode of the first season. The concept stayed with the series until the very end.

[edit] Wick Era (1996–2002)

The second season was notably different from the first. The opening theme, "Moon Over Parma," was replaced by "Five O'Clock World" by The Vogues, which itself was later replaced with "Cleveland Rocks," a cover by The Presidents of the United States of America of an Ian Hunter song. This also introduced the concept of the music video-like opening as the cast danced and sang around the various sets of the show. In the first episode, Mr. Bell was fired, and in the second episode he was replaced by Nigel Wick.

Lisa and Drew moved in together early in the second season, but it didn't work out. However, this allowed the introduction of Speedy, Drew's dog, whose presence remained until the end of the series. Steve, Drew's cross-dressing brother, was introduced during this period. He eventually fell in love with Mimi and they had one child, Gus.

Drew was promoted several times, taking away Wick's job. However, Wick always managed to return and take Drew's job back from him. At the end of this era, Wick and Drew were co-managers of the Winfred-Louder department store. Drew was also fired once, but got his job back by "marrying" Wick in Vermont, allowing him to get his green card. This was also the era in which series regular Kate and Drew got romantically involved. They were on the verge of getting married, but they called it off when they realized they didn't feel the same about the prospect of children.

This era of the show is generally considered to be the show's best era, and the most recognizable. This era of the show was also known for its special events episodes. Virtually every season had two such episodes: "What's Wrong With This Episode?" and "Drew Live". The first contained a large number of deliberate mistakes; the person who could compile the largest list and phone it in would win a prize. The second was a live show that was recorded four times, one for each time zone, heavily featuring cast members from "Whose Line is it Anyway?" because of their improvisational skill. There was also the season 5 finale "A Very Special Drew", in which the cast indulged in manipulative and syrupy melodrama in an attempt to get an Emmy nomination.

By far the most extreme was the Drew Carey's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour which was shown a few weeks before the first episode of the 2001 season. The show was a series of sketches which was far closer in content and tone to Saturday Night Live or MADtv than The Drew Carey Show.

This tradition of bizarrely themed episodes was parodied by Carey's friend "Weird Al" Yankovic in his song "Couch Potato" (itself a parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself"), which referred to "a special all-Pig Latin episode of Drew Carey".

[edit] Neverending Store Era (2002–2004)

In the fall of 2002 the show returned, but it had become obvious to the producers that the formula was wearing thin. The concept of Winfred-Louder and the characters' jobs there was abandoned completely. Show openings alternated with remixes of the previous theme songs, credits, and logo; however, the opening was still a montage of various moments from past seasons of the show. The new concept involves Drew getting a job at the company that rented the building occupied by Winfred-Louder, an Internet start-up department store called "Neverending Store". Mimi gets a job as well, and Mr. Wick gets the only job he's qualified for—janitor. However, Wick stopped appearing altogether after a few episodes; Steve was also phased out in the same way. The most notable change, however, was when Kate O'Brien, one of the show's main cast, left. She was quickly replaced with Kellie, an old high school friend of Drew's who had been working as a stripper.

Drew's bosses were a set of twenty-something Internet geeks. The combination of high intelligence, low social skills, and hacker naïveté created a very different sort of humor for the show. However they weren't the main focus. Like in the first season, Drew's life outside the office took center stage once again.

Tony The Bus-Driver became a main fixture, appearing in virtually every episode of the last two seasons. He typically played a role similar to a smart-alecky bartender that Drew could tell his problems to. (One of the first lines he uttered in the series: "There's only one reason a man doesn't want to go home at the end of the day: ugly children.")

In the eighth season Drew decided that he would get married a year from the date he set; a day which would coincide with the last episode of the season. Drew wouldn't make the deadline, but he would realize in the process that he was in love with Kellie. The eighth season was put in a dead timeslot on Monday nights. It was yanked mid-season and the remaining episodes were shown during the summer. In what was almost assuredly a unique event, ABC was forced to finance a ninth season, even though they had effectively canceled the show. The ninth season did not show during the fall of 2003, but ended up getting shown in the summer of 2004.

The last season's tone changed radically from the previous seasons. ABC rarely intervened as it appeared that they never intended to broadcast it. The directors started experimenting with one-camera set-ups, showing that the sets were completely built, there actually were fourth walls in most rooms, and the rooms were actually linked together. The writers were equally brazen, as they had Gus burn down Mimi's house, forcing her to move in with Drew after Steve left her. Drew and Mimi's mutual hatred of each other finally vanished and they became true friends.

The season ended with Drew getting Wick's help to open up a department store, using the vacated building that Neverending Store left behind. However, Drew is quickly kicked out of his job as store manager by Wick, who has been given his job by the project's sole investor: his father-in-law. Mimi is also relieved of her vice-presidency and made Mr. Wick's assistant, Drew becomes the assistant director of personnel. Drew goes and sits at his desk, the surroundings are now the same as the Winfred-Louder set that hadn't been seen for two years, and Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" starts up.

The actual final episode follows as Drew and Kellie's first child is born, scant moments after the two are married. The final scene is Drew playing pool in his backyard in the rain; the same scene that ended the first episode. He looks up at the camera and thanks the audience, saying it has been fun. The series ends with a montage set to "You Can Still Rock in America".

The Drew Carey Show is supposed to be another victim of the Friday Night Death slot.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Ratings

What's unusual about The Drew Carey Show is that, unlike some long-running series where there is a long period of good ratings, followed by a steady decline in viewership, the series' ratings declined throughout most of the series' run. The drop started in the third season with an alarming drop beginning in the seventh season.

The show finished its first season (1995–96) barely in the Top 50, placing 48th in the Nielsen ratings, with an average rating of 10.1. The second season did considerably better, making it into the Top 20 finishing the 1996–97 season 18th in the Nielsen ratings with an average rating of 11.5. Viewership increased 13.9% from season one.

The show finished its third season at a higher place in the ratings ,placing 16th with an average rating of 11.1 during the 1997–98 season; however, the ratings share was a drop of 3.5% from the second season.

Season four (1998–99) is where the trouble started. The series finished the season in the Nielsen ratings higher in the Top 20 making it to 14th place but with an average rating of 9.9, a decrease of 10.8% from the third season.

The show finished the 1999–2000 season 24th in the Nielsen ratings, the first time since season one that the show wasn't in the Top 20, with an average rating of 9.5, a decrease of 4% from the fourth season. This was a much smaller drop than many series suffered (given the erosion of network audiences). This was also a smaller drop than it suffered the season before. The show's 2000–01 season finished 41st with an average rating of 8.23, a decrease of 13.4 percent from the fifth season.

In what would prove to be an unwise decision, ABC signed a new contract to keep the show on through a ninth season, even though the show had yet to enter its seventh season at that time. The 2001–02 season saw one of the show's biggest drop in ratings, finishing 57th with an average rating of 5.9, a significant drop of 28.3% from the sixth season. The show finished the 2002–03 season 119th with an average rating of 3.29, an incredible drop of 44.23 percent from the seventh season. This caused ABC to put the series on hiatus, burning off the rest of the season in the summer of 2003. Unable to get out of their contract, ABC was forced to allow the show to film a ninth season, paying three million dollars per episode. Not doing well enough to make a slot in the fall, the ninth season was burned off during the summer of 2004.

[edit] DVD Release

On February 28, 2006, a six-episode release of the sitcom was released on DVD entitled "The Drew Carey Show: TV Favorites". Initially, the DVD was exclusively sold at Best Buy, but later sold at other national retailers as well. The DVD features the episodes Pilot, Playing the Unified Field, We'll Remember Always, Evaluation Day, Drew Blows His Promotion, My Best Friend's Wedding, and DrugCo. Although there have been several petitions online [1] in efforts to allow for a season DVD release, Warner Brothers has not announced yet if The Drew Carey Show will be released on DVD in this format.

[edit] Trivia

  • The bar that Drew and his friends would always go to in the show was called "The Warsaw Tavern." The inspiration for "The Warsaw Tavern" is called "Murphy's Law" and is located on Memphis Ave. in the Old Brooklyn part of Cleveland, Ohio. This was one of Drew's favorite bars he would frequent in real life. The actual exterior structure of Murphy's Law is used on the TV show, although the interior is entirely different. Murphy's Law has autographed pictures of most of the cast members on the walls.
  • In Carey's best-selling book, "Dirty Jokes and Beer", he revealed a list of subject matter that the censors objected to, such as mild language, sexual innuendo, and one episode that made light of a character's mental instability. Carey also mentions that in one second season episode, he was forced to wear puffy pants because when he sits with tight pants, ABC thought he had an erection.
  • John Carroll Lynch, who plays Drew's older brother, Steve, is actually five years younger than Drew Carey. The character of Kellie, who went to high school with Carey, was played by Cynthia Watros, who's in fact ten years younger than him.
  • In the last seasons of the show, Drew Carey was earning $600,000 to $750,000 per episode. This helped to contribute to the average cost production of each episode of $3 million.[1]
  • The producers allowed different filming techniques in the last few seasons. Instead of using three different cameras in front of a live audience, one camera was used with no audience. [2]
  • When "Weird Al" Yankovic appeared on the show he had recently undergone Lasik surgery and had shaved, so he no longer had his trademark glasses and mustache. The producers felt that the audience would not recognize him and get the "You don't play the accordion..." joke, so they outfitted him with fake glasses and mustache.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bauder, David (May 3 2004). 'Drew Carey Show' bowing out quietly. Retrieved on 2006-05-11.
  2. ^ Bauder, David (May 3 2004). 'Drew Carey Show' bowing out quietly. Retrieved on 2006-05-11.

[edit] External links

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