Green Screen Show (2004–2005) User Reviews

Unique, but shaky

[krp614 · 8/10 · 17 October 2004]

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

A great twist on an old concept

[Pendy1-1 · 7/10 · 26 June 2006]

I really liked the Green Screen Show. It was kind of shaky at first but as the shows went on and the performers (and animators) got in the groove it became really enjoyable. The lack of Ryan Styles would have been a big black eye were it not for newcomer Jeff B. Davis. That guy is hilarious. No offense to her, but Kathy Kinney is the only performer I don't like. She seems to have been thrown in there as a favor from Drew to get some work. She doesn't seem to have any real improv skills. The show does take away the raw imagination of the Whose Line is it Anyway's style but the overt goofiness of the props drawn in make up for it. With a little more polish this could become a great show....if it ever makes it back to TV.

Whose Line meets blue box technology..

[grimdodger · 7 October 2004]

At last the pilot for Drew Carey's new show was aired. It was not bad, but I say the enthusiasm of Whose Line was missing. It was worse than a usual Whose Line episode (except the graphics), and also being an audience in the studio is worse than watching it on TV. (I watched it on TV by the way)

Participants looked a little isolated from Drew Carey.. OK, Drew Carey is good and he arranges it all but both in Whose Line and here he does 20% of the performance. It really disturbed me to see him on the spotlight and the actual performers being pushed back, sitting on a bench.

Also the departure of Ryan Stiles (apparently from more-time-with-family syndrome) and Wayne Brady (he is a star now) makes the Whose Line audience sad... But of course we have Colin (he is not only bald, but also has white hair!). This time there are 6 performers. Including Carey this is too much for a 30-minute show. Without the ads show is approximately 22-23 minutes and that means 3-3.5 minutes of screen time for each...

Animation on the pilot was really really sweet... The detail on Zeppelin was astonishing, and the horse ride was funny not only because of the performers but also those small details added by the animators (especially when Drew Carey said a 'nasty word') Also the sound effects should not be forgotten..

One more thing: the names on the ending credits are countless. Each sketch is done by 10-15 people. How much does this cost? And how long can this continue? Hopefully for a long time, but still its very risky business.

A brave show just begun, and will hopefully improve and continue to entertain in the Whose Line style but this time with more flavor! With some fine-tuning it can make into the 'do not miss' list.

Its awesome

[stevie92-1 · 10/10 · 1 January 2009]

What are you talking about. This show is great. and how can you not love it with Jeff Davis in it, come on... hes the smex... xD Sorry. The show I think was really good it reminded me of Who's line, which was also a great show. I think they took the Improvise right, and the animation was creatively funny. This took green screening to the next level in comedy. I think that they should air this more. If I could, I would figure out how to pay everything to keep this show running, unfortunately I don't have that type of money. This show was very funny and entertaining, and I've showed a lot of people clips from the show, and they agree that the show should continue. Just like Who's Line is it Anyways. Instead of talking about how much you hate a show, why not just point out the flaws and tell them ways to make it better, besides getting kicked off air.

Nice idea, but I didn't laugh out loud once.

[Izzard-UK · 4 December 2005]

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?

Good Try Drew

[flight_angel77 · 31 March 2005]

When I heard that they are coming out with another improv show involving the old cast of Whose Line? and more, I was so excited since Whose Line? was canceled at the time. Plus, the concept of the whole green screen idea sounded sweet. Then, I saw it. My first thought was, "Nice Try, Drew," The fact of the matter is that the Green Screen Show just wasn't the same as Whose Line?. The jokes weren't that funny, and, come on, Ryan wasn't even in every episode! I mean, Colin is great, but he's nothing without Ryan when it comes to improv. There were, however, some funny parts, but not enough to make up for it. Although I never realized it at the time, but the whole green screen took away the imaginary aspect that you used in Whose Line? Because you had to use your imagination in WL, it made it all the more funnier. Anyway, I admire Drew's creativity, but it just wasn't enough to please me.

Good Try Drew.

Improv Madness At Its Best

[dcreads56 · 1 April 2005]

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).

Doesn't work

[AnssiM · 13 January 2008]

Whose Line Is It Anyway was excellent, but here the special effects just distract the viewer from what made it so good. This seems like nothing but a showcase for the technical possibilities. The animations and sounds don't add anything useful to the scenes at all. It makes you feel like you're reading a book with all the events already imagined in your head as acted out by cartoon characters.

Most of the actors are still doing a good job. Colin Mochrie stands out every now and then even without Ryan Stiles. Unfortunately most of the time even his talent is wasted when wrapped in cartoons. Drew Carey's best talent is not in improvising, but here he's taken a bigger role in the games as well.

It's nowhere near as funny as Whose Line Is It Anyway.

A hopeless concept!

[standardmetal · 5 November 2004]

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!

Sucks

[pdkm_ · 8 November 2004]

I've seen the first episode of this and to quite honest, I don't like it. Drew Carey is, as ever, consistently unfunny and barely manages to raise a smile. The animation is good but does not interact with the action very well. The performers are OK, Colin is always funny but his Whose Line? partner Ryan Stiles is missing, probably because he doesn't want to be associated with poor TV. The American audience scream when they find something funny, which is still very annoying and half the reason the US version of Whose Line? was not as good as the original.

The point of Whose Line? was that it was imporvised, they didn't have artists taking the recorded footage away and thinking about something funny to go with it.

My suggestion: go back to Whose Line?, get rid of Carey and have a regular guest pattern.

Doesn't do it for me.

[outcomethawolves · 27 February 2005]

I was really hoping this show would be better than "whose line is it anyway?" and "The Drew Carrey Show" but the end result was far from that. Instead, I found myself lost and confused. The animation is good but the use of improv with it did not flow well in my opinion.

The jokes were corny, the acting was terrible. What they should do is renew "Whose line is it anyway?" which I just found out today that it is going off the air. That show is quite good considering improv is ALWAYS fresh and new and for 99% of the time funny. I always find myself laughing when I watch that show.

I totally think they should get rid of this show. It was a good idea on paper, but terrible on screen. If this show continues, I will lose all respect for Drew Carrey whom I think is brilliant and funny as hell. The same goes for the rest of the cast like Colin who is a genius. I'm sorry, but this show doesn't do it for me.

Not Whose Line, but not bad.

[clayangel · 29 June 2005]

When I first saw the Green Screen Show, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. It really does lack... something that I loved about Whose Line. But I continued to watch it and the more I watched, the more I fell in love with this show.

It really is great to see fourth seaters like Greg and Jeff do a scene together, and it's also great because unlike Whose Line US, this show mixes things up a bit. You don't get the same people playing the same games every episode. I mean, I love watching Colin and Ryan play off each other, but after a while you want to see something different.

Since most of the guys have been working together for years, you still get that nice sense of kinship that Whose Line US had, but you also get the variety of Whose Line UK.

And, of course, there's the animation. It's good and it's bad. For instance, it makes a game like Sound Effects really come alive. I never enjoyed this game until I saw it on Green Screen. It was also absolutely perfect for Conducted Story. But often the animation just came off as cheesy and unnecessary. I'm trying to remember another game where I liked the animation and the only one I can think of is the New Choice in the Baby Proofing Store -- where they only interacted with one animated prop for maybe a minute total.

All in all I rather liked Green Screen, and it's a shame that it didn't get more of a chance.

It suffers

[saint405 · 1 August 2005]

The Green Screen show is show that is related to Whose Line Is It Anway, the best game show ever. The Green Screen show is just like Whose Line except with a few twists. First off no host. That's right, Drew Carey is here but he's a performer. Second off, the games are performed in front of a green screen. The cast (Old members from Whose Line and a few new members) play games in front of the screen with suggestions from the audience. The twist is that the show is shipped off to artists who draw in the background. Now while the show gives you belly laughs, it fails miserably. The show suffers from one main thing, no Ryan Stiles! That's right, the great Ryan Stiles is absent. We have Colin Mochrie who strangely has silver hair, but even he suffers with no Ryan. Wayne is absent as well, which isn't that bad. The show fails in most of the games, especially sound effects. The backgrounds though are marvelous. The audience you have to feel sorry for because they have to watch the performers with no background and they must be bored to death. On Whose Line they got a cool retro background with different watercolors but here they get a head ache green screen We have new games like one word syllables and that's quite humorous with or without a back drop but that's about it. This show is not even half as funny as which Whose Line was. My rating for Green Screen show, 5 out of 10. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's not. Bring back Whose Line please. If we still have to watch this, make the show more fun.

Not Funny At All.

[General_G · 27 September 2005]

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.

Green Screen

[naughton02130 · 1 October 2005]

Um... I liked it. It was a good show but, it just seemed they tried to make another "Who's Line is it Anyway", (besides the green screen of course). I was disappointed that they canceled it so quick. That's a reason i can't stand The WB its like if not enough people watch the first show then its done. People can argue FOX does the same thing but give shows more chance's then the WB does, at least i think so. But, i really liked it, and I'm happy because Comedy Centrel is picking it back up, thank GOD!! That seems to happen with The WB a lot. they let something go someone else picks it up, i mean HELL adult swim alone picked up The Olongs, Baby Blues, and Mission Hill. but all in all i liked the show can't wait to see it on Comedy Centrel.

Thanks,

Sean