Mon, October 11, 2004

Drew Carey's Green Screen Show

(WB, 8:30 Thursdays)

I'm as astonished as you are, but I actually liked this show a lot. I'm a big fan of the original Clive Anderson Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but I never liked the Americanized Drew Carey version all that much. And one of the worst additions in the imported version was a game where someone stood in front of a green screen while other players who could see what was on the screen made jokes at his expense. It was a really tedious one-joke premise and I hated it. So I naturally assumed that Drew Carey's Green Screen Show would just be much, much more of the same. It's not.

As it turns out, the new show is staged on a giant green set, so not just one square is being replaced with a silly shot of penguins mating or rhinos mating or elephants mating, like on Whose Line. Everything is being replaced, and they're using matchmoving technology to create an entire virtual set, which changes and animates along with the improv games. And they're playing better improv games, too – which is necessary in order to entertain the live audience, who can't see the animation (the effects are painstakingly added later). They're playing great old standbys like New Choice, which we played in my improv class and which is always loads of fun.

The animation isn't always perfect, but it's visually impressive and it usually adds something fun to the games, especially when the actors are improvising with imaginary props. In the first episode, Colin Mochrie is quickly cycling through props as he keeps being forced to make new choices, and it's hilarious to watch the props appear and disappear as he needs them, like in a Tex Avery cartoon. Mochrie, by the way, continues to be the worst improviser in the bunch, which he has been all the way back to the Clive Anderson days. I'm convinced that's what keeps him on the show: it's so funny to watch him not being able to think of something.

The fabulous Greg Proops (also from the original British show) is on board, and Carey remains an emcee but is more of a participant and less of a host, which is an improvement over his version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. The TiVo synopsis for next week's episode promises Ryan Stiles as well, which will be great.

(By the way, if you enjoy this show – or improv in general – I encourage you to check out the original Whose Line, which still reruns on Comedy Central. Stiles, Proops, and Mochrie are excellent, and if you can catch an episode with John Sessions or Tony Slattery you will not be disappointed.)

life as we know it

(ABC, 9:00 Thursdays)

As Albert Brooks says in Broadcast News, "Way to go. You really blew the lid off nookie." life as we know it boldly exposes the latent sexuality of the adolescent male. Oh no! The secret's out!

This stupid show actually quotes the "they say young males think about sex every seven seconds" line in the first, like, seven seconds. And then it's lots of shots of high-school-aged girls in revealing tops and short cheerleading skirts. Sure, I like these shots, but even I feel pandered to sometimes. Is the 18-49 female demographic so unimportant that networks gladly risk offending them in order to appeal to their male counterparts? Because this show offers young girls nothing. As a matter of fact, I can't really think who it's targeted to, because there's way too much thinking and way too little violence for high school boys, and anybody older is just going to hate it.

The freezeframe ("Stop the world! I want a Wyler's!") direct address moments seem to aim for the Dawson's Creek-type audience, but I just can't imagine women of any age being pulled in by this show. The best way to describe it is that it attempts to recapture the high school years of its writers, but recast those moments away from their actual circumstances and view them as they would have been in a fantasy world. Dino, the main character, is desperate for his ridiculously hot girlfriend to "give it up," and ends up pushing her away with his drooling hornery. But one faux-heartfelt apology not only gets her to forgive him, but she insists on sex at the earliest possible opportunity. His buddy the geeky loner is obsessed with the hot new English teacher, and she's kind of into him as well. (Which is already fantasy, but it kind of happened to me in the tenth grade, so I'll give it a pass. Although in my situation it never went any further than playful banter and some suggestive tongue movements that she would make at me during class.) For the geeky loner, it doesn't end there. She flirts with him in class, offers him a ride in her car, and he even gets to see her naked after a dance rehearsal where she's the choreographer and he's working the lights. If you're not convinced that the story is wildly implausible, the other member of their trio is really into the Kelly Osbourne character and keeps wanting to make out with her. Yeah, like that would ever happen!

Overall, it's not so much the lack of substance – Dino's relationship with his parents is an interesting story line, especially after he catches his mom fooling around with his hockey coach – it's mostly the utterly transparent style. Its attempts to be hip and titillating and grungy (hand held cameras! Seattle!) are achingly conspicuous. Which I suppose would be acceptable, were it in service of a deep, revealing character study of these three young men. But this isn't that. I haven't learned anything from watching them other than high school is a battlefield (we've heard that before) and how to trick girls into having sex, which is hardly a good idea.

My So-Called Life did it first, and My So-Called Life did it better. (Plus, Osbourne-free! Just rent the DVDs.)
(free star for partial nudity)

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