Previewing Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza

Drew Carey is returning to prime tonight on GSN and no his daytime game show The Price Is Right is not moving to the PM, but he is launching a new improv show Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza. You might think to yourself, that sounds just like his old show Who’s Line Is it Anyway? And you would be correct; it is just like Who’s Line Is it Anyway? to the point that many of the cast members like Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood, Chip Estin, and Jeff Davis are also on the new show. And Carey’s old pal Kathy Kinney (you may know her better as Mimi) also shows up. Also the breakout star from the original, Wayne Brady also pops up in an episode.

Really the only difference is Drew actually gets on the stage as there is no official judging like the original and there is much more audience participation, from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, this time around. And Brady is not the only one making a special appearance, and the show will be getting an extra dose of Tiger Blood during one of the episodes when Charlie Sheen shows up. Conspicuously the only footage that GSN has released was Sheen hugging everyone on stage and none of his improve skills, but considering his tour reviews, and, well, the rest of his life, I expect it will be a train wreck. If we are lucky it will be The Situation at the Donald Trump Roast bad.

Drew Carey’s Improv-a-Ganza airs weeknights at 8:00 and 11:00 on GSN starting tonight with forty episodes set to air. The Charlie Sheen episode airs tomorrow (Tuesday). Below is a preview of the show and a behind the scenes look.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 4/10/11

The Event: How James Bond villain of them to order the death of the token hot chick only to let her burn up in a fire. What, would putting a bullet in her head been too messy? But anyway. It looks like the president was too stupid to put a GPS in the buses. Not surprising. But I like how he is getting seriously paranoid more and more with every passing episode, the glance he gave his wife at the end, essentially questioning if she is indeed non terrestrial. Can’t say anything else in the episode was particularly as interesting. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Event on iTunes.

Castle: Just last week I complained how Alexis was too goodie-goodie and this week she gets in a catfight. It is about time they gave her some edge. But of course I just happened to be eating some pizza when I watched this episode. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes.

Lights Out: Well that was a depressing, if not unexpected, ending. Though it would have been interesting to see where The Justice League, as Barry put it, would go next season, not having a sophomore season may have been for the best. Watching someone lose there mind is not high on the things I would like to watch list. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Lights Out on iTunes.

Survivor: Redemption Island: How do you talk about the game rewarding big moves, then not execute your big plan? It is hard to root for Matt again at Redemption Island for making such a boneheaded move. But big boneheaded move goes to Boston Rob, when Matt tells you that the other tribe is willing to give him an immunity idol, you tell him to get the idol from them. What sucks is this season has been begging for a bold move since Russell got voted out, and now we are set for another month of the lemming following Boston Rob until the former Zapatera is eliminated. Ugg. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Justified: I guess nothing could have possibly lived up to Boyd’s tease that he figured out what Mags was doing. A land grab to limit driving access is not very sexy. I am a little surprised that the Loretta storyline came to a head already. I thought they would save that for the season finale. But I am disappointed that she was not the one that exacted revenge on her father’s behalf. I guess there are still two Bennett’s left, but I do not see her escaping Foster Care to hunt down Mags. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: Oh drunken Raj, who would have guessed he would out catchphrase Sheldon’s Bazinga. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.

Outsourced: Out of all the dumb bets I suffered through during college, I am glad no one thought of pepper roulette, I am not sure if I could have made it past one game. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Outsourced on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 4/9/11

Quote of the Week: I’m no stranger to memetic epidemiology. At Johnson Elementary School the phrase “Shelly Cooper is a smelly pooper” spread like wildfire. (Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory)

Song of the Week: Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival (Lights Out)

Big News of the Week: Glen Beck Getting Booted from Television: With a government shutdown looming, Glen Beck is getting the boot from his daily Fox blow hard show just months as his liberal nutjob counterpoint Keith Olberman lost his job at MSNBC. Of course will all the loony talking heads that populate the air waves, somehow Beck managed to out crazy them all like earlier this year during the Egypt uprising, suggested that the American presidents (even both Bush’s) were in cohorts with the Arabs to bring about Armageddon. Goodbye Glen, you won’t be missed.

Free Download of the Week: The Killing (iTunes): You can get the first two hours of the new AMC show for free. You can also check out my First Impressions of The Killing.

Deal of the Week: Seed Your Cloud: Last week I mentioned Amazon introduced their new Cloud and if you bought an album you would get a free 20 Gig upgrade and Amazonj deeply discounted some popular album. This week they dropped some critically alliamed album to $3.99 or less including albums by Sleigh Bells and TV on the Radio.

New Album Release of the Week: Wasting Light - Foo Fighters

New DVD Release of the Week: Man vs. Wild Season 5

Video of the Week: The Paul Riser Show premieres this Thursday at 8:30 and I am not entire sure what to think about it. But it cannot be any more boring than Perfect Couples. Can it?



Bonus Video of the Week: You cannot quite view this video right now (as I write this), but Norm McDonald will be Normcasting the Masters live this Sunday at 2:00 from his living room. Head over to Comedy Central.com then to watch. And tune into the premiere of Sports Show with Norm McDonald this Tuesday at 10:30.

Next Week Pick of the Week: Friday Night Lights, Friday at 8:00 on NBC: It is ironic all us terrestrial television viewers were expressing our jealous toward DirecTV viewers last fall when they got to watch Friday Night Lights. Now all my friends who watched then say they are jealous of me because I still have episodes of the seminal show that I have not seen. And I will savor them a week at a time even though season five is currently out on DVD.

Around the Tubes - 4/8/11

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Shark Men, Colin Quinn: Long Story Short, Maroon 5, Friday Night Lights, Rocko’s Modern Life, Travel Channel and Discovery Channel DVD releases, Being Human, and Face Off.

- The new season of Shark Men returns to the National Geographic Channel this Sunday at 9:00 with two new episodes. To start off the second season, the Shark Men will head to barren Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, the first time anyone has been granted access to the area for shark research. Check out a preview below:

North Cal Great White


- I was thinking with MTV resurrecting all its 90’s shows like Beavis and Butt-Head and 120 Minutes, maybe it should bring back other classic shows like Remote Control and Club MTV. Sadly Ken Ober would not be around for any reboot. As for his sidekick, Colin Quinn has a comedy special Long Story Short airing tomorrow at 10:00 on HBO and even takes aim at one of today’s MTV stars: Snooki. Here is a trailer:



- Maroon 5 recently hit the studio to create a song in 24 hours, and now you can head over to cocacola.com to download the track for free.

- One more week until the fifth season of Friday Night Lights hits NBC (of course if you cannot wait, it hit DVD shelves earlier this week). But be warned, if you watch this teaser, you may find yourself screaming at your computer screen, “Julie did what!?” like I did.

The Final Season Begins


- If you were a kiddie in the nineties, you may remember Nickelodeon’s Rocko’s Modern Life, well now you can relieve those at least you will June 21 when the two set DVD hit selves courtesy of Shout Factory.

- In other DVD release news, the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel will be release eight titles this month including Bert the Conqueror; Sarah Palin's Alaska; Sister Wives; Man Vs. Wild Season 5; Howe and Howe Tech; Earth Collection; Dinosaur Collection and Forensics: You Decide.

- The first season of Being Human is coming to a close Monday on Syfy. Check out a preview below:

Being Human – “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Me Killing You”


- Fans of Syfy’s reality show Face Off who watch and think I could do that, well maybe you can for the show’s second season. Casting will take place tomorrow at (2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505 (10 am – 6 pm) and 82 Mercer Building, 82 Mercer Street, New York, NY (9 am – 5 am), both times local head over to syfy.com/faceoff to obtain an application.