MovieChat Forums > Whose Line Is It Anyway? (2013) Discussion > Special guests and lack of skit diversit...

Special guests and lack of skit diversity is KILLING this brilliant show


As a long time fan of this show, I have never seen a worse season than the current one of Whose Line. It's absolutely horrible.

The main players are, as always, brilliant. Colin, Ryan and Wayne are their usual great selves, but they don't get to shine like they used to.

I was watching old episodes from the Drew Carey years last weekend and I was reminded of all the great games they never ever play any more. It's like they gave up on some of their best bits. Now they play the same games almost every episode.

The other thing is, obviously, the special guests.

What happened to taking audience members into the games? That was far funnier to see their unprofessional reactions and the things they do in the games no one could possibly expect. The professional guests, normally actors, try to run the games and overact and lead things where no one wants them to go. They talk when they should be quiet. It's incredibly annoying.

The latest episode with Kathy Lee Gifford was one of the worst examples. I just knew from the moment they brought her out that there would be a ton of overacting and leading the games, when she should have been nothing more than a prop for the real improv masters. And they brought her out for THREE DIFFERENT GAMES! That's, what? Two games left I can enjoy without her hammy ass trying to lead things?

I like Aisha Tyler. She's no Clive but she's funny enough. I like how she herself sometimes gets into the games for a moment. She's cool.

They have to bring back games like superheroes and Irish Drinking Song and completely AXE the special guests in favour of audience members to return to former glory.

Worst season ever... but it's not the fault of the host or the improv guys.

Long live the glory days of Clive, Greg, Wayne, Colin, Ryan, Jeff, Chip and Brad. I fear they're not likely to return.

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You'll notice, especially in this season, Wayne's been trying to do just that, dragging in audience members. At least he's listening.

I'm not complaining yet though. They brought back this show. That makes me pretty happy; and I'll take the rather strange lack of variety over no show at all.

But it really is baffling. Maybe it's one of those things where the people who brought the show back don't care about the show; they're simply business men, pure and simple. If they'd grown up with the show, there'd be more passion from behind the scenes.

But yep, I'm always hoping... but I won't get upset until it seems obvious that they aren't going to change their ways. (One never knows.)

The thing is, most of these special guests won't hold up in the far future. The Drew Carey version had guests that were at least a little more immortal with their celebrity status. And even those I didn't always like.

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I'm not complaining yet though. They brought back this show. That makes me pretty happy; and I'll take the rather strange lack of variety over no show at all.


Yeah some people are so damn ungrateful. Now I'll agree that the new series could use some work (there could be a little more variety and while I'm not against the guest stars I do think they should be less frequent), but all and all it's mostly the same and still a lot of fun. As you said though, I'd also rather this show have a lack of variety than having the show be completely done.

It's pretty much inevitable that if a show is cancelled but then brought back that someone will not be satisfied because for whatever reason it is somewhat different from the original. With a show like Whose Line though, as long as it's still essentially about the stars doing their improve and is still funny then I'm happy it's at least on. Even if you think it's not quite as good as the original those original episodes are still out there for you to go back and watch if you choose.

And besides: the guests and apparent lack diversity are not killing this show. You seem to forget that until 2013 it was already dead and had been for several years. Yes they made a few changes when they chose to revive it, but it was already dead before those changes could even be implemented. Again, I honestly think you're just being ungrateful about this show being back as we could just as easily be still left with nothing but memories of the old episodes with no expectation of any to come instead.

If you don't want to be spoiled, you shouldn't be here in the first place.

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I recently have started watching the original US version from the beginning. While I've enjoyed some of the celebs they bring on, I often wondered why they aren't using the audience like the used too. And yes, Kathie Lee for three skits was TOO much. The other night I was laughing so hard at a Dead Bodies skit. Why they stopped doing that one.. well, Colin probably was having a hard time carrying everyone.

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I pretty much agree with everything OP said. Its like they have comedic gold on their hands and some network executive is hell bent on making it fail.

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It's getting so ridiculous now. Same games over and over and over again. The first game includes all 4 of the main cast for about 5 minutes then Wayne gets to sing (every freaking episode) to the special guest. Then Ryan and Colin play Secret or something and the special guest comes back out for one last game and it's all over. I don't mind the special guests, but the games need to be mixed up. More variety!!

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Many talented comedians struggle with Improv, so I'm not sure why the producers of Whose Line think the guest stars will improve the show. Even Drew Carey sometimes seemed to struggle with it, although he wasn't the worst (Peter Cook possibly holds the title.) If they must have a guest star it should only be for the Helping Hands skit, where Ryan and Collin are the focus - it's the skit where the 3rd person really doesn't matter, which is perfect for most guest stars.

Audience members would be an improvement although they don't seem to work well with Sound Effects. Handing them a microphone and expecting them to do much never really works well. Far better when it was done entirely by the cast.

With the history of skits from previous versions they should be able to make this version a great show, possibly even worthy of a full hour, but maybe there's a reason they aren't allowed to use some things from the past.

One of the things I enjoyed from the early Clive Anderson days was how they mixed up the combinations. The dating game and party quirks didn't always stick to the same comedian asking the questions or hosting the party. Obviously there are skits that require specific performers since we probably don't want Collin and Ryan singing about a guest star or audience member (it would be interesting as a one time thing.)

Something like scenes from a hat could probably be stretched out for an entire segment. It's one of the skits that seems to stop too soon and assuming the suggestions in the hat really are from audience members, it offers more variety. Trouble is, there is a repeating theme that seem to be pulled far too often to be purely from the audience suggestions or chance. I'm not sure how many suggestions are in the hat, but things you wouldn't say, or things you can say about ? but not about your partner can be funny, but why so often (audience or studio suggested?)

I always made an effort to watch the Clive and Drew episodes, but into season 2 of the latest series I tend to miss out since it's not worth devoting the effort to schedule - I do try to catch up, but even then there are episodes where I can't sit through the whole half hour. The guest stars are mostly terrible, and the worst of them (the majority) make me shut down the show.

I wonder if the new time slot indicates. Either the show is failing in which case the slot is its farewell, or they believe its strong enough to draw in an audience for the barber show?

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Agree with most, just want to say the reason the skit using audience members making sound effects failed usually was because Drew Carey picked the absolutely worst audience member to do it. He ignored all the people who wanted to do it, and picked the shy, wall flower old ladies who rarely came out of their shell. When he occasionally happened upon someone who secretly wanted to do it but was too shy to raise their hand, the skits were pretty funny.

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An excellent point. Now that you brought it up I do remember the rare skits where at least one of the audience members picked did a fairly decent job with the effects. I can't recall any where both did a good job, but even one made a difference. The wall flowers didn't give the performers anything at all to work with and I'm sure I wouldn't have done any better.

I'm fairly certain Drew couldn't save the most recent version of the show, and it's likely even Clive Anderson would struggle with the format, although I do believe Clive was probably the best at reading the audience members - he seemed to be able to pick those who were willing, just not eager to participate.

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You echoed all of my thoughts. The show has lost a lot of its heart. Drew Carey wasn't the best improver, but he added a certain something that is sorely lacking from this version. He loved improv, and it showed. The entire aura of the show seemed brighter when he was there. Aisha is okay, but she doesn't seem all that excited about it, and she doesn't have very good candor with the actors. She acts like it's just another job for her.

I HATE that so much focus is on the celebrity guests and that there is virtually no audience particpation. The audience participation was better because the people they pulled on stage were actually excited to be there. Most of the celebrities they bring on come across as being annoyed to be there...like they are only there because their publicists set it up and they are better than the show. It's annoying.

There has to be a reason for the lack of game diversity. I wonder if some of the games are copyrighted/owned by ABC, and that is why they can't perform them? I remember when Conan O'Brien left NBC for TBS. He couldn't use a lot of his old skits because NBC owned them. They might have a similar situation with the Whose Line games.

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There has to be a reason for the lack of game diversity. I wonder if some of the games are copyrighted/owned by ABC, and that is why they can't perform them? I remember when Conan O'Brien left NBC for TBS. He couldn't use a lot of his old skits because NBC owned them. They might have a similar situation with the Whose Line games.


This is the third iteration of Whose Line. It's the third channel it's been on. The rights to everything belong to Hat Trick, and not ABC, Channel Four, or the CW. Any and all improv games from Whose Line's past should be legally allowed to be played. It's just that there's only so many games those annoying guests can play without looking bad to the average viewer.

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Being pedantic, it is technically the fourth iteration as it originally began on radio. This is why the prize is for the winner is to read the credits, as they literally needed someone to do that.

On BBC Radio 4 though it only had one six-episode season, in 1988, as it was quickly picked up by Channel 4 and got its television premiere later the same year. It retained having Clive as host and John Sessions as a permanent player, but had three guests instead of two with Stephen Fry going from being the other permanent player to one of the ensemble.

It is still often repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra, their archive comedy and drama station.

Incidentally, I am not even sure Conan is prohibited from doing much, if anything, from his NBC days.

Despite all the acrimony at the time of him leaving the Tonight Show they seem to have had a good relationship since. He appeared on Fallon's Late Night to get Triumph back to appear on his TBS show. And Conan has featured many clips from the old Late Night show. During his 20th Anniversary week they had a lot of content from the NBC days on Conan and online.

I think Conan just wanted to make a clean break with the new show so only features bits from the NBC days, such as the Masturbating Bear, as a special rather than something regular.

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Drew Carey wasn't the best improver, but he added a certain something that is sorely lacking from this version.


Drew was the worst thing about that version. He constantly laughed at his lame segues and he couldn't do improv worth a damn. It was painful watching him. Good riddance.

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One game that seems to have not been used on the new version is Sound Effects.
They were some of the funniest sketches when they got audience members out to do sound effects for Colin and Ryan.

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I am only partway into this season (been saving the eps) and I agree with you, for the most part. The guests aren't too bad and I still laugh my ass off a lot of the time, but I want more games, more cast mix ups. The half hour seems a lot shorter than it used to. The rotating cast member once only got to do 1 skit, while the celeb did 2. Just seems not fair.

I suggest you all look up on Youtube Drew Carey's Improvaganza. It has tons of the Whose Line people and they perform a lot of the routines from the show.

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