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Whoes line (US)

Original American logo (Seasons 1-8)

Whose Line (US) Revival

2013 Revival logo (Season 9)

Whose Line is it Anyway? (often known simply as Whose Line?) is an improvisational comedy show. It ran from 5 August 1998 to 4 September 2004 on ABC, hosted by Drew Carey, with repeats and a few new episodes airing on ABC Family from 2005 to 2007. The show was revived on the CW on 16 July 2013 for a ten-episode ninth season hosted by Aisha Tyler and has continued on through a nineteenth season as of 2023.

The series is a spin-off of the British show of the same name. The three regular performers are Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady, and Colin Mochrie, who also appeared on the original UK show. They are joined by a recurring cast member or a special guest as the fourth performer.

ABC (Seasons 1-6) ABC Family (Seasons 7-8) Original[]

Stiles and Mochrie had appeared as members of the rotating cast of the UK version of Whose Line from the second and third seasons respectively, increasing in frequency each season. By the fourth season, Stiles was appearing on nearly all episodes. By the seventh season, Mochrie was as well, with both appearing in every episode from the eighth season onward.

During the final seasons of the UK show, Stiles began starring in The Drew Carey Show on ABC. As the series found success, Carey and Stiles brought the idea of an American version of Whose Line to ABC, who agreed to produce the series. Carey and Stiles were billed as executive producers of the new series.

Carey was tapped to host the new series, with Stiles and Mochrie as the regular performers, both appearing in every episode of the series (other than one taping in which Stiles was ill). The two remaining seats were to be filled by rotating guests. That said, for 13 of the first season's tapings (which produced 16 of its 20 episodes), one of the two guest seats was filled by Wayne Brady, who had appeared in several episodes of the tenth and final UK season. Brady became a regular performer from the second US season onward, appearing in all episodes (other than season eight which included episodes sourced from first season tapings, and one season 12 taping where he was absent).

Other frequent guests included fellow UK version alumni Brad Sherwood, Greg Proops and Chip Esten, and newcomers Denny Siegel, Kathy Greenwood and Jeff Davis. Occasionally, the guest chair was filled by a high-profile celebrity like Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams or Richard Simmons.

The format of the series was roughly the same as its UK predecessor which many of the same games or modified versions. Instead of reading the credits in the style of the host's choosing, the winner(s) of each episode performed a game with Carey, with another performer taking Carey's place at the hosting desk. After the first season in which the cast just chatted or fooled around as the closing credits ran, the reading of credits in an unusual style was reintroduced (unrelated to the episode's "winner") with one or more performers of Carey's choosing reading the credits.

Laura Hall, who joined the final series of the UK show when it moved to Hollywood, returned for the US version. Beginning in the second season, she was joined by Linda Taylor and Cece Worrall-Rubin as the singing/musical impression talents of Brady and other guest performers like Sherwood, Esten and Davis resulted in musical games being played more often.

CW Revival[]

The CW revived the show 16 July 2013 for a ten-episode ninth season hosted by Aisha Tyler. Carey was no longer involved in the series, but Brady joined Stiles as one of the executive producers. Hall and Taylor remained as musicians, but Worrall-Rubin did not return. The readings of credits by the winner returned, and the game with the host was abandoned.

Proops, Sherwood and Davis were the only ABC-era performers to continue to feature as regular guests (with Esten appearing as at one taping of the revival as a performer and one other taping as a special guest just for musical games). A new pair of regular guests emerged in Gary Anthony Williams and Jonathan Mangum. Heather Anne Campbell, Keegan-Michael Key, and Nyima Funk also each did several tapings.

Instead of celebrity guests filling a seat, they would instead come out to join some of the episode's performers for a few specific games, and sometimes to read the credits. Celebrity guests were generally stars of other CW shows doing cross-promotion.

On 29 July 2013, after only three new Whose Line episodes had aired, the network renewed the series for a 24-episode tenth season.[1]

Trivia[]

British broadcaster UKTV acquired the rights to fifty episodes of the revived show, which have been broadcast on the UK channel Dave from 15 February 2021.[2]

Seasons[]

Original Series

Revival Series

Games[]

References[]



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