The Drew Carey Show- the Un-Seinfeld sitcom

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar."

Drew Carey

I finished a months long binge of the Drew Carey show, released for the first time on Pluto TV, and it was an enjoyable blast from the past. The show ran on ABC from 1995-2004 and was a huge hit for them until its rating gradually dropped towards the end. On a tour of Warner Brothers studios in the late 90's, I got to actually see the sets for this show, which was a first for me. Though set in Carey's home town of Cleveland, it was shot in Burbank like so many other sitcoms of the age.

The Drew Carey show owes its popularity to its star and his self-deprecating humor. Carey is an interesting comedian with a dark past- including abuse, a dead father, depression, and even suicide attempts. He righted himself with self-help books and went into stand-up comedy, hitting it big on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. (Carey became a big supporter of libraries due to his love of the books that pulled him out of his depression.)

On the show, Carey plays a hapless department store middle-manager who never seems to catch a break. (Having worked in department stores myself, the number of behind-the-scenes employees at Winfred-Louder is very unrealistic). His main antagonist is Mimi Bobeck, a heavy-set, brash and loud secretary, and the back and forth between them is funny and cartoonish, if a bit politically incorrect for the times. His boss for most of the run is Mr. Wick, played by a Craig Ferguson before he got into late night television, and he gets in Carey's way comedically as well.

Tying it all together is Carey's childhood friends, Kate, Lewis, and Oswald, a group that always meets at The Warsaw, the tavern at the center of many episodes. These three provide his main sounding board and support. Lewis and Oswald play goofballs to Carey's straight man, while Kate plays an on again/ off again love interest and constant female presence in the cast.

The writers of the show, though never winning an Emmy, took some interesting chances during its nine seasons on the air. There were several long musical numbers featuring the entire cast plus extras. (See below) Carey was a big fan of improvisational comedy (Whose Line is it Anyway was a show he created about the same time), and the show utilized improv liberally. The April Fool's episodes were contests where many silly mistakes were planted into a show and they dared you to find them and count them all to win prizes. The show had several live episodes that were done twice- once for the East Coast and once for the West Coast.

Unlike Seinfeld, which had nasty self-centered losers, this show had lovable friend-centered losers, which made the difference for me. Carey's everyman vibe makes this show work as he plays the straight man to a host of kooky characters episode after episode.

Ironically, Drew himself has never married, though his character was married multiple times. Carey was engaged twice but both relationships broke up, while his character somehow managed to have dozens of relationships with some of the prettiest actresses in Hollywood. When Krista Miller, a main cast member and Carey love interest left after season 7, she was replaced by Cynthia Watros, another likeable cast member that Drew's character grew romantically attached to. In between, his character's dating foibles and work frustrations were the focus of much of his comedy.

From what I can tell Drew Carey is a decent human being that one would be glad to sit and have a beer with- not as damaged by fame and fortune as the average celebrity. He wasn't afraid to make fun of himself and his looks, and his character seems to be a lot like the man behind it. Since the show ended, Carey has been involved in many projects, the latest of which was as host of The Price is Right game show.

Here then, is the opening sequence of Five O'Clock World, and ode to the drudgery of work and how Drew Carey and his castmates made the best of it.