Warner Bros. | 2009 | 216 mins. | Not Rated
As a fan of British comedy, I started watching American broadcasts of the classic British improvisational series Whose Line Is It Anyway? sometime in the early nineties. Built on the notion that a rotating gang of celebrities (particularly stand-up comedians), would play a series of games–Song Styles, Backwards Scene, World’s Worst, Party Quirks, etc.–parts of which would be generated by the studio audio, both before and during the show. What made Whose Line Is It Anyway? So appealing was that nothing seemed forced or contrived, all of the participants and the host (the rather dry but witty Clive Anderson), seem to be having a great time.
After the British version of the series left the air in 1998, comedian Drew Carey hosted the American version of the show, which ran for six seasons. Carey was joined by regulars Colin Mochrie, Ryan Styles (who had both appeared regularly on the U.K. version) and in the second season, Wayne Brady. Along the way, a host of guest stars popped in to play along, including: Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Chip Esten, Jeff Davis and Kathy Griffin.
After testing the waters with an uncensored first season DVD, Whose Line returns to home video with a Best of collection. While the material is funny, there’s little doubt that the biggest laughs will come the first time you play the set and may not have much of a replay value. This is also a Best of collection, which means the folks at Warner Brothers selected ten of the series’ most popular episodes; it doesn’t necessarily make it the best the show had to offer for even a majority of viewers. For those familiar with production numbers, this set serves up episodes 521, 401, 610, 308, 419, 512, 413, 505, 611 and 612.
On the plus side, these are the episodes with some of the biggest celebrity guests. The best features an appearance by Carol Brady herself, Florence Henderson. Henderson is clearly a show business pro and really got into the spirit of the games. She clearly had done her research and actually played along with the casts style; gamely going after her own laughs at appropriate times. Fitness Guru Richard Simmons is his own crazy self. He’s actually quite funny here because his manic style gives the regular cast a moving target to feed off of. On the other hand, David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff takes himself way to seriously and comes off stiff as a surfboard.
Judging a disc of The Best of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Is kind of a tough thing to do. As any fan of the show knows, there are so many different types of skits and games that were played over the course of the series; it’s hard not to develop a favorite. While some may be disappointed that “Scenes from a Hat” doesn’t pop up until several episodes in, and you only get one “Greatest Hits,” that’s a matter of personal preference.
Generally speaking, this is a solid collection of episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway? I usually prefer full season releases but I’m not sure that’s necessary in this case. What’s here is a solid 216 minutes of goofiness. However, I’m hoping that Warner Brothers releases the uncensored versions of the guest appearances by Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams. That will be something to see.
The Best of Whose Line Is It Anyway (Uncensored) is available now.
The 1.33:1 image looks very good: colors pop, detail is sharp, and the image is clean and free of source blemishes. The only flaw is a bit of edge enhancement, especially evident whenever Colin Mochrie is standing in front of the show’s green screen for one of the “Special Report” segments.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is crisp and clear and there’s some directionality from the crowd’s enthusiastic cheering. English closed captioning for the hearing impaired is provided.
There is one notable special feature:
• The Best of Whose Line is it Anyway? (43:59). It’s a television special highlighting the best moments from the first two seasons, following the format of a clip show. In the special, the clips are edited to fit within the allotted time slot and to allow Carey the chance to host interstitials.
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