Thursday 29 July 1999
By eBroadcast Staff and agencies.

In it's new season in America, The Drew Carey Show will try and push the envelope even further than in the past. The show will air live, and the cast will perform three times, once for each time zone in the States. They'll also do it unscripted. Well, sort of. Producers of the show plan to give the cast a script with many holes that must be filled with a variety of improvisational methods. This insures viewers in each zone will get what is essentially a unique episode of their own.

'I hope they pay me extra for this.'

"It’s live, there’s gonna be improv, anything can happen," said Drew exec producer Bruce Helford. "I just hope they don’t tap the keg until after the third show."

This is not a television first. Several shows have pulled this off in the past. Roc performed the episodes of their last season live, and ER pulled off a live segment in similar fashion last season. In the case of Roc and ER, and also this planned episode of Drew Carey, any mistakes that occur will be seen by millions of viewers. Most sitcoms are taped live, but allow time for any blunders to be re-shot. However, most of the Drew cast is extremely well versed in the ways of improv, so chances are the show will be worth taping in every time zone.