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Whose Line Is It Anyway? Uncensored - The Complete First Season
R4 - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Gregor Cameron & Noor Razzak (15th September 2009). |
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The Film
 Television manages to squeeze opportunity out of just about anything. Improvisation is nothing new to either the music world or the theatre. So no surprise that when Theatresports became popular in theatres, drama Schools and the wider educational community that it would make its way into the little corner story box. But like charades played at a strangers birthday party, its not all beer and skittles. In 1977 Keith Johnstone observed the theatricality of Pro Wrestling and, combining aspects of their energy and performance with improv, brought a competitive element into the theatre, calling it Theatresports. In TV land these spawned into "Thank God You’re Here" (2006-Present), "ComedySportz", "TheatreGames Live" and "Whose line is it Anyway" (UK series 1988-1998, US series 1998-2006). There have also been a number of international more or less similar versions. "Whose line…" began as a Radio Show in the UK before transferring to television, something that is quite common considering the BBC is responsible there for both Radio and Television. It followed a tradition of Radio shows such as "I’m sorry I’ll Read That again". Running on UK television from 1988 to 1998, "Whose line…" 10 series were all fronted by Clive Anderson, an acerbic broadcaster and practicing barrister. In 1998 the format was picked up by US television where Drew Carey was placed in the chair. It ran till cancelled in 2003 – though in fairness episodes previously unaired were run for a couple more years (until 2006). Both of these series have had a significant life in syndication and repeat screening. Over the years "Whose line…" has had a number of stable players. Names that have become familiar include Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, Greg Proops and Tony Slattery. There have also been a great number of guest players. In the same way that improvisational theatre has been a tremendous support and training ground for comedians and actors in the US and UK "Whose line…" has provided some of these people a valuable arena to strut their stuff. This DVD set includes the first season of the US version. Each episode runs to a consistent set of arrangements. A quick run through the set up demonstrates both the strengths and weaknesses of this show. Carey, Stiles Mochrie and Brady are the core performers and are very professional in their approach to the form. Carey, at least to my ears, occasionally becomes very hard to decode as his comments sometimes slur together and it is hard to see exactly what he brings to the show- except name and executive producing. Mind you Carey continues to be difficult to listen to even in his current game shows. Stiles, Mochrie and Brady bring considerable experience to the stage and each works to his best ability. Brady’s sense of music is definitely a highlight and perhaps explains his success in places like Las Vegas. Stiles is always the bad boy and Mochrie is the champion of self- mockery. However among the stable of well performed games there is a moment of sheer pleasure and in this set it is a young Stephen Colbert playing as a guest act in episode 16- surely proving that some people are just born to be in a suit and can still put together a pretty good rap. But here is the rub. The cover of the set suggests that this is ‘comedy without a net’. There are a number of problems with this idea. First, and foremost is the ‘practice’ that these performers bring with them. By 1988 when Mochrie joined the show he had been working regularly as an improviser for nearly ten years. Clearly the specific details that are apparent challenges to these performances are underpinned by a very strong structure that allows them to work their particular tricks. Like the circus trapeze artist whose training and ability pretty much guarantee their safety there is a limit on how really creative, and dangerous these games can be. The second problem is that because it is filmed there is the capacity to edit for performance. This means that only the best of the games are presented to the home audience. The special features provided on the set include both a gag reel and ‘uncensored’ games unsuitable for broadcast. The gag reel suggests that much of the games played before the live audience shows there is a lack of real spontaneity in the 22 minutes delivered over air. The Uncensored games show that flipping someone off, using the F-bomb or the word ‘titty’ in a sentence is inappropriate for American network screens. Actually these moments where the performers lose it are some of the most real, most naturally humorous and including them as a natural consequence could, in fact, have enhanced the completed programme rather than detracted from it. Thirdly is the rule of the holy gag. Theatresports in its purest form privileges the strong dramatic scene over the ‘easy’ gag. But in TV terms the form demands that the gag is king- something even the worst of sit-com doesn’t do because they always seek to maintain at least the situation of the story. By simply heading for the punch line every time it runs the risk of being comedy without calories, as the audience is always brought into the gag well before a true pay-off. In a sense this form of comedy seems to centre very much upon the performer as trick irrespective of what a true improvisation might be built around these training games. However such games are by and large not watchable so would not make good TV. And that point underscores the problem of this DVD set. There is not enough calories in this work to bother collecting this DVD- most folk will be satisfied catching the odd rerun on the inevitable cable channel like Comedy Central and most should prefer the UK product which features much of the same performers but in a more subtle incarnation and with the droll tones of Clive Anderson.
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 this full frame image isn't the best quality. Taken from the original broadcast tapes the image is only slightly better than what we've seen on TV before. The problem is that there probably isn't a significant budget to have these episodes remastered and restored for DVD, after all the image is passable. The problem is that the image is flat and uninteresting. While there's no dirt or specks and colors look OK at best the overall image is simply average looking. With crushed blacks and some pixelation going on.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is presented with each of the 19 episodes of this season, no doubt this is the original broadcast audio track as well. The show is not worth bothering sound engineers to master a 5.1 track for, it's a simple improv game show that relies on dialogue and that element of the soundtrack is perfect. It's clear and distortion free, the musical elements fare well and the audience reactions are similarly fine. It's lacking in depth but as mentioned before it doesn't really need any. There are no optional subtitles on these episodes.
Extras
Warner Brothers have released this season with only a handful of extras that include some outtakes, unaired games and gag reels. Below is a closer look at these supplements per disc. DISC ONE: There are no extras on this disc. DISC TWO: This disc includes the "Question Game" outtakes that run for 2 minutes 28 seconds, in this clip we see Drew and the others play the question game at an office party, some funny stuff but mostly it's lame stuff that was wisely cut. A second clip of outtakes is included and entitled "Greatest Hits" this clip runs for 4 minutes 29 seconds and features Colin and Ryan doing a bit about selling a garbage men compilation CD with Wayne singing the segments. DISC THREE: There are 4 unaired games, these can be viewed individually or with a 'play all" option, the clips included are for: - "Greatest Hits #1" runs for 3 minutes 18 seconds, more compilation CD infomercial footage, Ryan and Colin sell a CD celebrating the butcher, again with Wayne singing segments. - "Whose Line" runs for 2 minutes 27 seconds, and is a game with Colin and Ryan, as they play a game where the audience supplied the two with lines, the scene is Colin getting dating advice from Ryan. - "Let's Make A Date" runs for 4 minutes 43 seconds, Ryan, Colin and Stephen are contestants on a dating show and Wayne questions them, Wayne has to guess what type of character they are playing. - "Sound Effects" runs for 3 minutes 41 seconds, Colin improvises a scene that Ryan provides the sound effects for, Colin improvs a scene about a day in the life of Superman. Gag reel #1 runs for 12 minutes 6 seconds and is your usual collection of flubs and bursts of laughter, there's some hilarious stuff here to check out. DISC FOUR: There are 3 more unaired games on this disc, these can be viewed individually or with a 'play all" option, the clips included are for: - "Superheroes" runs for 3 minutes 1 second, Greg plays a character called Troutman and he must stop the world from being fondue. - "Stand, Sit & Lie" runs for 2 minutes 45 seconds, Ryan, Colin and Greg play the game where on must be doing one of those positions, the scene takes place in a hospital. - "Moving People" runs for 2 minutes 36 seconds, Ryan and Colin are assisted by audience members to move their limbs in this game, the scene is that they are tennis partners playing the US Open and they are losing. Finally there's a gag reel #2 that runs for 11 minutes 58 seconds and is more of the same flubs and mistakes, it's all very candid and uncensored as well.
Overall
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