Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.23

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.23
ABC
February 10, 2000
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

Drew calls Africa a country rather than a continent and it turns into a splendid running joke as the contestants razz him in almost every following game.  (Nonetheless, it looks like African Chant would be a game used three times more.)

And thus ends 2000, and the Bill Clinton era, in my television collection.  (Note that it's also sort of the 100th time I've reviewed WLIIA, in the sense that I reviewed the Paul Merton biography that featured a clip from his first episode.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.19

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.19
ABC
January 13, 2000
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

Kicking off Y2K in my TV collection, this is pretty funny, especially Questionable Impressions, where Wayne's Jar Jar renders Greg's Yoda speechless.  (You get to see Ryan as Katharine Hepburn, too.)  Ryan and Colin are also amusing trying to be Scottish in Whose Line.  Note that the hat in Scenes from a Hat is an Uncle Sam hat, like back in the New York episodes of '91 and '92.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.17

Duet, one of the better games.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.17
ABC
December 16, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

Too many "The points don't matter" lines, too much cross-promotion of The Drew Carey Show, and too many jokes about prison rape.  And so end the 1990s in my television collection.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.13

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.13
ABC
November 18, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Josie makes her second of two appearances on the American version of the television show that she helped launch eleven years before and ends up getting censored for something about "dead cats" (edited out) and "eating pussy" (definitely edited out).  She does a nice job dueting with Wayne, although it's not as magical as some of her duets with Mike McShane.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.4

Linda and Laura

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 2.4
ABC
October 7, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

This episode has a lot of three-person games, including Three-Headed Broadway Star (omitting Greg), but my favorite is the four-person Let's Make a Date, where the three potential dates for Wayne fit a little too well, as casting and as a team: Wayne must choose between Bachelor #1, Greg as an Exorcist; Bachelor #2, Colin as a Rabid Canadian Hockey Player; and Bachelor #3, Ryan as a Strip Club Bouncer (which I believe he was in real life when he was about twenty).  Drew's tendency to elaborate on the already annoying "The points don't matter" with "...just like..." is already going here in the second season of what I was calling by then Drew's Line.  And guitarist Linda Taylor joins keyboardist Laura Hall for the music, including funk and other styles for Wayne in Greatest Hits.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 1.14

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 1.14
ABC
February 3, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Ian Gomez joins the regulars for, among other things, Weird Newscasters, where he plays Ricky Ricardo.  The highlight of the episode is probably Brad doing the B-52s.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: US Episode 1.12

Poor Brad!

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: US Episode 1.12
ABC
January 20, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
B-

This episode, thanks especially to Wayne Brady, is actually pretty good.  The energy level and creativity are higher than they'd been on the British version in the post-Paul-Merton mid '90s.  And I was pleasantly surprised that Drew didn't get on my nerves.  Yet.  Also, it was cool to see Brad again.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 1.11

Different episode

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 1.11
ABC
January 13, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Greg plays President Clinton in Let's Make a Date, and Wayne later is Tina Turner in Greatest Hits.  This episode is one where I notice Greg and Wayne interacting more, as if the constant pairing of Ryan & Colin has made them into the "other guys" (along with Brad) and they've bonded over that.  Plus they tend to sit next to each other.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 1.10

Scene to Rap

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: U.S. Episode 1.10
ABC
January 6, 1999
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

So Whose Line moved to America while the British version was wrapping up.  It got a new host, Drew Carey, and new musician, Laura Hall.  I missed Clive and Richard V. but I was glad to see some familiar faces and to get new episodes.  Of those faces, Denny Siegel isn't bad, but it's Wayne Brady (who'd started a few months before on the British version) who most shines here, with his musical and other talents.  Ryan and Colin were already fixtures on the British version by then of course.  The best game here is probably Questions Only.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.7

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.7
Channel Four
8 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

The other formerly missing episode features Eddie Izzard and never seems to get going.  This doesn't really affect the C+ the average for Series Seven though.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.4

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.4
Channel Four
18 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Ah, so I do have Caroline's Whose Line debut after all.  The best thing here is probably Helping Hands, where Richard seems unsure whether he's going to provide piano accompaniment to Ryan-Colin's lounge singer act, although it's also fun to see the Press Conference where Tony's head has been attached to a dog.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: 1995 Compilation

Caroline Quentin and Paul Merton

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: 1995 Compilation
Channel Four
26 December 1995*
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Like the rest of the episodes this year, this one stays at that not-bad level, with probably Questions Only the top game.  But with Northover as director and the cast definitely settled in, there just aren't any real highs or lows anymore.  By this point, I certainly wasn't eagerly awaiting new episodes, and my ex-husband stopped taping them, or much else, for me soon after this. The programme would go on, into the present, but in various forms.  I'd catch up with it again later in the decade, when it had changed continents and hosts, so the story doesn't quite end here, although it does for most of the contestants.  (I'm omitting Caroline from the overcrowded tags.)

*This is the date on Wikipedia, where it's the second of two compilations for the seventh series.  IMDB has them as airing in the first half of October, but I don't know that it matters all that much.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.10

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.10
Channel Four
29 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

This very obviously is not only the same line-up as on 7.8, with the contestants wearing the same outfits, but even Clive's introductions are exactly the same!  The best thing about the episode is Ryan's struggle through accents in FATS with Josie.  As for shipping, not only do they do "German Porn" there, but their credits-reading has them about to make out until they're caught on a security camera.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.9

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.9
Channel Four
22 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

The best game here, not necessarily the funniest but the one showing the most talent, is Josie and Caroline's love duet about a beached whale.  The two old friends are affectionate there and in their FATS.  (Quentin will still married to Paul Merton at this point by the way, but Paul was long gone from WLIIA and so they'd never work together on this programme.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.8
Channel Four
15 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

I don't think, at this point anyway, that adding props to World's Worst particularly helps.  And having Stephen Frost host Party Quirks may not be the best idea, when he's such a quick guesser.  (I mean, if Josie Finds Bald Heads Irresistible, shouldn't we see her flirt with Colin, too?)  Still, it's not a bad line-up and apparently had enough material to fill another episode (7.10).  Psychiatrist is probably the best of the lot here, if only to hear Richard and the contestants try to do Austrian and Greek music, and I like New Job Old Job, with Ryan & Josie checking into a hotel as a very unmarried couple and Stephen as a bellhop who used to work in airport security.  Note that I'm missing Episode 7.7, as far as I know, but my guess is that it (and 7.4) would've earned C+s, too.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.6

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.6
Channel Four
1 September 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

The undoubted highlight here is the Party Quirks, where Colin is all Seven Dwarves and Ryan is Animals Crossing a Road; even though I'm not big on physical humor, I could see why Mike (In Love with Cameras) keeps cracking up, and of course Tony is baffled most of the time.  Runner-up is Bar Scene, especially Tony referencing Mrs. Slocum's love for her "pussy" on Are You Being Served?

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.5

Charlie's Angels

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.5
Channel Four
25 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Unless it turns up on an unexpected tape, it looks like I'm missing Episode 7.4.  Other than the Clive & Greg teasing, my favorite part here is the premiere of Let's Make a Date, a variation on Party Quirks.  It's not hilarious and, as Clive notes, Greg fails to guess everyone (or to actually pick a bachelor), but it's interesting to see how it plays out.  Note that Richard Vranch appears at the end but the Comedy Central version my ex taped doesn't actually include any musical games.  Unless I've counted wrong, this is my 100th show from Channel Four.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.3 [fragment]

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.3 [fragment]
Channel Four
11 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Yes, this line-up again, but it's not bad.  My favorite game is Press Conference, which is similar to Party Quirks, except Tony has to guess why he's holding a presser, in this case because he's the First Man to Make Love in Outer Space.  (I'm not sure what I'm missing of the Comedy Central edit beyond the opening credits and introductions.)

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.2

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.2
Channel Four
4 August 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Other than the Clive & Greg bickering of course, my favorite thing here is probably Greg & Mike's sci-fi/horror Scene to Music.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.1

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 7.1
Channel Four
28 July 1995
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

One-timer Niall Ashdown isn't bad on this series-opener, although some of the laughs come from Greg's reactions to Niall's Geordie (Newcastle) accent.  Questions Only might be the best game of the episode, but then it's generally better than most of the other games.