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 2.4

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 1.11

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.

Tompkins Square: Greg Proops

Tompkins Square: Greg Proops
Comedy Central
August 31, 1996
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B

This Dana-Gould-hosted series kicked off with a pilot that featured Proops among others.  Having seen Greg live a couple times around then, I can vouch for this being a typical set, with its contrast of cultures, in this case, "Lo Cal" (Southern California), England, and Mexico.  It still holds up well, although it would've been interesting to see some New York humor, considering the setting.

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 7.5

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 7.2

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.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series Six Compilation

Working out the balance

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series Six Compilation
Channel Four
2 September 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C

I feel like none of the games in this really get going, like Remote Control, where Josie's Coronation Street isn't bad but of course keeps getting interrupted.  (And poor Mike gets only one turn to do The Muppet Show.)  According to IMDB and Wikipedia, there was a Part Two for the Compilation, which aired either on 9 September or the following January.  In any case, I don't appear to own it, although of course it might pop up later as I continue through my videotapes.  This is as good a place as any to say that Series Six of WLIIA is a bit of a let-down, if not a shark-jump.  It ranges from C to B-, averaging out to a C+ like Series Five, but a low C+.  I do have at least some of Series Seven on tape, and I think it was again more of the same, but with new additions like Caroline Quentin.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.9

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.9

Channel Four

26 August 1994

Improv Game Show

VHS
B-

Well, this caught me by surprise.  It's the third rendition of this line-up (after two last year) but it feels fresher than either of its predecessors, or indeed much of Series Six.  I laughed out loud a few times, and not just at the interactions with Clive.  With Greg in Fixed Expressions instead of Steve Frost (no offense to him), the dynamic is just much better, and this is true of other games.  Even Sound Effects and Hoedown aren't bad, especially the latter, which is about sex, and goes from Greg teasing Tony's slutty image to Tony confirming the image by wanting to sit on Barbara Bush!  Also, Greg seems quite amused by Tony in World's Worst, where Tony even embarrasses himself, twice.  Old Job New Job is probably the best game with Ryan and Colin, as Colin and Greg are the bereaved and Ryan is the used car salesman turned mortician.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.8
Channel Four
19 August 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

There's no real stand-out game in this episode, but there is a lot of Tony and Greg teasing Clive, usually after he starts it.  And Tony & Greg tease the viewers by acting if they're going to kiss.  Chip is just as smirky as he was two years earlier.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.4

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.4
Channel Four
22 July 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

Not everything works here, but I like the line-up and the Bartender is great, from Ryan and Tony's problems (his wardrobe and being in love with an inflatable pig) to the reactions of the contestants and Clive.  Also, notice how the suggestion of "Richard Nixon back from the dead" (Nixon died the previous April) is incorporated by Greg into Superheroes, after he and Clive clash over two other suggestions.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.2

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 6.2
Channel Four
8 July 1994
Improv Game Show
VHS
C+

While this isn't as memorable, Kitty Litter Duet aside, as the '93 version of this line-up, it is still nice to see the chemistry, platonic and not, still strong among this foursome.  (And Greg and Clive still bickering of course.)  If I had to pick a favorite game, it would be Funeral, dirge and all.  Note that I believe that, while this aired in July in the UK (and later that summer on Comedy Central), it was probably taped before O.J. Simpson's Bronco chase on June 17th, since there's little crowd reaction to the passing reference to Simpson in Greg & Mike's FATS.

This is the 2400th TV show I've reviewed.  Yes, we will hit 2500.

Greg Proops: Studs continued

Greg Proops: Studs continued
Comedy Central
1992
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B

Greg gets to the part of the show where the "preverbal" contestants have to match up quotes to their dates.  He doesn't seem to have exaggerated much.

Greg Proops: Studs

Greg Proops: Studs
Comedy Central
1992
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B

Greg analyzes the sleazy '90s answer to The Dating Game, from its "fashion faux pas of the epoch" to its "bizarre Euclidean gang-date" matches.

Greg Proops: Little Drummer Boy

Greg Proops: Little Drummer Boy
Comedy Central
December 1992
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B-

Greg explains just why the song is so annoying.

Greg Proops: Pixy Stix

Greg Proops: Pixy Stix
Comedy Central
1991
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B-

Greg talks about the perils of the candy.

Greg Proops: Ken Burns's Civil War

Greg Proops: Ken Burns's Civil War
Comedy Central
1991
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B-

Proops gently (for him) parodies the critically acclaimed documentary series, including a soldier's letter home to his sweetheart.

Greg Proops: Beverly Hills 90210

Greg Proops: Beverly Hills 90210
Comedy Central
1992
Stand-Up Comedy
VHS
B

Proops not only mocks the cast but he throws in pop-culture references ranging from Bob Marley to "James Darren in the Gidget movies."