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As you, dear reader, may or may not remember, back in July of last year, Greg had let it slip that there was a possibility of Whose Line returning, with Drew at the reigns of structuring the new/returning show. However, Greg later stated in August that it looked like those plans had come to a screeching halt. (Scroll down this page to read both references and the quotes involved.) Just when we were getting hopeful that Whose Line might live again, it seemed that that hope was shot down.

I am here to tell you that hope is taking wing and soaring once more. And this time, a solid step has been taken in the right direction. Please read on...

I attended Improv Allstars on February 6th, 7th, and 8th of this year (just a few weeks ago), which was held, per usual, at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino at the Hollywood Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada. And when I entered those golden doors, there was one thing I instantly noticed: film cameras.

Sure enough, the shows on both Friday night and Saturday night (though not Sunday night) were filmed. There was a full camera crew there, with professional lighting. The stage was also done up in a manner that was far different from usual, featuring a ladder in the corner, a pile of rope by the piano, an odd brick wall of sorts slanted sideways upstage, a hoarde of spotlights and key lights with barn doors, and the stools were much closer to the edge of the stage.

One could assume that they were filming another television special, like they did back in 2001 for HBO. And this was originally what I thought.

That is, until Drew Carey said, during the course of his opening stand-up act, the magical words, "We're filming a pilot tonight."

During both nights, the show was filmed from beginning to end, including Drew's stand-up and concluding on the game 'Fairytale'. The performers included Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles, Drew Carey, Chip Esten, Jeff B. Davis, Kathy Kinney, Jonathan Mangum, and a brand new woman named Heather Anne Campbell (check out some basic information on her here). The music was composed by Bob Derkach (of Second City fame; he tours with Whose Live Anyway?).

I thus made it my mission to learn more about this mysterious "pilot". After the second taping, I brought it up in my conversation with the delightful Chip Esten. It went as follows:

Diane: Do you know anything about this pilot?
Chip: Well, it's not quite a pilot.
Diane: Ah, because Drew said 'pilot'.
Chip: It is a pilot, as much as usually a pilot means that you know who is looking at it to buy it. This is kind of a pilot where they are going to shoot it, produce it, and then see who wants to buy it, see if anybody's interested.
Diane: Oh nice!
Chip: Yeah. So they can do whatever they want. We've shot over two nights and then take best 20 or 30 minutes you can out of that. So think good thoughts.

I was too engrossed in my other conversations with Greg after the shows to ask him about the pilot, so I sent him an email inquiry later instead. He replied and told me that he had yet to hear of any news concerning the status of the pilot. However, he did say that he'd (in his words) 'hip me when something goes down'.

Thus, we are back to waiting, and wondering, and wondering, and waiting. I will let you all know the status of things the moment I learn anything new. I will be keeping in touch with Greg to try and find out more about Drew's plans, and just what this new show would consist of.

Based on what was filmed for the 'pilot', we can assume that the new 'Whose Line' would be simply Improv Allstars, which is obviously a different format than the original game-genre show. There is no person behind the desk or buzzers in Improv Allstars. There are a lot more players on stage at a time. There are new games in Improv Allstars that were never played on Whose Line (or even on Green Screen Show, for that matter). There is a lot more suggestive humor (the pilot was obviously not censored). Some questions I might have is whether or not, if the show was to be picked up, if it would continue to be filmed in Vegas, or if it would move to Hollywood. I also wonder about the casting. I'm sure a lot of Whose Line fans would be eager to know if Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood would again be joining the ranks, or if perhaps more totally new faces - like that of Heather Anne Campbell - would fill their shoes instead. At this point, we can only guess and speculate and, as Chip said, have good thoughts!

But overall, I find the news very exciting! Please stay tuned for further updates as more information presents itself. Keep your fingers crossed, folks.

Recently, GPN broke a bucketload of news concerning a string of new projects that it seemed that Greg was involved in. Well, thanks to the live interview Greg partook in on August the 6th on BlogTalkRadio, I was able to speak to him directly to obtain some more information concerning these projects. Overall, there was some good news mixed in with the bad.

To start with, it seems that the aforementioned possible Whose Line Is It Anyway?-like show return is currently at a halt. Even though he had mentioned that he couldn't speak of it, I still took a stab and inquired about it, wondering if he could allude to anything at all. Our conversation was as follows:

Greg: "I would exhale, because I don't think there's going to be anything really soon, but hopefully. We'll see. But the thing with Drew... I don't think so, and I would be dishonest if I said yes that it's going to happen, so..."
Diane: "So it's looking like a no-go?"
Greg: "Pretty much. For the moment, because you know, things change."
Diane: "Can you tell us more about it since it is looking like a no-go?"
Greg: "No, I can't. It was too much of Drew's thing, and it never got further than that, so I can't really tell you, but yeah, you know... it would have been everything that everybody would have wanted. But other things will happen."

While it does give us some answers, it also leaves a lot of room open for interpretation. Perhaps in the future something else will come about, which Greg was slightly hinting at - though that could have just been Greg being hopeful, but then again, possibly something is going on underground that he simply can't speak of. The fact that he said that 'it would have been everything that everybody would have wanted' leads me to believe that the original project with Drew was, indeed, similar to a Whose Line resurrection-type show. It is too bad, and very sad, that this will not be happening - at least, not sometime in the near future. We can only keep hoping!

Along the lines of bad news, it seems that "GSI: Game Scene Investigation" is, as Greg put it, "sleeping with the fishes". Apparently the pilot was actually created in 2007, but was never picked up. We regret to admit that this will not be happening whatsoever!

However, it's time to lighten the mood with some good news! I was able to garner some information from Greg concerning the mysterious pilot that he shot back on May 10th, 2009, at the Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown. (Scroll down to the news article "A New Pilot In The Works?" on May 26th to read more about the original finding.) This is what Greg responded with to my questioning:

"That was something that is still up in the air for Sundance Channel, and I don't think they've been able to make it happen yet, so I can't say that it's going to happen. It was Hari Kondabalo, who is a very funny young comedian, and Laura Swisher, and I, and the whole premise is that we go to different cultures and do stand-up. And I would be the wizened old baboon who they would come to as the law giver, because I've been a lot of places and I'm old, and they are in their late 20's, I reckon, and dead funny, and keen. And we would try to bring American, you know, things to other lands. And Hari is, you know, his family is from India, and Laura is, I think, a black girl who was raised by white people. I think she was adopted. So they have really interesting backgrounds and that was the whole premise, I think, was to send a representative slice of America abroad. But as I say, I don't think they've made a decision yet. It might still be alive. Let's all cross our fingers. That would have been really fun, because we would have traveled all around the world."

So we can only hope, and, as Greg says, cross our fingers, that this will come about. I, personally, find this an intriguing concept - a travel show meets comedy show sort of ordeal. As the normal point of travel shows is to focus on architecture, history, and the culture of a particular place, it might be interesting to see what, exactly, makes these cultures, these people, actually laugh - to what degrees would they respond to the three American comics. Again, hopefully Sundance will pick this up and make it happen!

Lastly, we still don't have any definition release dates on Elsewhere yet, but it looks like it's going to be soon. Greg recently approved the artwork and did some other things for the album, so I'm placing bets on a mid-autumn release. We also were able to learn that the material is from a little bit before the election - so it will be a bit dated. (However, anyone who knows Greg and his stand-up very well at all can tell you that he changes it constantly, and that the term 'dated' can thus be used loosely.) We'll keep you posted on news concerning Elsewhere as it comes around!

Finally, we just have one small snippet before we end this lengthy news posting. Greg Proops Net is proud to say that Greg has graciously consented to grant us an interview sometime in the near future! I don't know when the interview will be. It will be a written/typed interview and not live, but I, for one, am greatly looking forward to it. So be sure to keep an eye out for that as well!

Just recently, we heard of a rumor involving a possible resurrection of Whose Line (or, some sort of other improv show, that would involve at least Drew Carey and Greg Proops). However, out of the blue, it seems that murmurings of new projects have suddenly sprouted and taken wing!

It seems that we finally have a bit more information concerning Greg's newest album! Well over a year ago, we mentioned rumors of a new comedy CD coming out. Now the item officially has a name: Elsewhere. The CD is being released by "A Special Thing Records" (a company that is well-known for releasing comedy-related material). However, we still don't know of its release date, nor do we know the actual content of the CD. It had originally been rumored to be a CD featuring content from Greg's chat show at Largo, though this is not confirmed. However, speaking as one who has attended Largo a few times now, a Largo CD would be most welcome!

Greg's had a history of playing the role of 'television host'. He played this role well with shows such as Space Cadets, Rendez-View, and V.S. He's also hosted numerous other small items for television (such as Memory Skills). Thus, when it was just announced that Greg will reprising his role as a TV host for a brand-new game show called "Head Games", we were both intrigued and yet not too surprised to see him going back to bat at something which he obviously does well. "Head Games" will be shown on the Science Channel, and was created by and will be produced by Whoopi Goldberg. It is said that the show will involve videos of the craziest science riddles and questions. The show will be shot in front of a live studio audience in New York City, New York, and possible contestants are already being chosen! If you are interested in being a contestant, the casting call ad from Craigslist stated the following:

The Science Channel and Executive Producer Whoopi Goldberg are currently looking for a select group of bright, witty people who would like to appear as contestants on a new game show and aren't afraid to mix it up with host Greg Proops...and maybe win some cash. You don't need to know Einstein's Theories or be a master at quantum physics. You only need to choose the right answer...and have fun while you're doing it.

For more information on how to be a contestant, please click this link. Auditions are already being held, and filming is set to commence in late August, with the show rumored to begin airing early October.

If you're interested in attending a taping (or two or three) of "Head Games", email headgamesaudience@gmail.com and be sure to include your name and phone number so that a member of the audience department can contact you with more information.

But that's not all! Mr. Proops has definitely been keeping himself busy, as it was also just announced that he is piloting a new show for ESPN called "GSI: Game Scene Investigation". The only description we currently have of the show are as follows:

In the show, Greg will set out to investigate and uncover the truth behind some of sport's most famous myths. Are they real or fake?

Indeed, it's an interesting concept, especially to sports fans. As knowledgeable as Greg is about both history and sports (especially baseball), this is right up his alley. Stay tuned for further updates on when GSI will be hitting your television sets.

As a bit of pure speculation, just recently in an interview, Greg had mentioned that he was working on a possible new show that would involve him traveling all around the globe. Either there is yet another pilot in the works... or he was referring to GSI. (Don't forget about the mysterious pilot, too, that was filmed back in May!)

Either way, the Proopdog has been extremely busy as of late. With so many new projects and shows and comedy CDs, Greg is really strutting his stuff. And of course, he continues to tour with both his improv and stand-up, as well as is still a part of "True Jackson VP"!

In a recent interview from July 10th (of 2009), Greg dropped a hint alluding to something that could possibly be the thing that Whose Line Is It Anyway? fans have been hoping for for years now: Whose Line Is It Anyway? might be coming back in some form or another. The quote from the interview is as follows:

"Whose Line lives on forever and ever... We might be doing something. I can't really talk about it, but Drew's trying to whip up some improv thing."

Obviously, at this point, we can only merely speculate as to what, exactly, this means. This is no definite 'yes, Whose Line is coming back' or even a strong maybe - more like something that is in the works and being cooked up. However, the mere possibility for Whose Line to return - or at least, another improv show featuring the original Whose Line cast - is exciting, to say the least. We'll definitely be keeping tabs on this news snippet, so stay tuned for further updates!

The other day, I stumbled across an intriguing blog entry.  The blog belongs to a woman by the name of Laura Swisher, an artist of sorts who has done television show hosting as well as standup.  The entry was taken from May 10th, 2009, and discusses herself, a comic by the name of Hari Kondabalo, and Greg involved with a new project that was filmed on Mother's Day.  The entry is as follows:

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Spent Mother's Day shooting in Chinatown with comics Hari Kondabalo and Greg Proops. This is us in the Grand Star Jazz Club after a stand-up show this afternoon.

I hope I don't jinx this project by writing about it, but I can say that this show would be AMAZING if it gets picked up, if only to hang out with Hari and Greg.

Spending time with Proops is like hanging out with a human encyclopedia. Want to talk about T.E. Lawrence, the Bataan Death March, the drug habits of your favorite legendary actors and anything related to cinema? Greg's your guy.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of both these guys and have got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to work with them in the relative near future.

As it is so vague, it is thus very much open to speculation, and will be treated as merely a rumor until more information materializes.  Nevertheless, it would be nice to see Mr. Proops doing more than one show again!