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.
