The greatest unanswered question in short-form improv will return to TV this summer as The CW has revived the game show that’s not a game show (unless you consider improvised comedy a game), Whose Line is it Anyway?
Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie will return, too, as primetime players — this time guided by host Aisha Tyler. The series will run for at least 10 weeks this summer on The CW, according to the network’s announcement on Friday by The CW President Mark Pedowitz.
Pedowitz had worked previously at ABC, where Whose Line enjoyed its initial U.S. run from 1998 to 2007, with repeats continuing to air on ABC Family through 2011. Drew Carey had hosted all of those episodes.
Tyler wrote to her Twitter following on Friday: “@DrewFromTV‘s a genius. HUGE shoes to fill. My feet are prob literally bigger because I’m freakishly tall, but metaphorically. You get it.”
Carey, for his part, wrote: “Hey! Sincere best wishes to @aishatyler and everyone on the new Whose Line! I hope you guys get to do it forever. :)”
To which Tyler replied: “@DrewFromTV you’re the GREATEST. Fearfully praying not to figuratively poop on your monster legacy. Also to literally not poop my pants.”
Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza employed Brady, Mochrie, Stiles and several other improvisers when it ran on GSN (Game Show Network) in 2011, with reruns airing through early 2013. You can still see Carey on your TV every weekday morning as the host of long-running game-show staple The Price is Right.
It was a big week for Tyler — FX renewed her animated show, Archer, for a fifth season, and she appeared on Sunday night’s live episode of Talking Dead on AMC. She’s also a co-host on CBS daytime talker The Talk.
In the new 2013 version of Whose Line, the trio of Brady, Mochrie and Stiles will be joined by a special guest in each episode, with Tyler doling out “points” to the four performers over the course of the show based on their ability to play the improv games in front of the studio audience. It’s executive produced by Dan Patterson, Mark Leveson, Jimmy Mulville, Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady.
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The story behind the story is amusing, too. The Wenatchee World inadvertently broke the story a day earlier, deep in an interview with Ryan Stiles promoting his performance there over the weekend. Mochrie backed that up Friday morning with a vague Tweet. From there, it was off to the races on the Internet. Despite having the ability to copy-and-paste, several sites rushed to get the story first and invariably got the story wrong. The CW’s announcement late Friday clarified the situation and made it official.