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History of Whose Line
The U.S. version of the British improv series, "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" premiered on ABC in August 1998. The show opened to strong ratings and immediately became one of the most loved shows on television. Hosted by Drew Carey, this unique series sees regulars Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, & Wayne Brady, plus another cast member that rotates each episode playing a number of games that bring skits filled with laughs and zany actions. But the key part of the show is that the performers are making everything up off the top of their heads leading to hilarious and unexpectable results. All the actors know before the show begins is what games they are going to be playing. They are unaware of what situations they'll be put in or what roles they'll be playing. For example, one game that is frequently featured in episodes of WLiiA is "Greatest Hits." Ryan & Colin will be pretending to be selling a new compilation album on a TV infomercial with songs based on a topic suggested by the studio audience. During the game, they will come up with song titles from the album they're selling. Whatever the song is, Wayne (and sometimes the fourth cast member) will have to come up with lyrics and sing the song as they go along, with music provided by an in-house band. Throughout the show, Drew gives points to the performers, but as he puts it... "The points don't matter. They're simply a gag to hold the show together." At the end of each show, Drew picks a winner who gets to sit at his desk while he comes out to play one final game with the others to close the episode. "Whose Line?" remained successful & was scheduled multiple times per week, however, ABC began what would become a trend of time slot changes in 2002. Forced to continuously search for the show, fans eventually started to lose interest. ABC then removed the show from their schedule for months at a time, destroying its audience. The network was contractually obligated to air two more seasons and did so by burning off the already-filmed 5th & 6th seasons during the summers of 2003 & 2004. This wasn't the end, though, thanks to WLiiA's impressive rerun ratings on ABC Family. In early 2005, fans were thanked for their dedication when the cable channel ordered 25 new episodes of leftover footage from past tapings to make up a 7th season. Later that year, ABC Family announced season 8 which would air sporadically throughout 2005 & 2006.
| Actors | Musicians |
| Drew Carey | Linda Taylor |
| Ryan Stiles | Cece Worral-Rubin |
| Colin Mochrie | Anna Wanselius |
| Wayne Brady | Anne King |
| Greg Proops | Laura Hall |
| Brad Sherwood | Executives |
| Kathy Griffin | Dan Patterson - Creator |
| Chip Esten | Mark Leveson - Creator |
| Jeff Davis | Drew Carey - Executive Producer |
| Kathy Greenwood | Ryan Stiles - Executive Producer |
| Josie Lawrence | Dan Patterson - Executive Producer |
| Karen Maruyama | Jimmy Mulville - Executive Producer |
| Denny Siegel | Denise O'Donoghue - Executive Producer |
| Guest Stars | |
| Neena & Veena Bidasha | Florence Henderson |
| Candy Girad | Patrick Bristow |
| Lassie | Richard Simmons |
| Ava Fabian | Robbie Williams |
| David Hasselhoff | Sid Caesar |
| Katie Harmon | Stephen Colbert |
| Keith Richmond | Jerry Springer |
| Jane Tricker | Hugh Hefner |
| Ian Gomez | Victoria Fuller |
| Joanie Laurer | Whoopi Goldberg |
| Kathy Kinney | Loyola Marymount Cheerleaders |
