The Drew Carey Show Forums

I used to watch this show all the time when I was younger and my mom would always have it on, so I decided to hunt down all the episodes and watch it start to finish. Up until I reached Season 9, it had been just as funny (if not more funny now that I'm old enough to get the humor) as it was back then and I was really happy to have revisited it.

Now that I'm seven episodes into Season 9, however, I don't know what the hell happened. I knew something was wrong right away when the supposedly first episode started with "Last time on Drew, Gus burned the house down", which lead me to find the correct episode order. Not a big deal, but the events still don't always feel like they mesh together correctly. To make matters worse, they adapted an awful method of filming the show where they follow the characters around more instead of keeping the mostly single shot style of the past eight seasons. It makes everything feel really different in a bad way (like I'm watching an action movie or something) and it seems like they're really bad at executing the style as well. The camera is shaky during times where it tries to be still and I don't think I've seen an episode yet where I didn't notice a camera or non-acting crew member get caught in the shot. Just horrible filming all around.

The comedy seems to have taken a dive as well and things seem to be more serious more often, with Drew's dad dying, Steve leaving Mimi, and so on. It also seems like Ryan Stiles has been absent a few times for the first time in the entire series. I noticed some talk about the show going downhill when Kate left, but Season 8 was just fine. Kellie was a decent replacement and it was still funny. But now, it's a chore for me to watch anymore. I was loving every minute of the show up until the second Season 9 started rolling....

well 1st of all welcome to the forums. 2ndly i haven't seen any of season 9 so i can't comment on it. i lost track on what the hell was going on on maybe season 7 or season 8? i think cause another show i liked was on at the same time. & also cause of the fact that they kept changing the

time slot for the show. & by the time i knew it was on, i lost interest in trying to keep up with the show. but i think i did see now that i'm thinking about it some of season 9. i can't recall what it was about though. i think i caught the tail end of the last episode when it 1st aired. i really miss this show. i wish it was still on to be honest. & if the 9th season IS as bad as you say it is, than it's a damn shame cause the show was i think good for soo many years. ya know?

Yeah I know what you mean about season 9. I recently watched the show from start to finish again after so many years. I still really enjoyed all the seasons, until I saw season 9, which I was really disappointed in. It obviously looked like they made a lot of changes to the show. Not only were there different camera techniques, but I also think there must have been a different team of directors and produces too, hence the reason why it suddenly lacked in comedy. The few absences of Ryan Stiles would not have helped either, and as a fan of Ryan, I believe that he provided quite a lot of that comedy.

Just finished watching Season 9 last night. What a complete and utter mess.

Too many changes from Season 8 to 9 and not in a good way.

I like Kellie, but I loved Kate. I missed her being on the show. I get why Christa Miller left, but it seems that her leaving coincided with the storyline going down hill too.

Season 7 should have been its last. It was pretty damn funny up until that point.

Then, the show does a 180 and it's barely a shell of its former self.

Even though she left in Season 4, I really liked Mrs.Lowder. I thought she had some classic lines and she brought a different element to the show. And then she just disappeared.

-Kate leaves but only after marrying some random guy she just met two weeks prior. I liked her and Drew together so this was disappointing.

-Winfred-Lowder closes

-Neverending Store opens... same building, new company.. but apparently on a different floor

-Lewis is missing from a number of episodes

-Steve has gotten really flaky, he disappears, reappears.. only to leave Mimi entirely. I missed him wearing women's clothing..

-Mimi and Drew get along. She LIVES with him... I really missed the pranks.. She sent him to China AND also got him committed.

-Mimi's son ages.. and is on and off kind of a brat (not surprising considering who his mother is, but come on!)

-Mr.Wick becomes a janitor and then eventually a Scottish weatherman...he disappears for no apparent reason

-The Neverending Store employees have a lot of interactions with Drew and Mimi (occasionally before, WL employees would be in episodes, but I thought this was overkill)

-Kellie shows up as a stripper... introducing her felt so forced. I like Nicki second to Kate, so it's too bad they wrote her off and couldn't bring her back.

-I also thought Kellie getting pregnant was so forced. It felt like they were trying to tie up lose ends quickly and they failed miserably.

-I also missed the story lines involving Buzz Beer.

-What was with the weird Bus scenes? I didn't like those at all. They weren't as clever as the carpool scenes.

And finally,

what was with those camera angles? Sometimes it felt like a sitcom and others like a mockumentary. I really would like to know why after 8 years, it was important and necessary to film it differently? It worked the rest of them.. why change it... Because that's what the viewers at home truly believe, that if we could watch Mimi insult Drew from a different camera angle, then that would make Season 9 more watchable...(sarcasm)

Several episodes I saw crew members and the camera (extremely) visible in shots. Not like in other shows where you can occasionally see a mike boom.. I saw the entire camera, and the entire body. They totally phoned in Season 9. Shoddy writing, filming and story lines.

And to top it off ABC shows the episodes out of order even though there were several continuing storylines.Because of this a new scene was added to the beginning of "Sealed in a Kiss" makingthe episode look like a flashback (because it should have been shown earlier). Now if the episodes are shown in correct order this scene gives away the pregnancy storyline before anyone knows about it.

ABC had renewed the show for two more years after the 7th season so they contractually had to produce it. Otherwise, the program surely would have been cancelled after the 8th season. Since ABC didn't really want the season, they burned it off during the summer showing two episodes a week.

A mess.

Season 9 was way pass due. It should have ended at 7 or 8. This reminds me of when Jerry Seinfeld said he wanted to go out with Seinfeld on top. Drew Carey was just pass its prime and should have been ended but they just dragged it along. And it looked like everyone was ready to leave.