The Drew Carey Show finale

Cafe Society
1

so am I the only one who watched this?

I’ve been watching this show ever since it first aired in 1995 (and was the one relief in a season full of shows making attempts to follow in Friends’ footsteps, all of which were quickly cancelled) but around season 5, it began making a steady decline, until it became utterly unwatchable (the Very Special Episode was probably the last good one). Yet Drew refused to budge, and since it still had 3 seasons left on contract, he went ahead and had Warner Bros run it out, even though ABC refused to air them except during the summer in pretty oddball timeslots. Still, since this was one of my favourite shows ever, I had to see how it ended. I probably shouldn’t be so surprised, but it was one last disappointment. What I got were two half hour episodes, which were completely disconnected from each other and each one could have been the finale. Both of them followed those awful finale cliches - the first one being restoring things to the way they were in season 1 (well, actually early season 2), and the second being a combination of the extremely overused crazy wedding/crazy baby labor sessions. The one cliche I was actually looking out for - the return of Kate in some form or another - never happened.

There was also absolutely no conclusion for Lewis and Oswald. They were basically spectators throughout the finale.

This show may have been alive after death for the last 3 or 4 years, but damn, it was still keeping a part of the mid-90’s alive for me.

2

Well, they did bring Craig Ferguson back, which was a pleasant surprise. He was a huge part of the show, so it’s only fitting that he be there for the end.

And while there was little sense of closure to the show, at least they did…

… this being part of that “restoring things to the way they were” that you discussed.

Also, I think we should clarify that Drew only had two seasons left on contract, not three, at the time that ABC decided that they would only broadcast his show during the summer slump. ABC foolishly agreed to a final three-season contract, but only the first of those seasons was broadcast during its regular scheduling.

3

Nuts. That was supposed to be a spoiler, not a quote.

'Course, I doubt that anyone cares at this point.

4

Watched it.

Could have lived without it.

5

Wow, I hadn’t realised it was still on.

They lost me when they let Drew indulge in his fantasies, all the silly theme shows and the song and dance numbers… :rolleyes:

It was best when focused on the comedy of a group of low brow buddies with crappy jobs, no other real friends, and nowhere lives. It was the anti-Friends, and as such it was very good.

6

This show was great in the mid 90s. Such a shame that it had to end like this.