Originally a British concept, Whose Line Is It Anyway? became a success in the UK in the late 80s and ran well into the 90s. Created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson the improvisational comedy show featured a host in the form of Clive Anderson who would dictate a series of games to a wild cast of comedians. The idea was simple, fun, and downright hilarious at times. It's only natural that the show eventually came to America.

Instead of Clive Anderson sitting behind the desk in the U.S. adaptation, Drew Carey took the reigns. Along with Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie and Wayne Brady the show captured much of the atmosphere that the original offered. As you'd expect the humor was Americanized but fans on both sides of the fence were able to find something to laugh at. The series ran strong from 1998 to 2004 and became one of the mainstays in ABC's affiliate re-run lineup.

If you've never seen the show then you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about. While this is an improve comedy series the episodes feel more like a gameshow in nature with the amount of games that are played. As Drew rests behind his desk the four "contestants" (aforementioned comedians and a guest star) sit in front of the studio audience waiting for the next game to be called. Once Drew states the name of the game the players get up on stage and do whatever it is they have to. Sometimes the audience participates as well, which is a change in venue from the British version of the show.

The thing that I found most appeal about Whose Line Is It Anyway? was the pure randomness of it all. Watching an episode that you haven't seen before is one of the joys of this show simply because of the spontaneity of it all. You never know what's going to happen, what Ryan is going to do or what Wayne is going to sing. It doesn't matter who wins the show (Drew awards points that don't mean anything) because however it turns out it's the audience that gets the prize; a good laugh.

ABC has started releasing DVDs for the American version of the series and the first volume of the first season has shown up at our doorstep. It's a shame that the entire first season wasn't available in a boxed set but with ten episodes on two discs you get a decent supply of Whose Line Is It Anyway? for a relatively low price. Now, the thing to understand about this is that there are two versions of this release. Since ABC is the family network there is the censored version that appears on TV but for the purpose of this review we're checking out the Uncensored edition.

Don't get too excited just yet, the "Uncensored" stuff pertains to the supplemental features and not to the actual episodes themselves. I had actually seen quite a few of these episodes when they aired and I didn't notice any re-editing of the content. Even so, the episodes here are great examples of what the show is all about.

From the birth of the American version we see a progression in the format of the series. In the first couple of episodes the content seemed to be very structured. Things start out with the game "Let's Make a Date" and move into "Sound Effects", "Hats" and "Greatest Hits". The nature of the show becomes more randomized in later episodes as more games are added into the mix.

Wayne, Ryan and Colin have great chemistry and it shows with every episode here. In these first ten episodes Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Karen Maruyama, Kathy Kinney, and Denny Siegel all stop by as the guest comedians. The content on these discs gets better as it goes but it does leave one wishing that we had the whole season instead of a portion of it. The next volume better be coming out soon if ABC wants to hold viewer's interest with picking these up.

With a production date from eight years ago the video content in Whose Line Is It Anyway? holds up pretty well, all things considered. The image is presented with its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio and offers picture quality like you would expect. Compression artifacts and grain are prominent and there can be a soft edge at times. Otherwise the image is sharp with natural colors and decent resolution. It's better looking than its broadcast but not by a whole lot.

Just like the video the sound quality is on par with what you'd expect for the most part. With a 2.0 English track the channels aren't very diverse and at times it almost sounds like a mono track instead of a stereo one. The volume also pitches horribly and often becomes a rollercoaster of soft voices and overbearing applause. To say that the audio is unbalanced would be an understatement but just like the video the presentation here is still better than you'd get from the airing of the show. Subtitles are present on the disc but only in the form of French and Spanish.

Like I had mentioned, it's the extra features in this release that are uncensored; not the episodes themselves. The most impressive (IE: funniest) extra is a meaty Gag Reel filled with screw ups from the entire cast. It gives a great look at the filming of the show and what goes into each episode as the comics screw up their intended jokes and otherwise make an ass out of themselves. Frequent F-Bombs are dropped along with many sexual gestures. I think it's fair to say that I laughed harder at the Gag Reel than anything else on this disc, including the episodes themselves; they are just that funny.

The only other features on the disc are some hilarious outtakes for some games of "Questions Only", "Duet", "Scenes from a Hat", "Bar Scene", "Animals", and "Greatest Hits". These were very good too but nowhere near as enjoyable as the Gag Reel was.

Whether or not you'll appreciate this release depends on a couple of things. First of all you have like the American version of the show. Second of all you have to not mind buying a TV DVD that isn't an entire season. If you fall into both categories then buying into this is a no-brainer.

With all of that taken into consideration separating the two into Censored and Uncensored editions also seems like a silly way to split the audience up. The fact that the episodes presented here are still the edited versions makes the separation of the two seem even more pointless. Even so, fans looking for Whose Line Is It Anyway? on DVD don't have any other choice at the moment. If you're sick of trying to find a rerun on TV pick this up.

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