The Drew Carey Show: The Complete Series DVD Box Set is the entire series of The Drew Carey Show, with the exception of four special episodes. The show came out in 1995 and ran until 2004; one season per year for a total of nine. The show was about the show runner Drew Carey and his friends navigating life. It featured them at work, at the bar, and other social events and things like that. It really was a show about life, pop culture, and added humor throughout.
Back when the show aired, I found the show to be funny, fun, and really enjoyable. So I was really excited when this box set showed up to dive right back into this show after not watching it about a year before it ended its run.
Well the excitement of this show quickly subsided. I was only really able to get through a couple of episodes, including the pilot and the last episode of the series. I did this for a couple of reasons. The first being is that I wanted to get an idea of the shows origins and see just how it ended, to get an idea of the direction of the show. The other reason for this is because I wanted to see if the quality of production and writing improved over time.
As one would expect, the production did really improve as the show went on. The picture quality and even the audio quality improved a lot over the years. I will say though that at times, it was hard to tell given the dated format of DVD that this collection was produced on. They really should have gone with Blu-ray and charged a bit more for the set, as it would have been totally worth the price increase; at least for those that would purchase it.
The writing seemed to be kind of stagnant and something that didn’t really sit right with me. Most of this is due to the show being a product of it’s time as well as my personal views as I’ve gotten older and moved away from the show and stopped watching it. More often then not, Drew Carey and his friends poke fun and make jokes about whatever situation they are in, but do so with a very sexist and narrow view.
The only parts I really found laugh out loud funny were the interactions between Drew Carey and Mimi (Drew Carey’s co-worker and eventual sister in-law). These interactions are very funny and the chemistry between the two of them is genuine and is fun to watch. One other character relationship that is quite fun and enjoyable is the relationship between Drew and his brother Steve. The dynamic between these two are just as fun and enjoyable as that between Drew and Mimi.
But these two relationships between the characters are just about all that is enjoyable with this show after all these years. Now this may be due to how dated the show is, and it also may be due to me personally just not finding it funny, but rather the complete opposite for the most part.
So should you purchase this DVD sett for The Drew Carey Show? Well if you still find dated and rather sexist jokes and dialogue funny, then yes pick up this set. If you’re okay with DVD quality, then again, pick up this set.
Fans of the Drew Carey Show will really enjoy this box set, especially if you catch a re-run or see a clip online and find it funny. But if you’re like me and have nostalgia for the show, it might be worth just remembering how funny the show was the last time you watched it. Hold onto those memories, because if you ever come back to it, you might realize that it’s not funny at all anymore.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.