Well, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. But the multiyear contract extension ABC gave "The Drew Carey Show" a couple of years back may just go down in TV history as one of the worst decisions ever.
Yes, indeed, the geniuses running ABC at the time (including current Entertainment division chairman Lloyd Braun) committed to keeping the show on the air just about the time it ran out of ideas and tanked in the ratings. But that commitment is why "Drew Carey" returns tonight (at 8 and 8:30 on Ch. 4) with a pair of new episodes.
It certainly has nothing to do with the show's ratings, which have been dreadful. It certainly has nothing to do with quality — tonight's "season premiere" of sorts finds Drew going on yet another diet. And he starts hallucinating.
And you thought you were hallucinating when you saw "The Drew Carey Show" in tonight's TV listings.
There's been a lot of criticism of the broadcast networks for favoring shows they produce themselves. And, in most cases, I'd tend to agree (at least to some extent) that it's not such a good thing.
But, in this case, it would be great if "The Drew Carey Show" was produced by one of the Disney divisions, which share ownership with ABC. If that were the case, the show would have been gone long before this. Contract or not.
"Drew" is produced by Warner Bros., however, and that studio has no particular reason to make life easier for ABC. Thus it is holding the network to the terms of that dunder-headed contract it signed — a contract that carries through not only this season's full slate of episodes but next season's as well.
Yikes. More than 30 more episodes of "Drew Carey" that ABC is still going to have to find a place for.
THE DATING EXPERIMENT: Hey, here's an original idea — a "reality" TV show about dating!
Tonight's umpteenth entry in the genre, "The Dating Experiment" (9 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4), is actually adapted from a Japanese show. Two strangers are sent on a, ahem, "Blind Date," where they have to follow instructions given to them in a "mysterious diary." The first couple is sent to Alcatraz — prisoners of love, apparently.
We're told their "ultimate goal" is finding "true love." Right. It's just more people desperate to be on TV.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com