Drew Carey's Green Screen Show - Format

Format

Each episode featured seven or eight performers, including Carey. Performers appearing during the series were Drew Carey, Brad Sherwood, Colin Mochrie, Jeff Davis, Greg Proops as regulars, and Chip Esten, Julie Larson, Sean Masterson, Jonathan Mangum, and Kathy Kinney; in addition, both Ryan Stiles and Kaitlin Olson appeared at the pilot taping, although not in any episodes. Because of the number of cast members and the smaller number of games (which had to produce scenes that made use of the animation), many cast members only got small amounts of screen time and less time for rapport on screen.

Each episode would begin with Carey walking onstage and demonstrating how the green screen stage could be used to add animation to his actions in post-production. The show then went right into games. Sometimes scenes were set with a simple premise and no twist. Other scenes were improvisation games, similar to those on Whose Line?; these included longer scenes, and more rapid-fire games which involved various short scenes.

Unlike Whose Line?, segments of the show came from multiple tapings, as evident by the cast wearing different outfits after each commercial break, removing the pretext of the former show that filming was continuous. The show was also more conspicuous in its edits during games. The show would usually have 4-5 games in episode, with an occasional clip beginning in the middle of a scene with no explanation.