The Drew Carey Show: Season 03 (1997)

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The Drew Carey Show continues to abandon reality in favor of surrealism through the series' third season, beginning with a story arc wherein the obstreperous Mimi (Kathy Kinney), eternal enemy of series hero Drew Carey (playing himself), goes into full "Steven King" mode, holding her traumatized boss Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson) prisoner after a tornado rips through Cleveland and nearly destroys the Winfred-Louder department store. Likewise far removed from "real life" is the first of the series' "What's Wrong with This Episode?" entries, in which the fans at home were offered huge cash prizes to spot the many deliberate errors sprinkled throughout the episode's thirty minutes. And on a less elaborate but no less unrealistic note, Winfred-Louder's barracudalike owner Mrs. Louder (Nan Martin inexplicably changes her first name from Dottie to Fran--which, come to think of it, is no less inexplicable than her torrid affair with the store's most incompetent employee, Larry Almada Ian Gomez, who makes his own distinctive mark on the proceedings by causing the entire cast to be arrested on drug charges! And then there's the oddball romance between Drew's lifelong friends Oswald Harvey (Diedrich Bader and Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller). . . New cast additions this season include John Carroll Lynch as Steve Carey, Drew's transvestite older brother; Kate Walsh as Drew's real-estate-agent girlfriend (and, briefly, fiancee) Nicki Fifer, she of the fluctuating weight and dangerous mood swings; Adrienne Barbeau as Kim Harvey, the mother of Drew's uber-neurotic best friend Oswald; and Ashley Gardner, a professional "guinea pig" at DrugCo and erstwhile sweetheart of the company's janitor Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles). Among those making guest appearances are Rush Limbaugh, Dionne Warwick, Tim Conway, the rock band The Reverend Horton Heat, and the cast of the British film hit The Full Monty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi