Bruce Helford Movies

The eccentric American icon Long Gone John continues to weather a myriad of labels and roles; Gregg Gibbs's reverential documentary The Treasures of Long Gone John examines multiple facets of John's life, with a tripartite emphasis. Gibbs first explores John's work as an indie music mogul and the founder of the seminal Sympathy for the Record Industry - the grassroots record label that beget such mainstream bands as The White Stripes, The Lazy Cowgirls, and (very briefly) Hole; to this end, the picture's soundtrack packs in recordings by several Sympathy-produced artists, including: Shag, Coup, The Pizz, Dave Pressler and The Poubelle Twins. The film's second touchstone explores John's hobby as a collector of pop culture memorabilia, ad nauseum -- amassing everything from Ed Wood's script for Plan 9 From Outer Space, to pill bottles of noted personalities, which he obtained by sorting through celebrity garbage cans. And finally, Gibbs explores John's accomplishments as progenitor of the "lowbrow art movement" - the school that, per its name, takes objects and creations deemed ugly or pedestrian by connoisseurs and reassigns them with exorbitant cultural value and worth, by virtue of their lack of it. In addition to standard visits with John and glimpses of his collections and creations, Gibbs also works in time-lapse and animated sequences. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The ninth and final season of The Drew Carey Show was what is known in show business as a "burnoff". Though contractually committed to keep the series on the air until the Summer of 2004 and to approve a budget of $3 million per episode, ABC was unable to justify these conditions as the series' ratings continued to fall. Thus, Season Nine began not in the fall of 2003 as was customary, but instead snuck onto the scene on June 2, 2004, traditionally one of the lowest-rated playdates. The season's 28 episodes were subsequently seen on a two-per-week basis for the next fourteen weeks, until ABC was finally allowed to pull the plug on September 9. As a result, while the final season lost money for the network, it lost far less than would have happened had ABC scuttled the season entirely or left the remaining episodes on the shelf. (Don't you just love "inside baseball" talk like this?) The season was supposed to have begun just after the breakup of the extremely brief marriage between Drew Carey (playing himself) and his Southern-fried bride Lily, an emotional setback compounded by the death of Drew's dad George (Stanley Anderson) in a freak accident, and further exacerbated by George's disastrous military-style funeral. However, ABC chose to run the season's episodes out of sequence, confusing one and all. Even so, viewers quickly glommed to the fact that a romance had developed between Drew and his lifelong friend Kellie (Cynthia Watros), who subsequenlty announces her pregnancy, leading to the anticpated story complications and the introduction of Kellie's obnoxious parents Don (Michael Gross) and Annette (Susan Sullivan). At the same time, Drew has become surrogate father to his nephew Gus (who has miraculously reached the age of five after only three years, and is now played by Matthew Josten), thanks to the fact that Drew's brother Steve has deserted his wife Mimi (Kathy Kinney) and skeedaddled to Sri Lanka. Though Steve would make an unexpected reappearance in the form of onetime series regular John Carroll Lynch, Mimi would ultimately find lasting happiness from a wholly unanticipated source! The series ends as "NeverendingStore", the dot.com where Drew works, goes bankrupt, whereupon Drew attempts to revive his former place of employment, Winfred-Louder, with himself in charge. To this end, Drew seeks the help of his ex-boss Mr. Wick (welcome back, Craig Ferguson), now fabulously wealthy thanks to his marriage to the daughter of a Christian-broadcasting mogul. Though these plans typically go nowhere, there's a happy ending of sorts as Drew and Kellie prepare to get married--as quickly as possible, inasmuch as Kellie has already gone into labor! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although by prior agreement ABC was required to retain The Drew Carey Show on its prime time schedule through 2004 at a cost of $3,000,000 per episode, by the fall of 2002 it was obvious that the series' plummeting ratings no longer justified such a long-term commitment. Thus, only 15 of the 27 episodes filmed for the series' eighth season were broadcast before the network yanked the show from its lineup in January of 2003. At this point, ABC had two options: shelve the remaining episodes (and the subsequent ninth season, then in its early production stages) and take a huge financial bath, or "burn off" the 12 leftover episodes during the Summer of 2003, with two episodes shown back-to-back each week for a six-week period. The latter option was exercised, then repeated for the ninth and final season of The Drew Carey Show in the Summer of 2004. Those few viewers tuning into Season Eight had some treats in store for them, most notably the guest appearances of a different A-list musical group at the beginning and end of each episode. Also, there was an influx of new characters, precipitated by the bankruptcy of Winfred-Louder, the Cleveland department store which employed series protagonist Drew Carey (playing himself) and Drew's mortal enemy (and now sister-in-law!) Mimi Bombeck (Kathy Kinney. The store's new owners are a pair of oafish young techno-nerds named Scott (Jonathan Mangum) and Evan (Kyle Howard), who transform the place into a dot.com called "NeverendingStore." At first intending to fire everybody, Scott and Evan keep Drew on because they're amused by "the old man", and also relent and rehire Mimi (Kathy Kinney)--who immediately develops an intense hatred for newly installed keyboard operator Traylor (Kaitlin Olson), who proves so odious that Mimi ends up trying to murder the girl by stuffing her in a paper shredder! Leaving the series this season is longtime regular Christa Miller), whose character, Kate O'Brien, heads to Guam with her new husband, fighter pilot Kirk (Cameron Mathison). Replacing Kate as one of the "gang"--consisting of Drew, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles)--is another of Drew's former school pals, Kellie Newmark, played by Cynthia Watros. Though his marriage to Kate has fallen through, Drew stubbornly books a chapel for his wedding--then spends the rest of the season searching for an appropriate bride, with the help of former coworoker and now professional matchmaker Larry Almada (Ian Gomez). After a tentative romance with Kellie comes acropper, Drew settles upon a ditzy Southern belle named Lily (Tammy Lauren), with whom he ultimately marches down the aisle...and then... Although billed as regulars this season, John Carroll Lynch as Drew's brother and Mimi's husband Steve and Craig Ferguson as Drew's ex-boss Mr. Wick appear only sporadically. The reason for Wick's non-appearances are fairly obvious (why should he hang around a place where he's been canned); as for Steve, he abruptly vanishes from view after Mimi catches him in an extramarital affair, one that forces poor Drew to act as surrogate father for his nephew Gus for the duration of the series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The cast and crew of The Drew Carey Show entered its seventh season with more security and hubris than ever before. Thanks to the series' past excellent ratings performance, the producers and ABC had entered into an agreement whereby the show was "locked" into the network's schedule until the fall of 2004, with a lofty $3,000,000 budget alotted to each episode. Understandably emboldened by this, Drew Carey opens Season Seven with a radical departure from the show's usual format: "Drew's Back-to-School Rock 'n' Roll Comedy Hour", a special filled to overflowing with quickie comedy sketches and rockin' and rollin' musical numbers, featuring guest appearances by the likes of Jenny McCarthy, SHeDAISY, Smash Mouth, Uncle Cracker, Sugar Ray and Peter Frampton. The rest of the series was relatively conventional (at least by Drew Carey Show standards), with the episode "Married to a Mob" making a major technicological breakthrough as the series' first installment filmed in HDTV. Major developments this season include Drew's "graduation" from a mental institute, whereupon he ends up a reluctant bigamist--not only simultaneously wed to both Kate (Christa Miller) and Nicki (Kate Walsh), but also still legally committed to a "gay" union with his boss Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson), who in the previous season needed to get married in a hurry lest he be deported to England. Extricating himself from this marital melange by the skin of his teeth, Drew launches a new romance with sharp-tongued efficiency expert Christine Watson (Wanda Sykes). Elsewhere, Drew's brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch) and his worst enemy Mimi (Kathy Kinney), now husband and wife, hunker down to the responsibilities of parenting their baby son Gus; Drew's pals Lewis (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald (Diedrich Bader) blithely ignore all manner of municipal ordinances by building their "dream" house in the middle of a city park; and Mr. Wick goes into alcholic rehab, leaving the Winfred-Louder store in the less-than-capable hands of 19-year-old Milan Mercer (Jessica Cauffiel), the irresponsible daughter of new store owner Lord Mercer (Jim Piddock). Though there is no "What's Wrong With This Episode?" this season, viewers are treated to the wildest "Drew Live" episode thus far, with Drew caught in the middle of sinister scheme concocted by John Ratzenberger and Blue Man Group to take over The Drew Carey Show by force! No less breathtaking is the episode "Curse of the Mummy", with Richard Chamberlain showing up in drag as Mr. Wick's mother--a role he'd repeat in a special "Mother's Day" episode wherein the cast's various mommies and grandmommies are portrayed by such TV icons as Marion Ross, Adrienne Barbeau, June Lockhart and Phyllis Diller. Other Season Eight guest stars include baseball greats Bobby Bonds and Jay Johnstone, and longtime TV favorites Henry Winkler, Adam West and Max Gail--the latter two cast as gay lovers! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Drew Carey Show departs from its usual format in the series' two-part Season Seven opener (originally telecast as a single hour-long special). Fluctuating between their sitcom characters and themselves, Drew Carey and the cast serve up a crazy cornucopia of quickie sketches, unified by the common theme of "back to school". Part One finds Drew as the star of a teen-hygine film spoof about puberty, while Ryan Stiles portrays a clumsy--and headless--industrial arts teacher and Christa Miller, Jenny McCarthy and Amanda Bynes stage a slumber-party sketch while the male cast and crew members lecherously look on from the sidelines. Also: Lewis (Styles) and Oswald (Ryan Stiles) become backup singers for SHeDAISY (performing "I Will . . .But"; Kate (Miller) unearths Oswald's past as a wimpy cheerleader; Mimi (Kathy Kinney) jealousy guards her heavy-metal version of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" from Smash Mouth (who sing "Pacific Coast Party"); and a pair of horny teenagers pay the ultimate price for their fantasies when their pants explode. This episode was originally slated to air on September 19, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season Six of The Drew Carey Show opens with the title character (played, naturally, by Drew Carey losing his job at Cleveland's Winfred-Louder department store and ending up slinging hash at his former high school's cafeteria--and despite this enormous setback, our hero is bound and determined to propose marriage to his longtime friend Kate (Christa Miller). Unfortunately, Drew is sidetracked into a sham "gay" marriage with his Winfred-Louder boss Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson), who must be hitched in a hurry lest he be deported to his native England. Despite his marital status, Drew still finds time to date a vegetarian activist named Rachel (Ileana Douglas)--whom is promplty "corrupted" by Drew's friends Lewis (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and transformed into a meat addict! Former recurring player John Carroll Lynch is promoted to full-scale regular in the role of Drew's transvestite brother Steve, now also the husband of Drew's mortal enemy (and reluctant next-door neighbor) Mimi (Kathy Kinney), who in the course of events becomes pregnant. This plot development figures prominently in a bizarre three-part story arc wherein Drew, rendered comatose in an accident and hovering between life and death, finds he prefers the Next World to This One--and while trekking Heavenward, he profoundly alters the future of Mimi's yet-unborn baby Gus. As a postscript, Drew returns to life only to discover that he's been declared legally dead, inspiring him to re-invent himself as a "born to be wild" cycle freak named Kyle! Upholding the tradition of past years, Season Six offers the second "Drew Live" episode (originally telecast live by ABC, in three different versions for the three main timezones) and the fourth and final error-ridden "What's Wrong With This Episode". And in a wacko plot twist that would not be resolved until the following Autumn, Season Six concludes as Mimi literally drives Drew insane and into a mental institution! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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

Season Two of The Drew Carey Show finds most of the Season One regulars still in place, with one significant addition: Craig Ferguson as the unspeakable, diabolically impulsive Nigel Wick, Drew's new boss at Cleveland's Winfred-Louder department store. Also introduced this season is the series' propensity for elaborate musical production numbers, the first of which, "Five O'Clock World", will be used ever after as the show's opening-credits theme song. Carried over from Season One is the ongoing war between Winfred-Louder assistant personal director Drew Carey (playing "himself") and his sworn enemy, secretary Mimi Bombeck (Kathy Kinney), as well as Drew's efforts to make a go of his "Buzz Beer" microbrewery in partnership with lifelong pals Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles). Also, Drew continues looking for love in all the wrong places, ignoring his childhood chum Kate (Christa Miller) who is similarly occupied with outside romances. Among the women loved and lost by our hero this season are fellow store employee Lisa (Katey Silverstone), who moves in with Drew and just as quickly moves out; Bonnie (Caroline Rhea), a pretty zoning inspector who happens to already be married; and, most disastrously, Las Vegas waitress Diane (Nicole Sullivan), who becomes the first of five soulmates to become Mrs. Drew Carey in the course of the series' nine seasons! Incidentally, Diane appears in a "Viva Las Vegas Night" episode which crosses over into several other popular ABC sitcoms of the era, casually eroding the series' already tenuous grasp on reality. Further carrying The Drew Carey Show into the realm of fantasy is the unforgettable "backyard bash" episode, featuring musical performances by Little Richard and Joe Walsh and cameo appearances by Dick Clark, Flip Wilson, former NFL great Bernie Kosar and Cleveland's mayor Michael R. White. Other luminaries making guest stopovers in Season Two include Marion Ross, making her first appearance as Drew's mom Beulah; ex-evangelist Tammy Faye Messner, as Mimi's equally cosmetically-challenged mother Tammy; Nicholas Turturro, seen in his familiar NYPD Blue guise as Detective Martinez; and, as themselves, Donald Trump, Carol Channing. . .and "H.R. Pufnstuf"!!! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first episode of a three-part story arc, Drew (Drew Carey's thinks it's a laugh and a half when he concludes a memo limiting personal phone calls at the store with a xeroxed cartoon, showing a confused caterpillar having carnal relations with a crinkle-cut french fry. Everybody else thinks the cartoon is funny too--everyone, that is, except uptight would-be feminist Nora O'Dougherty (Jane Morris), who threatens to sue Drew for creating a "hostile workplace." Meanwhile, Kate's (Christa Miller) obsessive ex-boyfriend Barry (John Schafer) is forgotten but not gone. Kelly Perine makes his first series appearance as Chuck the security guard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The series opener finds standup comedian Drew Carey in his familiar guise as...Drew Carey, overworked and underpaid assistant personnel director for Cleveland's Winfred-Louder Department Store. Hoping to cheer up his lifelong friend Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller), who has just come off another dead-end romance, Drew tries to get Kate a job in the store's cosmetics department. First, however, he is confronted by another applicant for the same job: the obnoxious, loudmouthed, makeup-laden Mimi Bombeck--who, when turned down because Drew doesn't like her attitude, threatens to sue the store for discrimination and harrassment. Initially conceived as a one-shot guest role, Mimi proved so popular with test audiences that Kathy Kinney became a series regular beginning with the very next episode, joining the august company of Ryan Stiles and Diedrich Bader as Drew's best buds Lewis Kinski and Oswald Harvey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi