THE DREW CAREY SHOW: The Complete Seasons

The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom (set in Cleveland, Ohio) that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004 and was known for its "everyman" characters and themes. The show revolved around comedian Drew Carey, an office worker who has had a long-life working experience, and the highs and the lows of both his romances and his relationships to long-time friends, Lewis, Oswald and Kate.

The show was created by Drew Carey, who had both stand-up comedy and writing experience, and Bruce Helford, who was once a writer for Roseanne. It was the first television show to have an episode simulcast on the Internet.

Cast and Characters:

Drew Carey (Drew Carey) - The protagonist, a perpetual "nice guy." For most of the series, he works in the human resources department of Winfred-Lauder, a multinational department store chain. He's portrayed as a lovable loser, though he's the most successful of his group of friends. Drew is the founder and co-owner of Buzz Beer, a special coffee-containing brew. He has a long-standing feud with Mimi Bobeck; his pranks have included destroying her clothes, shredding her vacation requests, and masquerading as Antonio Banderas to taunt her. In the last seasons of the show, Drew Carey was earning $600,000 to $750,000 per episode..[2]

Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles) - Forms a double-act with Oswald. Lewis, who is tall, lanky, and blonde, is in his forties and can be counted on to nonchalantly say bizarre and offensive things. Ryan Stiles once described Lewis as "Not even a character at first, just a creep really." He possesses an IQ of 163, but works as a janitor for a company called DrugCo. Due to accidentally releasing a virus into the population, he was busted down to janitor from a position that required him to wear a lab coat. It's uncertain if he was a scientist or lab assistant, though it's possible he was joking. At one point, he posed as Drew to take his physical exam for him, inadvertently taking a psychiatric exam as well. He tried to give answers which he thought suited Drew's life and situation, and the results showed him to be mentally unstable and possibly criminally insane.

Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader) - Lewis's slightly shorter, dark-haired friend is the dumb one of the double-act, which tends to be his most distinguishing characteristic. Lewis described him once as a "man-child stuck in a state of prolonged adolescence." At one point Oswald trained to be a nurse, but he proved unsuitable. Oswald was a deejay at the beginning of the first season but later on became a delivery driver for Global Parcel (a fictional package-delivery service). His name is a play on Lee Harvey Oswald. In the episode Bus-ted, it is revealed that Oswald joined the group of friends to replace Adam, a childhood friend who fell through the ice on a lake.