Flashback Friday: "The Drew Carey Show," Can Be Streamed Now For Free, Legally!

I debated if this should be, a "Television Tuesday," post or a, "Flashback Friday," article and I decided on the latter as the subject is definitely from the past. "The Drew Carey Show," ran from 1995 to 2004 and had 9 seasons. It starred a killer cast of Drew Carey, Craig Ferguson (before the talk show) Ryan Stiles (known for a variety of shows now including, "Whose Line is it Anyway?"), Diedrich Bader (who was also awesome on, "American Housewife,") Christa Miller (also awesome on, "Scrubs,") and Kathy Kinney played Drew's nemesis, Mimi. I didn't even mention Drew's brother played by none other than John Carroll Lynch and plenty of other talents who appeared on the show could be named too, but I'll spare you further names being listed. 

The show followed a character named Drew Carey who worked in the office of a fictional Cleveland department store called Winfred-Louder. He and his friends would get up to shenanigans when he wasn't working and it was a hilarious program (admittedly, the later seasons are a bit weaker as with many sitcoms). The tone wasn't quite as sarcastic/pessimistic as, "Seinfeld," or as earnest and good-natured as, "Friends," so there was a good balance. I dug the show but to actually watch it once it went off the air (legally, at least) was surprisingly difficult. There were copyright issues with music used in the show so besides a, "TV Favorites," DVD that had a handful of episodes and a Season 1 DVD...that was it. No other home releases, no streaming, nada. Until now.

As of this August, every single episode of, "The Drew Carey Show," can be streamed for totally free via Plex. If you had never heard of Plex until this news, then you are just like me. Apparently, it is another one of those free streaming services with ads along the lines of Tubi, Pluto TV, Freevee, and the like. Those styles of streaming services are really growing in popularity. I looked at Plex via the Roku on our television and was able to play any episode I wanted with ease--I just had to sit through a handful of ads at various points. One could argue that, "The Drew Carey Show," not being easy to access has made it harder for a new generation to get into it the way young folks seem to be rediscovering other old sitcoms/dramas/etc. Thanks to Plex, however, anybody can watch, "The Drew Carey," show now without resorting to bootleg copies/pirating/whatever and that is good news!