Drew life tale

George Clooney he's not: Drew Carey is the writer and producer of his own sitcom, the ever-popular Drew Carey Show which has been widely credited for bringing a degree of realism to a genre too often characterised by perma-grinning, overly-groomed, no-talent clothes horses. Realism, in that there's really no getting around the fact that our bespectacled hero is a bit fat. Very much an "Everyman" character, Drew and his blue-collar friends are well on their way to disturbing the cosy consensus of Friends and its many comedy clones.

Drew works in the personnel department of the Winfred-Louder department store in Cleveland, Ohio where he simmers quietly in anger at his employers, and nurses a deep hatred of his boss's secretary, Mimi Bobeck.

Such has been the critical acclaim afforded the show in the US, that the network behind it, ABC, is making it into one of its "anchor" shows for the upcoming season, meaning it will broadcast it in prime-time slots, hoping the show's ratings will drag in viewers for the programmes before and after it.

The epitome of the single, working man, Drew's trials and tribulations of life in the 1990s have struck a chord with viewers similarly trying to keep financially and emotionally afloat. With Drew thwarted everywhere he turns during working hours, much of the action takes place when he meets up with his friends: Oswald is an infrequently employed disc jockey who also works as package delivery man; Lewis (played by Ryan Stiles, familiar from his appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway) is a maintenance man for a pharmaceutical company and a pop culture aficionado; and Kate is an attractive tomboy who Drew ultimately hires. Between the three of them, they offer Drew enough perspectives on his life to keep the plots and humour kicking along. There's never a dull moment as Drew and his friends open their own microbrewery, host a backyard bash for the entire population of Cleveland and take a spontaneous day trip to New York, as past episodes have proved.

The "buddy"-style tales work because of their contrast with the office politics and varying degrees of hostility in Drew's workplace, and while there is always the threat of spontaneous "hug-giving" breaking out between Drew and his friends, there is enough ribald banter to keep things earthed.

The ensemble acting is one of the show's strongest characteristics, as the characters mesh despite frequent misunderstandings of the sort that underpin most soap operas.

Then there's the show's signature dance sequences. Last season, the show revitalised classic tunes such as Five O'Clock World, Time Warp and What Is Hip by featuring the cast in dynamically choreographed routines. Friendship is all very well, but the show's pivotal relationship is that between Drew and Mimi. In a very un-American-television sort of way, the two characters openly despise each other, their banter reaching ever-greater depths of abuse. Overly hostile and overly made-up Mimi (played by Katy Kinney) is the real star of the show, as she viciously taunts, teases and threatens Drew at every turn. Mimi has already run into trouble with the Polish American Congress, whose Anti-Bigotry Committee has successfully petitioned the producers to play down her Polishness.

Like every successful television programme, The Drew Carey Show has a large Internet presence with fevered messages passing between on-line fans. The show's official web site regularly holds trivia competitions about the show's characters, which are always heavily subscribed: typically, the winner gets a guided tour of the set and to meet the actors.

The current hot debate on the Net about the show concerns the role of Mimi and the possibility of the so-called "Fonz" factor. Some fans believe that, just as the character of the Fonz (Henry Winkler) took over the show Happy Days, making it unwatchable for all but fans of the Fonz, so Mimi may do the same on The Drew Carey Show.

"What makes her character work is that she was a constant irritation, a burr under the saddle," writes one fan. "But lately the writers seem to think that she's the horse. The show will be ruined if they don't rein that character in and keep the focus where it belongs - Drew." Other fans disagree, saying: "Mimi is the comic focus of the whole show, her bizarre appearance and rude, obnoxious ways are worlds away from the chumminess of Drew and his friends - she's one of the best sitcom creations since Kramer in Seinfeld." Expect the battle to rage on. The Drew Carey Show is on RTE 1 on Saturdays at 11.15 p.m.