Trust Us with Your Life; UPDATE: Canceled!; UPDATE 2: Not officially canceled.; UPDATE 3: I give up. July 12, 2012

8/1 UPDATE: Trust Us with Your Life has been canceled.
8/2 UPDATE: Or has it?  More on these updates at the bottom of the post.
2/19/13 UPDATE: I give up.  I’ll assume it’s canceled.
4/1/13 UPDATE: Whose Line is it Anyway? reboots this summer!

If you like improvisational comedy, you’ll love the new ABC series Trust Us with Your Life.  It was developed by Dan Patterson, one of the people behind Whose Line is it Anyway?  It’s hosted by Fred Willard and stars improv veterans Wayne Brady, Jonathan Mangum, and Colin Mochrie.  The first two episodes have also starred Greg Proops and Craig Cackowski.

The stars of the show create scenes based on stories recounted by each episode’s guest, which have included (and will include) Serena Williams, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Mark Cuban, Ricky Gervais, and Florence Henderson (a guest in a latter season of Whose Line).  There are improv games to go along with the scenes.  If you’ve seen previous Drew Carey’s* previous improv series or tours, this sample of games played may sound familiar:

• Glee Club It! (like Showstopping Number)
• Putting Words in My Mouth (like Dubbing)
• Rap It! (like Kick It!)
• Dramatic Episode (like First Date and New Choice)
• Styles

As a hardcore fan of improv comedy, I laughed hard at most of the scenes.

Unfortunately, post-Whose Line improv series have not lasted long:

• Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show was canceled on the WB after only a handful of episodes.  The rest of the recorded episodes were run a year later on Comedy Central.
• Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza ran five nights a week for eight weeks, but did poorly on GSN.  It was not renewed.  But thanks to the five-night-a-week run, it is the longest-running post-Whose Line series.

I’m hoping Trust Us with Your Life breaks that trend and becomes a huge hit.  Why watch serial sitcoms, dramas, and reality shows when you can laugh uncontrollably for 30 to 60 minutes a week with no conflict?  Thank you, Dan Patterson, for giving us TUSWYL.  I love it!

*-Due to Drew’s contract with CBS, he is not allowed to appear on TUSWYL since it’s on a competing network.

8/1 UPDATE: Nope, the trend was not bucked.  Trust Us with Your Life has been canceled.  Another post-Whose Line improv series has failed.

Blame this on Fred Willard’s incident all you want, but this is really about a majority of American viewers not looking kindly on improv comedy.  The fact that Whose Line is it Anyway? lasted so long amazes me when you consider that its offspring cannot achieve the same staying power.

There are only two cable networks I can imagine the TUWYL re-emerging and perhaps achieving success: Comedy Central or BBC America.  But that won’t happen, either.

All involved with the show – in addition to Green Screen and Improv-a-Ganza- should be applauded for trying.  Among improv fans like myself, these are hits, but there aren’t enough fans like us to make a difference.  It’s a reality we must accept.

8/2 UPDATE: I didn’t catch this until around 11:50 last night, but the TUYWL Facebook page said this about the show’s fate at 10:15 Tuesday night:

I would like to clarify something. “Trust Us With Your Life” has NOT been officially cancelled as of right now. The last two episodes were pulled from the schedule due to competing with ratings for the Olympics. The last two episodes may (or may not) be scheduled at a later time. If you would love to at least see the final two episodes of the season, feel free to write to ABC directly (in other words, not on here) and vocalize this. Thanks, all.

Notice the post says “the final two episodes of the season,” and not the series.  I’d like to think they’re right; that Trust Us with Your Life is still alive and merely on hiatus.  If so, it would fly in the face of those reveling in its demise because of who the host is.

2/19/13 UPDATE: I give up.  I think I can safely say that Trust Us with Your Life was indeed canceled and is never coming back.  And while Fred Willard continues to have guest shots on TV series, the performers he moderated, so to speak, haven’t been seen on TV since; at least not to my knowledge.

So, once again, a post-Whose Line improv series bites the dust.  Maybe if Nick Cannon was the host, as he was on Wild ‘n Out, Trust Us with Your Life would still be on the air.

4/1/13 UPDATE: Whose Line is it Anyway?reboots this summer!