Review - Trust Us With Your Life

Improv is back in prime time!

Fans of the hilarious classic Whose Line is it Anyway? can rejoice that their favorite improvisers - including Wayne Brady, Greg Proops, Colin Mochrie and Jonathan Mangum - are back for more on the fly, off-the-cuff fun (no Ryan Stiles yet, but it's early...).

In this new format, a celebrity guest (tonight's double-ep premiere featured tennis great Serena Williams, then Kelly and Jack Osbourne), who has been pre-interviewed, is then asked by host Fred Willard to elaborate on select highlights and funny moments from their lives.  The players are then called upon to act out the scenes, implementing various improv gimics and games:

• "Rap It" - during the scene, the announcer calls out "Rap It!', causing the players to break into rap until the announcer calls out "Word!", then the scene continues normally.

• "Sideways Scene" - the players are lying on the ground with the camera positioned above them, making them look like they are floating in mid-air.  Visually hilarious.

•  "Change It!" - the players perform a scene, then Fred gives them a different theme (like a Jerry Springer episode, like Elvis) which is incorporated in the re-performance. 

• "Bell/Horn" - a scene is acted out and if it goes as the celeb remembers (as close to it, anyway),  the bell is rung ... if not, they get the horn and must change the scene until they get the bell.

Being an improviser myself, I am thrilled to have these guys back on TV!  This is and always has been good, clean, laugh-out-loud fun and it's a welcome return of old friends we get to enjoy all over again.  I still like the Whose Line format best, but this is a cool rendition, too.   Reminds me of a game we play in my weekly show, called "This Is Your Life", and it's a fan favorite. 

Toward the end the celeb is pulled into a scene and the show closes with "Special Messages" from "people" in the celeb's life, of course performed once again by the players.

Everyone, be it the guest, players or audience, all look like they are having a blast and its incredibly infectious.  I know this is a short lived summer series, but it's one I'll look forward to for however long it's on.  Hope these guys won't stay away so long next time.

Bottom Line:  Trust this show with your viewing time!

Trust Us With Your Life airs Tuesdays at 9 and 9:30 p.m. on ABC.