The Drew Carey Show finally gets overdue streaming debut

Cleveland rocks! And so does Plex because that streaming service is now offering The Drew Carey Show, marking the first time that the long-running sitcom has ever been available on such a format for free. So crack open a Buzz Beer and let’s get this binge-watch going!

Just this month — 20 years after its ninth and final season concluded — The Drew Carey Show finally got a proper streaming release for free. While you’ll have to sit through ads, just be happy that it’s here in the most widely available way since it aired on ABC. 

So what took so long? Like so many series, The Drew Carey Show, it comes down to music rights. This was something Carey himself had previously discussed, telling TV Insider the show was “not in syndication…because of music rights and stuff…We’re going to try to change that around and get it back out there.” Well, sure as a five o’clock world exists, that time has finally come. It should be noted that Warner Bros. only ever released the first season on DVD because of later music rights issues. Fans of the show will remember that it was “Moon Over Parma” — performed by Carey — that served as the show’s theme that season before switching over to “Five o’Clock World” and later, most famously, “Cleveland Rocks” as performed by The Presidents of the United States of America.

It’s easy to see why The Drew Carey Show would hit that music rights wall, as the show made great use of it throughout its run. Take a look at the official soundtrack and you see an array of songs from the likes of Iggy Pop, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Edgar Winter Group, and Joe Walsh — who had a recurring role as guitarist Ed — and you can see see just the surface of what they might have needed to clear to keep the show as intact as it could be.

Other great shows that have recently worked through their music rights issues and have found streaming homes include Homicide: Life on the Streets — which will be headed to Peacock later this month — and Moonlighting, which hit Hulu earlier this year.

Will you be doing a rewatch of The Drew Carey Show on Plex or are you too busy jamming with The Horndogs?