"I didn't want to do TV in the first place," he said over lunch last week. "I'd be happy going to soccer games, travelling. I never have to work again. I can live off my interest. I don't even have to touch the principal."

"A lot of people slammed me out of nowhere, and I'm just trying to entertain people and make a living," said [Drew Carey], 49, Cleveland's favourite son. "Everyone was taking potshots at me when my show was failing in the ratings ... I thought, I don't have to put up with that anymore."

"I'm always interested in what Americans think about things, and I like the idea that this is a show that could shake up people's perceptions," Carey said. "I really do think that people's perception about things is wrong most of the time."