Extras back tonight.

mike65

Just a reminder. BBC2 9 pm

Mike.

Black_Couch

loved the last series but its just no match for the office.

mike65

Perfectly judged writing tonight. Orlando Bloom was the nominal guest star (for HBOs sake) but Keith Chegwin and 'Barry from Eastenders' took the real honours.

Mike.

tvnutz

Bad Bad show,not one bit funny.

mike65

Not enough knob gags?

Mike.

Faerie

I love it! I actually prefer it to The Office which imo is a good comedy but very over-rated.
Tonight's episode was very good - I thought Orlando Bloom was hilarious!

cosgrove80

Good episode, glad to see it back. Gervais was really sticking the knife into conventional sitcoms.

That Mitchell and Webb Look, that was on afterwards was very good too. The BMX character and the hospital sketch were two highlights.

Mighty hour of TV overall.

Krusty_Clown

Thought the episode was very good.. Not quite up to season 1, but sure they're just warming back up, and bedding in...

Didn't like the sketch show afterwards... The laughs were a bit too easy.. Too 'mainstream'.

Basq

Extras was brillant tonight...

What a return for the series.

And they really hit gold with the guest stars (Orlando Bloom, and to a much lesser extent Keith Chegwin). Hilarious dialogue delivered from Bloom tearing into Johnny Depp. And Chegwin's scene where he had to enter the cafe ("you're smiling again!" / "we can't see you Keith" / "you're looking at the camera!") had me in absolute stitches.

And of course how could i forget Barry from Eastenders? Shaun Williamson was such a find in this series - and shows us how much he was wasted in Eastenders!

PS - 'That Mitchell and Webb Look' was horrible though! :eek:

Joebloggs:37

Quality show. The Lenny Henery gag was a laugh out loud moment.:D

daveg

I thought it was very good. Keith Chegwin stole it for me. When he was going on about gays.... lmfao. Very funny as well when Gervais was directing Chegwin... your looking into the camera again etc..

corblimey

Wasn't too impressed with Cheggers myself. He was funny as an 'actor' but the "controversial stuff" just didn't work for me. Maggie stole the show for me. She was great last year and if last night was any indication, she's gonna be even better this year.

Jayhaitch

tvnutz wrote:

Bad Bad show,not one bit funny.

Is he having a laugh?????Are you having a laugh??????He's having a laugh!!!!:D

Basq

tvnutz wrote:

Bad Bad show,not one bit funny.

I'd expect this from a '8 Simple Rules' fan to be honest!

gustavo

Willy Wonka?Johnny Wanker!

Vokes

Barry from Eastenders and the Orlando Bloom bits were preety good.

Other than that, didn't find all that funny, tbh

Washout

loved the scene where he has to name on british funncy black person...looks across at the poster of Leny and says nothing

BaZmO*

Anybody know if it's repeated? I think they repeated it on a Sunday last year, although I'm not 100% sure about that.

Basq

BaZmO* wrote:

Anybody know if it's repeated?

Repeated Sunday night at 11:25pm on BBC2.

BaZmO*

Cheers

Oobie

Didn't find it all that funny myself although I think that's because I don't really like Ricky Gervais after seeing him interviewed on Jonathon Ross.

pH

It's not the squirm behind a cushion stuff we're used to but still bloody brilliant.

And for anyone who hasn't seen the Microsoft 'David Brent' videos they're here.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9076288729387457440&q=gervais
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=959125392868390030&q=gervais

tvnutz

basquille wrote:

I'd expect this from a '8 Simple Rules' fan to be honest!

Ha! I'm not an 8 Simple Rules fan,I said it was a decent show for what it was.

Extras,I gave it a go,watched the first 4 eps of the first season and just found it dreadful. Maybe its partly that I don't like Ricky Gervais,the Office was good,but overrated and this show is just woeful. He is far more annoying than funny and I actually think Steve Carrell in the American version is far better than him.

Whatever money HBO are throwing into this,they should take it back put it towards a conclusion to Deadwood and Carnivale.

Nightwish

I thought last night was hilarious. Barry was fantastic again. His "loss of dignity" had me in stitches!

Sizzler

I find this and previously found the office very funny....but not in a lol type of way, just very amusing in a cringey sort of way, wry smile at all times !

Whats particuarly good is the way they manage to get film stars etc onto the show to basically take the piss out of themselves :cool:

mike65

Steve Merchant deserves a mention he has the nervous air of a man who thinks he's about to get found out.

Mike.

alleepally

Nightwish wrote:

I thought last night was hilarious. Barry was fantastic again. His "loss of dignity" had me in stitches!

It was a great episode and that same scene had me in knots as well. Priceless

mwnger

I liked The Office a lot, though i didn't think it was 'the greatest show of all time' as many people have proclaimed. I saw a couple of early episodes of the first series of Extras and although i remember enjoying them, it didn't amuse me enough to watch the rest of them.

However, i watched the Sunday repeat of the first episode of the 2nd series earlier on and i didn't like it. Not because it wasn't funny (it was reasonably funny) but because of the strong streak of bitterness running through the show, coming to a head in the final scene with a really unsubtle dig at his rivals in British comedy. Specifically the bit where he looks out into the audience and they're all wearing T-shirts with catchphrases of shows like Little Britain and Catherine Tate.

Gervais really exposed himself here - he seemed to be saying that those kind of comedy shows are simply stupid and therefore inferior. His comedy, the 'naturalistic' style favoured by him and his mates Larry David and Gary Shandling is inherantly superior as it doesn't stoop to catchphrasing and mugging to the camera to get a laugh. Instead he uses more sophisticated devices like strained silences, 'controversial' jokes and self-deprecating celebrity cameos.

Wow! He apparently took the snubbing of Extras at the British Comedy Awards really badly! How dare the public and comedy fraternity not take it to their hearts! He definitely has a thing about Little Britain as well. Now i wouldn't be the biggest fan of Little Britain either (I kinda enjoy it) but not because i think sketch/silly comedy or whatever you wanna call it, is inferior, but because I simply think Lucas and Walliams aren't as funny as the likes of Reeves and Mortimer or the League of Gentlemen. But according to Gervais, anybody who enjoys Little Britain is a total moron. So I must be a kinda moron.

I also wasn't crazy about the tortured artist/comedian sub-plot he's given himself. I find it hard buy it from someone like Ricky Gervais, the toast of the media and entertainment elite on both sides of the Atlantic. You're not exactly an underdog when you can get Samuel L. Jackson to cameo on your show. The sitcom within a sitcom is very similar to a storyline from Seinfeld, except there it was done purely for comedy reasons (well... maybe to get some digs in at US TV networks as well) not to take cheap shots at other comedians like he has done. I think he's revealed himself as a bit of a comedy snob with this.
Yeah, he's clearly styling himself as the British Larry David. But he's got a long way to go if he wants to be as good as him. The great thing about David is that he has never let his shows slip into sentimentality (Seinfelds 'no hugging, no learning' rule) But Gervais does on occasion - he got away with it in the final episode of the Office, but it hasn't worked in Extras at all. The celebrity-playing-themselves-as-pr*cks really works on Curb Your Enthusiasm because it's always part of the plot so doesn't seem forced, while in Extras they're seem to be shoehorned into the story and therefore comes off as self-congratulatory.

Saying that -I have only seen about three or four episodes and this was only the first of the second series, so maybe he'll turn it around. I don't want to be part of the offical Ricky Gervais Backlash Movement! It was bound to happen though, it doesn't matter how funny or talented you are, if you overexpose yourself, the public will get sick of you eventually. And i don't think Gervais has refused an interview in his life!


...oh yeah. Lenny Henry was a bit of a soft target, wasn't he?

Tar.Aldarion

Orlando Bloom ftw in that, was great.

mike65

Bump for David Bowie

Mike.

Paul Tergat

anyway to watch this on the net?

Revelation Joe

Anyone know if there's any plans for Extras to appear on RTE?

Del

Sillyaspie

I don't like the new set up for the show, thought it was below par tonight.

mike65

Not a cracker I agree the shift to a threaded storyline ie the sitcom is'nt as flexible, that said when Bowie started his mocking song and then turned on his seat to reveal a piano was a worth the price of admission.

Mike.

Venom

mike65 wrote:

Not a cracker I agree the shift to a threaded storyline ie the sitcom is'nt as flexible, that said when Bowie started his mocking song and then turned on his seat to reveal a piano was a worth the price of admission.

Mike.

That was the one part of the show I really disliked as it just seemed so forced and unbelievable.

Sillyaspie

too right venom.

Skitbra

Absolutely brilliant. I loved it. The clip of the third episode looked good also.
As some people have said already the sitcom is not as flexible as the movie based episodes last series. The celebrities have to be squeezed in in this series. Even so, I love it.

Basq

Absolutely back on top form tonight!

Why did i not know Warwick Davis was a guest in this season? Brillant! They hit gold with the guests tonight - even with yer wan (Fern something?) and Philip Schofield ("12 years after the Rwandan genocide.. a hard hitting report from Big Brother 2 winner Brian Dowling"! ). Daniel Radcliffe was excellent also.

More episodes like tonight please to finish off the series..!

BaZmO*

Yeah, tonight's show was brilliant. Cringe comedy at its best.

Oobie

I liked all the bits that didn't have Ricky Gervais!!

Pigman II

"TV Bully kicks dwarf in face"

Have to say these sitcom based eps are a lot better than the ones I saw previously where he was just an extra himself.

mike65

Good one tonight, best bit

Daniel Radcliffe "Can I have my 'johnny' back?"

Dame Diana Rigg (for it was she) "May I have my johnny back?"

Mike.

Pigman II

Not 'johnny' it's 'pro-phyl-ac-tic'.

Tha Gopher

The one the other night was one of the funniest things Ive seen all year. Ronnie Corbett, playing himself, doin coke in the jacks with Gervais and the producer

Bouncer "So come on, whats this?"
Corbett "eh.....just a bit of whizz"

mike65

Ricky Gervais will eat TV! Its funny while its on but I think he is in danger of dissapearing up his own fundament as he takes the parody-within-a-parody format to new depths.

Miike.

nitrogen

mike65 wrote:

Steve Merchant deserves a mention he has the nervous air of a man who thinks he's about to get found out.

Mike.

I agree, I think the man is a legend. He's priceless in Extras and the podcasts.

nitrogen

mwnger wrote:

I liked The Office a lot, though i didn't think it was 'the greatest show of all time' as many people have proclaimed. I saw a couple of early episodes of the first series of Extras and although i remember enjoying them, it didn't amuse me enough to watch the rest of them.

However, i watched the Sunday repeat of the first episode of the 2nd series earlier on and i didn't like it. Not because it wasn't funny (it was reasonably funny) but because of the strong streak of bitterness running through the show, coming to a head in the final scene with a really unsubtle dig at his rivals in British comedy. Specifically the bit where he looks out into the audience and they're all wearing T-shirts with catchphrases of shows like Little Britain and Catherine Tate.

Gervais really exposed himself here - he seemed to be saying that those kind of comedy shows are simply stupid and therefore inferior. His comedy, the 'naturalistic' style favoured by him and his mates Larry David and Gary Shandling is inherantly superior as it doesn't stoop to catchphrasing and mugging to the camera to get a laugh. Instead he uses more sophisticated devices like strained silences, 'controversial' jokes and self-deprecating celebrity cameos.

Wow! He apparently took the snubbing of Extras at the British Comedy Awards really badly! How dare the public and comedy fraternity not take it to their hearts! He definitely has a thing about Little Britain as well. Now i wouldn't be the biggest fan of Little Britain either (I kinda enjoy it) but not because i think sketch/silly comedy or whatever you wanna call it, is inferior, but because I simply think Lucas and Walliams aren't as funny as the likes of Reeves and Mortimer or the League of Gentlemen. But according to Gervais, anybody who enjoys Little Britain is a total moron. So I must be a kinda moron.

I also wasn't crazy about the tortured artist/comedian sub-plot he's given himself. I find it hard buy it from someone like Ricky Gervais, the toast of the media and entertainment elite on both sides of the Atlantic. You're not exactly an underdog when you can get Samuel L. Jackson to cameo on your show. The sitcom within a sitcom is very similar to a storyline from Seinfeld, except there it was done purely for comedy reasons (well... maybe to get some digs in at US TV networks as well) not to take cheap shots at other comedians like he has done. I think he's revealed himself as a bit of a comedy snob with this.
Yeah, he's clearly styling himself as the British Larry David. But he's got a long way to go if he wants to be as good as him. The great thing about David is that he has never let his shows slip into sentimentality (Seinfelds 'no hugging, no learning' rule) But Gervais does on occasion - he got away with it in the final episode of the Office, but it hasn't worked in Extras at all. The celebrity-playing-themselves-as-pr*cks really works on Curb Your Enthusiasm because it's always part of the plot so doesn't seem forced, while in Extras they're seem to be shoehorned into the story and therefore comes off as self-congratulatory.

Saying that -I have only seen about three or four episodes and this was only the first of the second series, so maybe he'll turn it around. I don't want to be part of the offical Ricky Gervais Backlash Movement! It was bound to happen though, it doesn't matter how funny or talented you are, if you overexpose yourself, the public will get sick of you eventually. And i don't think Gervais has refused an interview in his life!


...oh yeah. Lenny Henry was a bit of a soft target, wasn't he?

Little Britain is comedy for the uneducated lower class of the UK; it's terrible bollox.

mwnger, this isn't a stab at you. I've found the odd bits of the 1st series funny (Amused, I've never laughed out loud) but stopped watching it. It's certainly not aimed at an audience who enjoys, Curb, Seinfeld or Woody Allen.

I would agree with you on that he's trying to be like Larry David too much, although Gervais is still hilarious and original in his own way.

nitrogen

p_larkin99 wrote:

anyway to watch this on the net?

You can watch the full episodes on the bbc extras site, although it may only be available to people living in the UK.

mike65

"George, get us some vaseline"

Mike.

Basq

Aaaaaarrrgghhh.. missed this tonight!

mike65

The usual mixed bag of nuts! The bottled water gag was a LOL moment to behold.

Mike.