Extras - Series 2 Page 4

Totally missed the first series & have only just started watching.

I caught the episode with Daniel Radcliffe. Pretty funny.

Extras has the Cringeworthy Comedy Element that The Office Had.

For me Steven Merchant stole the show in this episode.

I wouldn't get rid of the agent as he is often the funniest character in the show. I just felt that much of his behaviour in the latest episode was more idiotic than usual. As Jason said, a lot of RG's spiel is how realistic and naturalistic his comedy is and there are elements of the second series that go against this. These quibbles aside, it's still a good show with a number of v. funny moments.

I think he'll get rid of the agent at the end of this series. As we saw with office he/they like to tie things up, and they've said their not doing anymore. So i think Andy'll snap with him before the end and get rid of him.

I'm not sure what to make of Extras at the moment. It still has some funny moments, but the characters are behaving in increasingly strange ways (especially Maggie...in the first series she was socially inept and a bit dim at times, but she now appears to be brain dead and her only purpose in the show is to land Andy in trouble), whilst the celebrity cameos are swamping the storylines. Here comes Chris Martin, playing himself as an obnoxious prick...yawn. Having said that, the scenes with Ronnie Corbett were really funny. I still can't get the image of him doing drugs out of my head.

Corbett was brilliant. He must have been really sporting to let them play it that way. Imagine the first meeting.

"Well Ronnie, we want to suggest that you're on cocaine. That sit alright with you?"

I thought Chris Martin did a good job last night. Ronnie Corbett was great though.

Last night had me doubled up.

Now that was funny, unlike the dross of 'Not going out' that I had to endure earlier tonight.

Chalk and cheese.

Wrong? Radics, you can't state 'wrong' as if it makes everything you say true. We're talking about opinions here. Opinions, however loud or persistent, are still opinions. Opinions aren't based on fact. And until science invents a Giggle-o-meter for comedy then all we'll ever talk about is opinion. Some people love Gervais, some hate him, some don't care. It's the same show, but it produces different responses.

To take what a character said in his show and repeat it as basis for Gervais' own beliefs is nonsensical. Very few artists / writers reveal their true emotions or thoughts, they modify them or repeat things that they've observed in other people. If it was a phrase in his autobiography then there may be justification for insisting 'Is the beeb still run by jews and queers?' is his true opinion of an institution that had faith in him and made his fortune. But it was a gag in a comedy show. It's sole function was to make people laugh, not to disseminate a truth. The two beeb execs obsessed with catchphrases is nothing new or earthshatteringly anarchic to the Beeb's bosses. Again, they are vehicles for jokes not propoganda from the Ministry of Gervais' (un)funny walks.

Very well put.

The move to turn Maggie in to a retard continues apace. Why was she even in last night's episode? The scene in which she received the text message from Andy and blurted out "What's your name?" wasn't funny or consistent with the first series - the character has been reduced to mentally challenged status.

Quote: Wheeler @ October 13, 2006, 9:00 AM

The move to turn Maggie in to a retard continues apace. Why was she even in last night's episode? The scene in which she received the text message from Andy and blurted out "What's your name?" wasn't funny or consistent with the first series - the character has been reduced to mentally challenged status.

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I agree. It's also unrealistic that Andy would allow her to keep coming along to
the filming of his shows/movies, after all of the damage she's caused to his career in the past.

It has become depressingly predictable - every episode is the same, Maggie has a blonde moment, the agent acts like a twat, Andy makes a racist/sexist/homophobic comment, Andy gets caught in an awkward situation, a celebrity makes an appearance and plays up the public perception that they are a dick. The end.

Sadly, Wheeler's synopsis does seem to sum up the plot of the episodes this series.

I still found enough funny incidents to keep me watching though.

It's got to the point where I am quite glad Extras will end this week. Episode 5 with Ian McKellen just wasn't funny and badly written. You tend not to expect that from Gervais and Merchant.

I just wish they had spent a little less time trying to be clever, and a little more time trying to be funny.

In some ways, they've spent too much time trying to be funny.

The central problem is that it feels like a series of (admittedly often funny) sketches rather than a well rounded sitcom. Take, for instance, episode four - there was a lot of time devoted to Chris Martin at the beginning of this episode, with a string of gags revolving around the singer, and then this plot strand was suddenly dropped, rather than woven in to the episode as a whole.

This has happened a lot in series two, which would explain Maggie's shift from forgetful misfit to brain dead zombie and Andy behaving like a narrow minded fool in one scene and then like an OK, down to earth bloke in the next. Gervais and Merchant have sacrificed character development in the pursuit of laughs and squeezing in as many celeb appearances as possible. The first series had a better balance to it. The result is that Extras series two has some funny moments, but it doesn't hang together like The Office did.