RaspberryLucozade Like 'The Office', 'Extras' is a one joke show that tries to lure in its viewers with the use of big names appearing in cameo roles. Nothing Ricky Gervais has ever done has been remotely funny. He comes across as an arrogant, sleazy, self-righteous ponce, not a million miles away from the characters he portrays.Andy Millman is an unknown actor who always fails to land the perfect starring role, something not helped by the fact he has a space cadet for an agent. One scene was based on the conceit that Ross Kemp was intimidated by Vinnie Jones. In reality, Kemp would probably knock seven bells out of Vinnie Jones!Ricky recently faced criticism for telling dead baby jokes during one of his stand up shows which prompted a couple who lost a baby to walk out in tears. Far from showing any remorse, Gervais cruelly slated the pair on Twitter. Dead baby jokes are not, never have been and never will be funny and anyone who finds them funny is a warped individual who deserves a good smacking. Ricky also claims to be against animal cruelty. I'm not knocking him for that but I fail to see the logic in the fact that he doesn't consider animal cruelty funny yet cruelty to infants is comedy gold in his eyes!The late Gerard Kelly made a few appearances here as a camp director named Bunny Bunton. I was surprised to see an actor of his calibre involved in such a vile show.

grantss Andy Millman and his friend Maggie Jacobs are professional actors but haven't quite made the big time. They spend their time as extras, the background actors in TV series and movies who hardly get a line of dialogue. They have plans to make it big but nothing works out. They do get to meet a host of stars though...Wonderfully funny. Created and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the pair who gave us the brilliant The Office. While The Office was very self-deprecating in the way the main character was portrayed, here it is major film and TV stars who get the treatment. The script doesn't hold back in maligning the stars and they seem quite comfortable in playing along. Very funny.There's a fair degree of pathos, especially in Andy and Maggie's attempts to lift themselves out of the rut they're in, and the relationship issues that ensue when one of them does.Great work by Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen in the lead roles. Stephen Merchant provides the best laughs, as Andy's inept agent, Darren Lamb.

FilmBuff1994 Extras is a truly terrific comedy television series,the show is full of laughs in every single episode,and I really don't see anything not to like about this series.The cast is pitch perfect,and the writing from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant is terrific,which is no surprise from these two.If your a fan of The Office,I would strongly recommend Extras.I would be happy if the show went on longer,but it still is a clever move from Gervais and Merchant to quite while their ahead instead of going till they run out of ideas.Every episode has a very big celebrity in it,they've had unexpectedly huge names on this show,to name a few,Ben Stiller,Kate Winslet,Samuel L Jackson,Orlando Bloom,Robert De Niro,this list goes on and they all play themselves brilliantly.The show myth only have thirteen episodes,but no bad episodes,and the finale is about eighty minutes long,I will admit I found it to be a bit of a disappointing final episode,but its still a funny,and surprisingly emotional,end to the series.Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) works as an extra on many big budget movies with his friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen),because Andy doesn't have any a great agent in Darren Lamb (Stephen Merchant) to help him get to the top.

S.R. Dipaling I'm trying to get into more HBO material lately,having so far blitzed about two-and-half seasons worth of "Oz",a healthy scattering of "Curb Your Enthusiasm",the last season of "The Wire" and my sworn pledge to catch more "Sopranos" eps,as well as sowing an interest in "In Treatment". I suppose it might come from the fact that,besides the generally well-reviewed and well-received material that the network puts out,the fact that an entire show's run can easily fit into the space of less than a hundred episodes on average. But with that said,having enjoyed what I saw of "The Office"(though I've come to be much more familiar and fond of the American version),I was spurred on to catch this on DVD much more by the fact it was much of the same creative team behind that series that was doing this that made "Extras" looking attractive to me.So far,not disappointed in the least!Gervais' Andy Millman,a forty-something actor wannabe who trudges through movie work as an extra(hence the title)is arguably one of the better comedic studies in human frailty:all at once proud and defensive about his work,he is still on hands and knees looking for any chance(and I mean ANY)to get more face time and lines on screen. If he's not doing that,he's commiserating with fellow extra Maggie(Ashley Jensen,What a find!!)over the situation they're both in. But while Andy mulls and frets his place in the business,Maggie seems to be more worried that she's turning into an unattractive old maid and seems to get progressively more desperate to find a man in her life.If what I've seen(And I've snuck in looks at the synapses off the IMDb site,so I suppose I cheated a little)of the show is accurate,each episode is another movie project that Andy and/or Maggie are working on,replete with a variety of potentially awkward and damning situations that the heroes of the show are prone to get into. Co-creator Stephen Merchant also has a quietly fantastic part as Andy's agent,an unmotivated sort who seems to be perhaps even kind of dim and is,big surprise,not much help in Andy's quest for better work.The summary line about says it all. Plenty more episodes to view and I look forward to seeing them.