Extras Christmas Special - Spoilers

[Buttonman]

For some reason this was on in America on Sunday night and it was OK but nothing brilliant.



At one and a half hours it was a bit flabby and the plot mirrored the last episode with Andy becoming a fame seeking tit and neglecting Maggie before seeing the error of his ways.

It was interesting to see the number of American jokes with references to Kramer, Richard Simmons and someone off the American Idol show - I bet these are recut with the British equivalents stuck in.

You have to wonder what the Americans will make of the star turns of Dean Gaffney, Hale & Pace and Lionel Blair.

Best turns are by Gordon Ramsay and Clive Owen and there is a pretty funny Dr Who bit with Andy as a slug.



Overall it was above average TV but not a patch on the Office Christmas specials of a few years back.

[Buddy]

Wasn't fussed on the officw specials and i hear extras goes a bit 'dramatic' in the last 20 mins or so.

I'll judge it by what i see, still if it has lyonal blair how bad can it be???

[the shutdown man]

I just watched it -

*sorta spoilers*

Thought it was quite funny in parts, but horribly depressing for most of it. Just when you think Andy can't act like any more of a tool, he goes and pulls off another act of painful asshole-ishness, while we watch Maggie's descent into misery.Luckily the last few minutes redeemed it.

[Adrian Bamforth]

Extras just doesn't work.

The worst thing though is for me the smug way the show is criticising other comedies for not being just like The Office, and TV producers for being too interfering...when exactly what this show needs is someone to interfere and point out that it's not actually that good. The type of sitcom they are having a go at is really not made made anymore, the closest thing being maybe Victoria Wood's Dinner Ladies, which is a much better show in just about every respect.

I'm not sure what they were really trying to say having Chris Martin appear on the show and play a song: At first it seemed to be a joke about how awful it is when an inappropriate guest star is shoehorned into a show to play their song (though it doesn't ever happen in comedy shows these days anyway)...and then it seems they are doing exactly that themselves by showing the whole song, and it's not irony at all! Similary, the show used an outrageous gay stereotype - why exactly is this any different from the old-fashioned stereotyping? (Mr Humpheries was in my view actually much more believable).

There also seem to be big gaps in believability as well, such as why do the same pair always seem to be on the same set together? For me, a good sit-com is one in which you could take the jokes out and it would still work as drama, yet there seems to be a real lack of chemistry between the 2 main characters, and a lack of personality in both of them. While you couldn't help feeling for David Brent, here can't help but think Andy should actually go and get a proper job.

The guest appearance things was done so much better on Larry Sanders and the situational humour on Kerb Your Enthusiasm. The true inheriter of Larry David's style is Jack Dee's excellent Lead Balloon.

[Buttonman]

I like 'Lead Balloon' too and the one where he was caught disposing of Magda's casserole was one of my few laugh out loud moments of the year.

I quite like 'Extras' but there is a lot to dislike not least Gervais' complete abandonment of anything approaching acting. It is also very smug with a line in the finale summing it up. To paraphrase, the agent says 'You won't be 'A' list Andy until you've done some directing and won a couple of Emmy's' - like, that guy you know.

It did have plenty of good stuff though, with Patrick Stewart being my highlight.

[Adrian Bamforth]

The best thing about it was possibly Shaun Williamson (Barry from Eastenders) - reckon they should have given the main role and a bit of character might have developed.

[Buddy]

I like Lead Balloon also... if only becauce I really fancy his wife.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/ximoc/?action=view¤t=lead_balloon3_gal.jpg" target="_blank">http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/ximoc/lead_balloon3_gal.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">

Hot Totty!

[Dark Jimbo]

You would, wouldn't you?

[Bico]

I like Gervaise more now that he's famous than when he was up-and-coming, as observing the levels of bitterness his success engenders in certain quarters is highly amusing - The Sun is almost worth buying for the tv column alone when they lay into Gervaise on the flimsiest of (sometimes convoluted and contradictory) pretexts.

The Extras special was more layered than it's credited as being, with the cumulative Big Brother speech telling the viewer all they need to know about what's gone before, as 'Andy' admits he's a fame-seeking whore and ultimately worse than what he criticises, since he pretends he knows better about the things he both observes and actively participates in.
More emo than funny, but still funny.

[Steve Green]

I like Extras, but it annoyed me that Maggie seemed to have had a lobotomy in S2, just so she could drop Andy in it.

I've been watching Lead Balloon for a while, but I *really* want him to lose it and tell his sponging daughter and her boyfriend to fuck right off at some point.

- Steve

[judge macbrayne]

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