I’m wondering what people with HBO thought of the first episodes last night. I have always enjoyed CYE, primarily because it has this ur-Seinfeld quality of being downright painful to watch. Pairing it with Ricky Gervais ought to be inspired because that was the main quality of ‘The Office,” along with offering serious satire of what passes for employee relations and management-speak today. On the basis of the first episodes, I thought CYE was the weaker of the two. Perhaps familiarity is the problem. Larry David seemed to be going through the motions, with the storylines of scalping tickets for the synagogue and the squabble over the sandwich being a bit more contrived than usual. He may be setting something up for the rest of the season. The running gag about ‘The Producers’ climaxed perfectly at the end of the last season, so maybe the adoption storyline is heading in the same direction.
‘Extras’ was pitch-perfect. Gervais’s ability to alternate between being the life of the party and being an embarrassed git is as strong as ever. The material on religion was hysterical, and Kate Winslett nailed all her lines. It is interesting that, despite the fact that Gervais and the BBC must have known that ‘Extras’ would be shown in the US, a number of the references ought to be bewildering to any but a British audience. Who, outside of England, knows who Jeremy Clarkson is, or cares, for that matter? I sort of like that parochialism. It is early days, but the series is low-key enough that it should be able to survive on the limited premise of sitting around a film studio every week and commenting sarcastically on the star.
there’s a new season of “curb your enthusiasm”? and what is this “extras” of which you speak?
Extras — new Ricky Gervais series developed by the BBC with the American rights purchased (after the fact if I remember correctly) by HBO. I thought it was really smart, pathetic, funny and rough around the edges. Kate Winslet stole the show (but Gervais and his writing/directing collaborator gave her all the best lines). The scene at the Catholic prayer circle was priceless. I’ll be curious to see how they keep developing the characters and situations.
thanks for the heads-up chris–i turned hbo on and there it was, about to start. really brilliant stuff–it only takes a minute or two to forget gervais in “the office”. the holocaust, catholicism, cerebral palsy–all played for laughs in just the first episode. can’t wait for the rest. well, i can wait, of course–that’s just a figure of speech, to signal enthusiasm.
and i like the deliberate parochialism as well. i like it when things are kept untranslated/untranslatable–but that’s enough about my book project.
From today’s Guardian: http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1579260,00.html
Ah, woe is me. No HBO–gotta wait for the dvds.
Now that I know you all like parochial humor, I feel freed up to really get Reynolds-centric. Take that, Sally!
Who is this Sally of whom you speak?
More important, who is this Kinkaid of whom you all speak? S/he has god-like status among you so I should probably know more.
No HBO here either… Although, last night’s Arrested Development was one of the sharpest things not on HBO I’ve seen.
Ron Howard doing voice over saying, “PLEASE understand, NO ONE is making fun of Andy Griffith. Let me repeat that: No one…”
was great. They are replacing Fonzie with Chachi this season. And David Cross. And Charlize Theron! This is good tv.
I got bored with the Scorsese Dylan thing. But then again, I”m not a big fan of Dylan’s and this film does little to try to make anyone appreciate his importance.
I no have cable. I am poor and homeless (seriously). Anyone taping the episodes of CYE and Extras? I do have acess to a TV and VCR.
The Wee ole England street in Los Angeles was a bit much (though I did laugh at the Merry Poppins gag), but I too found last night’s Arrested Development to be hilariously inspired and smartly crafted. This show is attaining Simpsons status in its use of cultural references and double entendres. Lots of sex for a 7:00pm show but I’m not complaining. Why are people not watching this?
for some reason i never got into it. perhaps it takes longer exposure. another thing to put in my netflix queue and have never arrive.
Kincaid: James R. Kincaid, Aerol Arnold chair of something or other at USC. Famous for his antics at the MLA (some great presentations collected in _Annoying the Victorians_) and for a whipsmart piece of cultural criticism called _Child-Loving_ that unravels Victorian/American fascination with the child. Taught a bunch of us in a comedy class, and probably ended up on all of our committees. Also wrote a pretty damn funny … novel? text with Percival Everett called _A History of African-American People by Strom Thurmond_.
Easily embarrassed by talk of sex. Married above his station. Wiry, but with a glass jaw. Once wrestled Tania Modleski, to a draw. Surreptitiously whispers “jerk” whenever Tony Kemp speaks at department meetings. (Actually, that last thing everyone does.) Wrote anonymous memo which enraged members of our class, not least John Bruns, who everyone blames.
Sally: wouldn’t you like to know.
Jeff – I WOULD have agreed with you that the Wee Old England thing was corny in Arrested Development last night, except that I’ve been to that little faux-English town in Long Beach! I think it’s near the Queen Mary, and it is almost as silly as what they showed.
I wondered as much. It’s the first time the show felt like it was being filmed on a studio backlot. And who designed Charlize Theron’s costumes, but I digress. Dave Thomas, however, was a hoot. The Andy Griffith, self-relexive Opie moment was also something of a first as Howard sort of outs himself in the narration. Not sure what to make of that but it made me laugh (and here I thought Griffith was dead . . . maybe he is).
Barnaby Jones is dead.
Matlock is alive.
Extras–which was indeed brill–is available on HBO on Demand. Yay! Because our basement digs has no hbo, and the cousin comandeers Sundays for Desperate Housewives and that doctor thing that’s on after it, we have to watch later in the week. (We watch Sunday Night Football in our hovel.)
Mike and John find friends with premium cable! You can watch it anytime you want. Has anyone seen the “extras” of Extras yet?
I was a little disappointed with the second episode. Too much on Ben Stiller’s self-absorption (though the repetition of how much a starving child would like Dodgeball was funny), and the material on the disabled was pretty weak. Oddly enough, Curb Your Enthusiasm did the disabled material better this week. The first week’s standard was impossibly high, but even so the second episode was a letdown.
yeah, i thought the second episode was too focussed on stiller’s shtick. winslet on the other hand played to the script. still quite good though, but yes, much broader than episode 1. andy trying to ingratiate himself with the producer was excruciating to watch (in a good way). and i think that scene points to one of the differences between this show and the office. i think this show makes the viewer identify with andy, whereas brent was very much the object of the office’s comedy (we identified there with tim).
It’s true that the Stiller episode wasn’t as good. But Maggie doing “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these” was fucking priceless.
Yeah, that scene was squirm-worthy.
Extras 1.3 was really good and a big improvement over Ben Stiller’s posturing in 1.2. Gervais surprises me a lot in the series. He has some really nice moments with the Eastenders fellow (who is unknown in the States but still manages to be quite funny here–I’m sure its a big deal for the Brits but not knowing made the scenes between the two actors all the more impressive).
how do you mean “all the more impressive” jeff? i probably would have found it a lot funnier if i knew anything about the other guy’s regular screen persona. without that i thought it was funny but somewhat slight.
gervais’ character here is quite different from david brent. in “the office” we mostly observed the characters (with tim coming closest to an identifying point for the audience) and the show put them in very uncomfortable positions. we felt uncomfortable only because we were watching them humiliate themselves, especially david brent–often unselfconsciously. andy in “extras”, on the other hand, is actually smart, has some integrity (as when he tells stiller off) and is a nice person. his humiliations cut closer for that reason. but on the whole this is a more generous show, and the funnier character is maggie anyway. she’s closer to brent/gareth whereas andy is a more compromised tim.
this has been another instalment in my pointless analysis series. and thanks to the new edit function i can now add that i realize that in my second paragraph i am repeating at tedious length a point i made in an earlier comment.
an interview with gervais on hbo.com
i like this bit in particular (in response to a question about his style of comedy):
he also talks about the similarities/differences between what he does and what larry david does.
and listen to gervais talk about the show on the bbc
Extras 1.3 was better than 1.2, but it was a different kind of comedy from 1.1. The scale of the humor was smaller (reading aloud from the CV his manager wrote for him, the stuff about people who play screen siblings) and did not tackle the bigger taboos. I liked that, actually. But again, even if you are English, why give Ross Kemp’s insecurities and Vinnie Jones’ tough-guy persona so much prominence? Who gives a shit? Parochial is one thing; this was just plain obscure.
The danger for this show is going to be when Gervais gives the celebrities (Stiller, Kemp) too much room to play to the camera with their own kind of humor. I want Gervais’ voice, not Stiller’s. Winslett was hysterical because she was delivering Gervais’ lines, and delivering them very well. It sounded like Stiller and Kemp wrote their own material.
I simply thought the episode foregrounded Gervais’s work as an actor (because I didn’t have the cultural knowledge to get all excited about star turns). Not knowing who Kemp was made his character all the more a character and not a clever self-reflexive exercise. And I thought the three scenes between Kemp and Gervais were smartly played, well shaped and very funny (awkwardly so). Stiller kept trying to steal the show of 1.2 and Winslet did indeed steal 1.1. I grow a bit tired of the dumb chick who just wants to find Mr. Right, but I still like the work the actor is doing to make her believably innocuous.
Having noted that the ‘Extras’ episode with Ross Kemp was hopelessly obscure, readers of this blog may be interested to know that yesterday Kemp’s wife (who is also editor of the ‘Sun’ newspaper) was arrested for allegedly assaulting Kemp. The British newspapers are making much of the fact that “hard man” Kemp was beaten up by his wife. So, apologies to Gervais for questioning the importance of his characters. http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1607782,00.html
For those of us who watch ‘free’ TV – or freer than HBO – I have given up on both ‘Earl’ and ‘The Office.’
Totally digging The West Wing though; both season six on Bravo and season 7 on NBC.
HBO is going to show all six episodes of ‘Extras’ back to back in a couple of weeks. I’ll tape it, send it to Mike, and he can distribute it to those without HBO. I’ve tried to watch ‘West Wing’ since Bush was elected, and even ‘Commander in Chief,’ but the starkness of the gulf between TV and reality depresses me too much.
I did catch a few minutes of ‘Bulworth’ on TV earlier this week. I’d forgotten Joshua Malina had a bit part in that, before ‘Sports Night’ and ‘West Wing.’
I think Earl and The Office offer up the strongest hour of comedy on television. Don’t give up on these shows. I too am enjoying The West Wing. I’ve also really enjoyed The Colbert Report. It is far funnier than I would have imagined.
the 6th episode–the one with patrick stewart–was great. for some reason episode 5 hasn’t shown up in our ondemand listing yet, even though hbo’s ondemand page says it should be there.
Gervais will do a series of podcasts for The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais
Now those of us without HBO can laugh with the rest of you millionaires.
Any thoughts on the new series of ‘Extras’? It seems to have lost its edge. It is now using famous people playing against type for little other reason than conceit (Daniel Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom). The sadness the Gervais character feels at the way his sitcom has turned out is nicely done, but it is never clear that he had a better, less “commercial” vision in the first place. On the bright side, the scene when Chris Martin performs on the sitcom was a useful reminder of why I dislike Coldplay.
Still, of the stars who have appeared thus far, Martin seemed to be having the most fun (well, David Bowie’s lounge lizard ode to Andy was a hoot). Bloom and Radcliffe seemed to have ulterior motives, recontextualizing their public persona in order to stem the tide of their, potentially, diminishing star power (better make fun of myself before the gates burst open and the jig is up). Well, Bloom mostly; I guess Radcliffe’s willing to do anything to make sure he has a career post-Rowling. I thought the episode with Ian McKellan to be trite. And every scene Stephen Merchant wanders into is insufferable. I do like Gervais’ work as Andy but I find the episodes this year to be far more smug than they were last year. I wish we spent more time on the set of the sitcom than elsewhere.
i’ve actually enjoyed the second half of the second season of extras tremendously. i thought the bit with mckellen where he explains “acting” was just brilliant and one of the weirdest things i’ve seen in a long time. i haven’t actually found the show to be smug–more like terribly cruel in the way it has turned on andy. there is a stronger moralizing edge here than in the office or even in the first season. in the first season andy was a sort of compromised moral center, watching all kinds of folly unfold around him. this season he has completely compromised himself and the last three episodes have just been the most excruciating punishment. though in the last one (the series finale?) he does seem to slightly redeem himself at the end.
and i really like stephen merchant.
in short, jeff and i disagree completely again, which means i must be right.
Speaking of HBO series revolving around cringe-worthy characters, has anyone seen “The Comeback” with Lisa Kudrow? It just showed up on my HBO On Demand and I have been enjoying it to no end. Somehow Kudrow’s Valerie Cherish makes me cringe even more than Larry David because she is trying so hard to keep everything under control. Does anyone know to what measure improv was used in the making of “The Comeback”?
Did anyone see the series finale of ‘Extras’? The message is pretty obvious, about the cult and dangers of celebrity. The final sequence takes place on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and Andy has a kind of meltdown which I found it quite powerful. And the first half is also very funny.
Happened to see it “on demand” at my sister’s house last night. I agree. The first half was very funny, then it got fairly maudlin–but really earned it in the last 10 minutes, in ways that reminded me quite a bit of the final “Office,” too. Stephen Merchant was very funny, and Gervais can really act.
Stardust started mediocre and by the end had me bleeding from the eyes. Gervais is in this too, but he’s inexplicably given old lines of dialogue from his own shows, rather than something new to do. DeNiro craps in his own hat. I really liked Matthew Vaughan’s Layer Cake, so boy this was annoying….
there was a third season of extras? why was i not informed? or was this a one-off special?
It was a one-off special to close out the series. Gervais did the same thing with a Christmas special of ‘The Office’ a while back.