Agent Monkeysee on 20/9/2006 at 16:10
Quote Posted by Paz
Is this a stupid "you can't critique comedy unless you've written a sitcom" argument in waiting?
Quote Posted by TheSilverPox
The peanut gallery strikes again!!
All signs point to yes!
ignatios on 20/9/2006 at 16:13
Don't shake it goddammit, you'll make bubbles and that shit takes forever to pop! :mad:
Shevers on 20/9/2006 at 16:22
Series 2 of Extras has been great so far imo. It beats the first series for sure, especially in being consistant. The first series I liked but it was more a case of a few great scenes than a great show, while it seems more balanced this time around. The characters are working better too. Seems like he's giving it more work this time.
Having bashed series 1 a bit there, I have to say that the Patrick Stewart scenes in it were completely awesome.
OnionBob on 20/9/2006 at 16:49
Quote Posted by Paz
I didn't realise you knew him personally.
Is this a stupid "you can't critique comedy unless you've written a sitcom" argument in waiting? Because that, as they say, would be quite stupid.
The first series was lazy, relied far too much on his previous
Office success (which WAS very good in a number of ways), attempted to poorly crowbar in some "make talking about 'nothing' seem hilarious" bits from
Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm (it's no secret he's a fan of those shows), included too many "ironic" barbs about racism/disability which fell flat, contained alarming number of situations which were just "character A says something OUTRAGEOUS, character B REACTS!" in place of real, actual, funny lines and just generally wasn't terribly amusing.
Een mai hopinion, of course.
The second series (so far) has been a bit better. It's still no
Office but it is much better than the first. I didn't get all the way through more than one episode from the first series because it's actually pretty boring. However, they've developed things a bit now, and hopefully with the characters becoming stronger and rounder, then actual plots might generate funny situations/lines instead of just the OUTRAGEOUS -> REACT formula you noted Paz.
It's actually one of those things that hasn't sprung forth beautifully, fully-formed into the world like
The Office did, and as such I get the feeling they kind of expected it would. It may not have hit its stride yet but I think Gervais and Merchant are clever buggers and it seems the coasting has stopped a bit and that they'll come up with the goods sooner or later.
Scots Taffer on 20/9/2006 at 23:32
Hurrrr, they've all been removed at the behest of the British Broadcasting Corporation. :(
Fascists.
oudeis on 21/9/2006 at 00:10
Sucks- the Patrick Stewart one was classic. Does anybody know how to extract a video from a .dat file? My temporary internet folder has the youtube files in it, but I can't open them even if I change the file extension to something else.:(
Shug on 21/9/2006 at 02:57
Quote Posted by Paz
He's correct though - the first series of this was extremely weak. I've not seen a full episode of series 2.
I'm afraid you have me here, as I've only seen those three clips posted above!
Paz on 21/9/2006 at 21:51
Now I have seen a full episode of series 2! And ... well ... David Bowie's song was quite good, eh?
POSITIVES:
~ Stephen Merchant has a very funny face. He's obviously a high quality comedy actor bloke, as evidenced by his ability to make bouncing lines off a former Eastenders chap seem quite amusing.
~ Bowie ripping the piss out of nowhere! The reveal where he span around to be beside a huge piano was excellent. This section almost seemed like it was out of a different show though.
~ The plot has moved away from "Andy gets an Extras job on something and a famous person is there who is a bit strange/racist/offended by something Andy does" and towards more of a sitcom-ey thing.
~ Referencing When The Wind Blows
~ Mild digs at the current "lazy repeated characters with a catchphrase" vogue in sketch comedy.
NEGS (with apologies to SilverPox):
~ It's still trying to be Seinfeld, but not very well. Two bits tonight - laughing at your own toes and the would you fight a monkey or gazelle. Fine and dandy, but again feel like they come from a different show. Unfortunately, if you realise what they're a homage too, they look a bit poor.
~ That bloody homeless person section which seemed to last for days. We get it Mr Gervais, your character is a bit of a cunt.
~ "Pretend you want my autograph" blatantly stolen from Alan Partridge (who probably nicked it from someone else to begin with)
~ Scary, stalkerish fans. Probably harsh to say this was nicked from Partridge, because it's quite a generic idea. However, AP did it loads better.
~ Basically not making me laugh properly until Bowie did his thing.
I dunno, it's just too close to The Office in a lot of ways (Brent/Andy gets into awkward social situation ... with hilarious conseqences), except without such a tight dynamic or the value of it being original. I'm not seeing much to suggest it's getting better, really. Sorry :(
I thought Mitchell & Webb afterwards was going to be MUCH better when it started with a blinding sketch. Alas, this turned out to be kind of hit and miss. The "hit" parts made me laugh though (opening house-buying sketch although it was overused to death later on, baddie euphamisms - until the rubbish anal sex ending (oo-er), heroin for christmas, can people levitate?, Pugwash in the pub and the dodgy rubber ring ride). Other parts not so great, but there was enough to keep me happy. Is this written by the same duo who do Peep Show or have M&W done it themselves?
In the interests of fairness I suppose I should also say that M&W's "bored daytime presenters with rapid-fire cuts" was awfully similar to "People Place" from The Adam & Joe Show. And "numberwang" is basically "Quizzlestick". Except not very good.
