Available at Amazon.com
Creators/Executive Producers:
Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Cast:
Ricky Gervais ………. Andy Millman
Ashley Jensen ………. Maggie Jacobs
Stephen Merchant ………. Darren Lamb
Shaun Williamson ………. Himself
Shaun Pye ………. Greg
The Show:
Andy Millman is an actor. He might be a great actor, but since all his gigs thus far have been non-speaking roles, it’s rather hard to say, although my gut feeling is “no”. Part of the blame has to go to his agent being, well, incompetent. Part has to go to Andy himself, since he’s really good at digging a hole for himself.
Andy’s partner in crime is Maggie Jacobs, a fellow extra who is constantly on the hunt for a man. She has a tendency to put her foot in her mouth, which makes her the perfect friend for Andy, even if it hurts his chances of ever getting a speaking role. She means well, though.
Not having seen enough of The Office (UK), I can’t say whether the show is better (as Gervais and Merchant claim) or not. I do know it’s rather different. The most obvious thing is that The Office is a mock reality show documentary, with confessionals and the like, while Extras is really just about Andy and Maggie and their adventures as extras. The other thing is that we get to see “celebrities” play exaggerated versions of themselves (similar to The Larry Sanders Show).
Regardless, don’t expect a large number of laugh out loud moments. The show has more of that “subtle British humour” feel too it, and like The Office, has moments that can only be classified as “painfully funny”. If you like this sort of humour, by all means, grab this disc.
Episodes:
The episodes are listed in the order that HBO aired them. However, they were broadcast in a different order in the UK, hence the episode numbers seem out of order. Near as I can tell though, it doesn’t really matter what order you watch the episodes in.
Disc One:
103 “Kate Winslet”
While shooting a film about the Holocaust (since they seem to win all the Oscars.) Kate helps Maggie with her boyfriend’s desire to have her talk dirty over the phone, and Andy finds out a fellow extra rather fancies him. However, a get together with her friends doesn’t turn out to be quite what he expected.
101 “Ben Stiller”
Andy and Maggie are extras on the set of a “based-on-a-true-story” drama directed by Ben Stiller, who seems more than a little intent on making sure that people focus on the anguish and pain in the movie instead of his rather successful comedies (even though there’s nothing wrong with watching his movies over and over again). Andy tries very hard to get a line in the film, while Maggie shows interest in a crew member until she discovers his shameful secret.
102 “Ross Kemp”
Andy and Maggie work on a period drama starring Ross Kemp (formerly of Eastenders and not a member of Spandau Ballet, if that helps you place him. It didn’t help me.). Kemp is all about bragging how “hard” he is and how he is more “hard” than ex-footballer Vinnie Jones, who happens to be shooting a film in the same studio complex. You know that that can’t end well. We also find out how bad Andy’s C.V. is, and believe me, it’s pretty bad.
Disc Two:
105 “Samuel L. Jackson”
On the set of a Samuel L. Jackson movie, Maggie makes the move on an “actor”, while Andy gets some lines and ends up befriended by a rather boring extra whose previous mates have encountered some hard luck. According to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the Samuel L. Jackson scenes were actually the first scenes shot in the series, as Jackson only had one day free for filming.
104 “Les Dennis”
Andy and Maggie are extras in a pantomime version of Aladdin, which is apparently a popular way to present it in England. Andy gets to play the Genie, while Maggie is in the chorus line. Anyway, Les is engaged, but when he discovers that his fiancée has cheated on him, he stops in the middle of a performance to bemoan his lot in life.
106 “Patrick Stewart”
During a production of The Tempest (in which Stewart actually performed on Broadway), Andy gets Patrick Stewart to circulate his script for a sitcom. The BBC invite Andy in for a meeting, and he gets a chance to develop it for a pilot episode. Success! Well, maybe.
The DVD:
Video:
(Presented in Widescreen Format Enhanced for 16:9 TVs)
Extras actually uses different screen sizes during an episode. A “film” will be shown in a 2.35:1 ratio, while the regular show is in the 16:9 format, which I think is standard in the UK. As well, the deleted scenes and outtakes feel like they were filmed using a handicam.
Audio:
(English 2.0)
There’s not much to say, really. Andy’s whining and Maggie’s Scottish brogue are pretty clear.
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes – There’s nothing particularly bad that would seem to warrant deletion, but nothing that adds to the story either.
Outtakes – The usual. I never actually find these things funny.
Finding Leo – A look at the lengths Ricky Gervais went to land Leonardo DiCaprio for an episode, due to Jude Law pulling out. It’s not meant to be funny, and is in fact downright painful to watch.
The Difficult Second Album: Behind the Scenes of Extras – Gervais and Merchant talk about the difficulties of creating a second series on the heels of a hit first series. Which I can understand – there’s so much anticipation that you’ll have another “hit”, and sometimes lightning strikes twice. Some other times, you get crap like Veronica’s Closet.
