Another hilarious ep last night, especially with the talking Andy doll having a larf during the BAFTAs. Leave it to Darren and Maggie to muck up Andy's night. Of course, now I'm stuck imagining a female Ronnie Corbett...ewwww!

I liked Chris Martin. He seems to be a good sport for doing the show and being the butt of the joke.

Is it good to talk about now? OnDemand has them out a week early so I'm always leery about talking Extras in case I'm spoilering people.

Man, they totally shit all over Andy in this episode. I mean, he generally has a couple of cringe-worthy things happen to him every episode, but this BAFTA thing was like one thing right after another.

I don't have On Demand where I live, so I'd appreciate spoiler bars if you do talk about the next week's ep. The current eps first air for us non-On Demand folk Sunday nights and repeat throughout the week.

I think Barry's high harmony to this song is my favourite comedy moment in a long time. Genius stupidity.

Last night's ep was the funniest of the season (so far), IMHO. Sir Ian cries when he talks about his own acting process, Andy screws up his chance at a good critical review because he doesn't want his macho mates to think he's gay, and Maggie makes the mistake of going on a date with Darren. Holy hell, that was funny!

I thought so, too. The play was funny but I laughed more at Maggie's date.

You know, when Maggie and Darren were out on that date and the date looked like it was going well, I turned to my husband and said "Well..." and then he said "...I guess it does make sense," and we both agreed it was because "they're both idiots."

Though I like Maggie more than I like Darren, and was glad when she scooted out of there.

Since I saw the "Season Finale" on Demand last week, and it was not really funny or good, I have a question: That's not the last episode ever, right? Are they doing a third season, or not?

I believe they are. I think it was 4 seasons.

At one point, he said he didn't think he would ever do a third series (British term for season) because he and Merchant have this thing about liking to stick to two seasons -- but in December he said it wouldn't be out of the question and that he thought Extras still had some mileage in it. Regardless, I imagine that at the very least there would be a wrap-up special, a la "The Office Christmas Special."

Well... I don't want to give too much away about the last episode, because not everyone has On Demand, but it was extremely unsatisfying for a last episode. Nothing much happened.

Extras to bow out with final show


I have mixed feelings about this. I understand wanting to go out on top. Few shows manage to actually accomplish this, although most of them say they are going out at their peak. (And no Fran Drescher, contrary to what you might think, The Nanny did not go out at a time where people still wanted more.) But 12 episodes and a special? That's it? I almost feel like this show should be held to a higher standard. If you are going to have a limited number of episodes, than they should be pretty darn close to perfect. And while I enjoyed the episodes I have seen so far (only the 1st season), I feel the episodes should have been even better.

Thank God they're doing a finale. I would have been so completely annoyed if the last episode from the second series was it.

Just saw an HBO ad, and the Extras "Extra Special Series Finale" -- with Celebrity Guests! -- is set to air Sunday, Dec. 16.

Although for some reason Ricky Gervais insisted on calling it the Extras Christmas Special in the promo.

Woohoo!

'Cos that's what the Beeb are calling it and we're getting the exact same promos. Anything aired from around Late November to January 1st is a Xmas Special here.

I am looking forward to this very very much.

Normally that would be the case here, too. I think HBO is just too snooty to go that way, except to make fun of the holiday fixation by having Gervais repeat that phrase several times in the promo.

Which is itself pretty funny -- it's basically several takes of Gervais sitting next to Merchant and trying to record the promo in character as Andy Millman. Of course, it goes smashingly, just as you'd expect.

George Michael? I'm so there.

We just caught up and watched it last night. Stupid Ricky Gervais is always making me cry. Same damn thing happened with The Office Christmas Special. Bastard.

I was underwhelmed by the finale. There were moments I liked - Clive Owen's cameo, Darren with Barry and Robbie from Eastenders in the Carphone Warehouse, and of course the sweet teary bit between Andy and Maggie.

However, a lot of this felt more like an extended speech about current celebrity culture, and I couldn't help thinking who didn't know all this stuff? Is the vacuity of it a shock to anyone at all at this point? I think a lot of that could have been done more subtly, and probably more acutely.

The "gutter press" thing did feel very tacked on, but overall I thought it was devastating to see Andy turn in to this very nasty person, and the effects of that on Maggie.