Extras
When the British comedy series Extras came out in 2005, I read the critical acclaim and tried to find a way to see it, but it was not so easy back then. So I made a mental note to keep an eye out, and moved on. Now I have finally got around to watching the 12 half hour episodes and the 90 minute finale, and though I enjoyed the watch, I was surprised by several hazards along the way.
The first has to do with genre. With Extras, Ricky Gervais and compatriots essentially originated what I call ‘cringe comedy’ which depicts people behaving badly, its apotheosis being The Office. I do find cringe comedy funny, often very funny, but I do not enjoy watching it. Of course, when I made that mental note 20 years ago the genre did not yet exist, and by now I had forgotten the nature of Extras. But I did still manage to get through the series without too much cringing on my part, and was rewarded when the 90-minute closer delivered as much humanity as humiliation while still being funny
The second hazard had to do with watching other series at the same time. After watching an episode of Extras, if I watched an episode of another series with lots of extras I couldn’t help but get distracted by wondering about what those actual extras were doing when the cameras were off. Fortunately, this effect quickly wore off.
The third hazard was more idiosyncratic. I knew I would shortly be watching the latest season of Shetland, which happens to star Ashley Jensen as a whip smart detective. But 20 years earlier, in Extras Jensen played a remarkably stupid character whose comedy came from her apparently being unable to realize what she says and does might affect other people, much less realize what those effects might be. But again, this effect quickly wore off.
So in the end I quite enjoyed watching Extras. I would recommend it to fans of comedy, especially cringe comedy.
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