Yes, I say Brent advisedly, as it’s this character (further weakned by caricature) whose annoying presence “stars” in this travesty. Neither funny nor insightful, the jokes that worked first time round in The Office - the handicapped jokes, the hypocrites jokes, all the other formulaic pre-packaged we’re-so-PC-that-we-can-make-non-PC-jokes - fall as flat as a pancake. It’s truly dire. The attempt to make “Office II” work by dragging in celebrities, such as Kate Winslet and Ben Stiller, and heavy-handedly getting them to show the seedy, hypocritical side of stardom, and going on location not only doesn’t work, it merely serves to remind you of what a pale imitation this garbage is. And Stephen Merchant, you can’t act, so please stay behind the camera.
You mean Ricky Gervais; David Brent is his character from The Office; his character in Extras is called Andy Millman. Not that there’s a huge amount of difference.
That’s the trouble with Gervais; don’t get me wrong, I like him and I think he’s quite talented, but he’s really only got the one act.
Hear that whooshing sound? Reread the post, and you’ll see he did that deliberately to make the point that there is no difference.
Personally, I liked Extras. The episode with Patrick Stewart had me rolling. But I don’t feel strongly enough about it to argue the point.
:smack: sorry… carry on.
I’ve seen three episodes so far. I think it’s slightly better than The Office. It’s a bit scary that Merchant is Gareth (and from the Guardian podcasts, Karl is Keith).
I thought it was pretty funny.
I especially liked the episode with Kate Winslet.
And I think the female lead was hilarious.
I was not a fan of “The Office” and “Extras” was generally bad for the same reason. It’s almost always the same joke over and over and over …
I call this joke “The man in the green hat joke.”
The character says: “You know what I really hate? Men with green hats. What a bunch of pathetic losers.” And of course, a man in a green hat has been standing behind him hearing all this. You can see it coming from 20 parsecs away.
It’s at best a “funny once”. After a few thousand times, it is just plain annoying.
I got suckered in watching in because Kate Winslet was hilarious in the debut. I really looked forward to Ben Stiller but he ended up just doing his “angry guy” bit yet again.
Kate Winslet was great, but the Patrick Stewart one was pretty good as well. And I liked the one with the British actor who talked tough, but when confronted was a total wuss.
I like Extras better than The Office, frankly (and with the American version of The Office, I think the British one has been left behind in the dust).
I thought the American version of The Office was dull and cheesy compared to the original UK one - of course I would say that, because I’m English, but the whole point was the edgy, uncomfortable atmosphere and the awkward, embarrassing situations; the American show just didn’t do this so well.
It’s still on.
And for uncomfortable situations, watch the episode called “Email Surveilance”, where Michael shows up to the company party uninvited.
I liked Extras but then again, I still think Ricky Gervaise is funny. Maybe because I haven’t heard enough podcasts yet 
Am I the only one who sees David Brent and Andy Millman as completely different characters? I guess you could argue that they both lack social skills, but David desperatly wants to be liked - even more as an entertainer than as a manager. His is both obnoxious and oblivious. Andy, for the most part, just wants to be left alone. He has a subtle, dry wit. Brent is in-your-face. Andy would rather have a laugh behind your back (or to your face, if you’re too dim to see that he’s having a go).
And I think Stephen is brilliant as Andy’s incompetent agent. That bit with the bluetooth in episode one was hilarious.
If anything, I think the character of Andy is more like Tim from The Office than David Brent.
In regards to Ricky Gervais always playing the same character, it’s something he and Stephen Merchant are well aware of.
If you can get hold of the DVD of Extras series 1, their is one scene in the special features where they sit and joke about Ricky’s ‘amazing talent’ to play such a wide variety of characters.
I personally thought Extras was ok, but its biggest failing was that it had The Office to live up to and this was always going to be a huge task.
I think you’re being very generous to Mangers. Re-read?! Puts me in mind of a nice line by CS Lewis, lamenting in respect of (literary) criticism ‘the extreme rarity of conscientiousness in the preliminary work which all criticism presupposes…a careful reading of what one criticises’.
If that one comes on, I’ll try and catch it. It was the derivative, imitative, tired and lazy nature of the two episodes I saw that had me reaching for the Off button.
Call yourself a doper?!