Maybe I missed it, but I ...
Question: Maybe I missed it, but I don't see anyone talking about the absolute best comedy on TV at the moment. The show
Extras consistently makes me laugh out loud and is thoroughly enjoyable overall. Matt, have you had a chance to take in this hidden gem on HBO, which has received hardly any promotion? If so, what are your thoughts?
Answer: I
reviewed it quite positively when it premiered in late September, and now having watched the last few episodes — as with
The Office,
Ricky Gervais does only six at a time — I am still a fan. I love the fact that it isn't the same exact show every week; the episode when he stepped into an ill-fated holiday, panto stage production of
Aladdin as a gay genie, playing opposite a sad-sack comic, was a terrific change of pace. Like the original
Office, it is painfully, often brutally funny, but it doesn't surprise me that the show hasn't exactly caught the culture on fire, especially considering how far HBO has slipped under the radar on Sundays lately. (After the Nov. 6 season finale,
Extras will be repeated on Sundays after new episodes of the noticeably uneven
Curb Your Enthusiasm.)
