A Winning Loser
Ricky Gervais' Extras returns for Season 2
He's in the No. 1 holiday movie (
Night at the Museum), his brilliant
The Office has made a successful transition to American TV, he has written and performed in an episode of
The Simpsons, and yet
Ricky Gervais continues to play the born loser. Bless his (and our) lucky stars.
In Extras, an HBO-BBC collaboration now in its second season of wickedly biting showbiz satire (Sundays at 10 pm/ET), Gervais plays the hapless Andy Millman, a would-be actor of questionable talent and limitless desperation, who for years has been an envious bystander on movie sets. This setup allows movie stars and other celebrities (from Kate Winslet last year to Orlando Bloom this time around) to send themselves up in the most playfully naughty manner.
This season, which could be subtitled "Misery Loves Comedy," finds Andy finally getting his big break, starring in and writing a BBC sitcom, but naturally it sours before he can soar. With no help from his useless agent (cocreator Stephen Merchant), Andy watches the show and his role degenerate into a critically reviled embarrassment. "They'd forgive you if you did Celebrity Fit Club," he's told.
Fat chance. Andy's life is a parade of social embarrassments, magnified by awkward encounters with superstars like David Bowie (who memorably ridicules Andy in song at a club) and, this week, young Daniel Radcliffe, who proves himself a wizard of inappropriate sexual innuendo. A sight gag involving a condom and Dame Diana Rigg is priceless.
Wherever Andy turns, creepy fans or contemptuous peers taunt him with his sitcom character's catchphrase: "You havin' a laugh?" If you watch Extras, you'll be laughing plenty.
Fleeting Fame
One of the last vestiges of the dying network TV-movie is CBS' Hallmark Hall of Fame, which also has seen happier times. Once a home for major stars and classic stories, now it's more often a too-safe haven for slow-cooked corn. That's the case with The Valley of Light (Jan. 28, 9 pm/ET), a gentle post-WWII fable about a drifting soldier (Chris Klein), a lonely widow (Gretchen Mol) and a mute tyke (Zach Mills). This laconic story has the narcotic effect of warm milk spiked with a bold shot of vanilla.
Gimme a Break
Remember the good old days when everyone was behind bars? Prison Break returns this week (Mondays at 8 pm/ET on Fox), chasing its tail while hopscotching between states. It's a mess, with too many balls being haphazardly juggled. It distracts us from the main plot of fugitive brothers Michael and Lincoln yoked reluctantly to the dastardly Kellerman as they all seek to expose the president's brother. How this escapade ends is even more ludicrous than usual.
