HBO and BBC’s Extras—Another too Well-kept Secret

HBO and BBC’s Extras—Another too Well-kept Secret by Roxanne McDonald

Biting and wry at once as it targets the pitiable and pitiful celeb-wannabe, “Extras” is a lovely surprise for the channel surfer who happens upon it.

“Extras”. It’s BBC’s answer to the void left by the Benny Hills. It’s American TV’s answer to the void left by the Bob Newharts. And it is one of the best satires on pay-TV today.

I happened upon “Extras” when I was channel surfing once my regular line-up was finished for the night. Fortunately for me, this Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant creation was the perfect bedtime sit-com, subtle, sardonic, and silly in all the right places. Unfortunately for me, I came into this discovery way too late, arriving in time to see episode eight of season 2.

On the third hand, the episode I caught made me an instant follower (impelling me to note the channel—HBO 504, here—and the title, so the next morning I could search like mad for the sweetest of subtle mad-cap shows). Andy Millman (the name making the show already cheeky funny) is an actor in his forties. Andy Millman only recently gave up a steady job to pursue an acting career. Andy Millman has landed a gig as the star of a marginally popular sitcom. That is, in the margins is where the critics put him and his sitcom, and in the margins is where the lowest common denominator recognize him—making for bittersweet (mostly bitter) payoffs.

In the episode that introduced this instant fan to “Extras”, Millman (played by Gervais) shrugs off the kooky hippy drippy drunken fans hanging around him in a pub. With his closest friend, Maggie Jacobs (played by Ashley Jensen), and with his incompetent agent, Darren Lamb (played by Merchant),

Millman upgrades his evening by visiting a trendy lounge. He spots David Bowie in the VIP section, where he is now a nobody and from which he is bounced, and just having to get closer to the legend must bribe the [albeit upscale] bouncer. Once a dollar amount is negotiated, Millman realizes he is sitting only on the other side of the velvet ropes from the non-VIPs. That doesn’t discourage him, and he gets his friend Maggie to signal to and approach Bowie.
As one would hope if one were in the same position, aching to rub elbows with the great one, Bowie is accommodating…for about twenty seconds as Andy babbles. The babbles inspire Bowie, however, who launches into a brainstorming session on the spot—making up a song for and about Andy, a song none of us would wish on our worst enemies but a song that rounds off the consistently humiliating day in the life of pitiful Millman.

Bowie drafts the funny little fat man, banal and facile fat man with the pug nose and no grace, no style song, and worse, urges the loungers to sing along!

And Andy Millman sitcom star retreats…to where the less appealing fans are the most appealing and to where we viewers of “Extras” can rest assured the pathetic little loser will continue to be the unfortunate victim…of the laughs, which is fortunate for us.

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