I'm afraid I've got to eat a little bit of crow here. When the first season of Extras played on HBO, I carelessly threw around terms like "mediocre." I made this judgment after half-heartedly viewing about half the first episode before turning the TV off. Having now seen the whole season on DVD, I don't know what my problem was.* The show is actually hilarious.

The second season, built around Gervais's character's smash BBC sitcom When the Whistle Blows, starts this Sunday. Oh yes.

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* I think I was hoping for it to be more like The Office than it could possibly have been. In particular, I had trouble accepting Gervais as the straight man rather than the stooge. I'm over it.