Extras (2005) TV series

Directors: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Writers: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Shaun Williamson, Shaun Pye, Sarah Moyle, Andrew Buckley, Jamie Chapman

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Once in a great while a man really has a chance to shine. This is not that man.

Plot: Andy Millman is an actor with ambition and a script. Reduced to working as an extra with a useless agent, Andy's attempts to boost his career invariably end in failure and embarrassment.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

This is the show Gervais made after his phenomenal success with THE OFFICE (2001) and like that series, this one lasted two seasons.  It's often funny but Gervais & co. interject more heart/emotion/drama this time out.  They do have a lot of fun with the guest stars hilariously playing themselves (Jonathan Ross, David Bowie, Daniel Radcliffe, Samuel L. Jackson, Ross Kemp, Patrick Stewart, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Diana Rigg, Clive Owen, Les Dennis, Vinnie Jones, Warwick Davis, Robert De Niro, George Michael, Orlando Bloom, Ronnie Corbett, Ian McKellen, Gordon Ramsay, David Tennant, Stephen Fry and many more).  My favorite episode is from season one with Kate Winslet.  She was fucking hilarious.  The first series dealt with Gervais et al as extras and the second sees him finding success in a horrible but popular sitcom and how he struggles with being taken seriously as an actor.  It's a fun show and it's often hilarious but it has more drama than you'd expect based on Gervais' previous work but I like it just the same.  It was a pleasant short run of 13 half hour episodes.