Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 07/10/2007 Run time: 300 minutes

In Extras' exquisitely excruciating second and, alas, final season, Andy Millman, former "supporting artist," learns a humbling lesson: Be careful what you wish for. Andy (Ricky Gervais) is still "an impossible person," but he is now an impossible person with a sitcom, one that, to his increasing horror, humiliation, and disgust he allows to be severely compromised. The character he portrays, a factory boss, is outfitted in a ridiculous wig and big glasses, and Andy becomes enthrall to his catchphrase: "Are you havin' a laugh?" The result is high ratings for the show, but the critics' slings and arrows are aimed at Andy. Surely, David Bowie (just one of the A-listers who grace this season) can relate to Andy's struggle for artistic integrity. Instead, his plight inspires Bowie to improvise a V.I.P. lounge sing-along ditty that mocks his pretensions ("Little fat man who sold his soul/Little fat man who sold his dream"). Andy's two closest relationships drive the series. The first is with his clueless and useless manager (Stephen Merchant), who in one there's-everything-wrong-with-that episode, arranges for Andy to be unwittingly cast as a gay man in a play. The second is with Maggie (Ashley Jensen), Andy's platonic friend, still an extra, who is steadfast and supportive, but at times absolutely tactless, as when she reveals to a woman whom Andy dumped how he lost his virginity (an embarrassing anecdote the vengeful woman proceeds to share with the attendees of Britain's most prestigious awards ceremony).

Season 2 is a no less star-studded affair than its predecessor. Among the astonishingly game notables having a laugh at themselves are Orlando Bloom ("You know who does get ignored?" he tries to impress Maggie, "Johnny Depp"), a randy Daniel Radcliffe, and Coldplay's Chris Martin, who makes a hilariously gratuitous guest-star appearance on Andy's show. Priceless are cameos by such venerable British entertainers as Robert Lindsay, Ronnie Corbett (one of The Two Ronnies) and "Barry from EastEnders." Extras is a classic cringe comedy in the grand tradition of Albert Brooks, The Larry Sanders Show, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. All of Andy's worst impulses are magnified by his newfound fame. In one episode, he complains about a disruptive child in a restaurant, only to discover he has Down's Syndrome. Enhancing these all-too-few six episodes are Extras' extremely entertaining extras, including a multi-part behind-the-scenes look at the show. One wonders how the actors got through these brilliantly funny episodes without "corpsing" (breaking up). As the generous outtakes reveal, they very often didn't. With Extras, Gervais has accomplished what the hapless Andy could not: Create "a good credible comedy that will stand the test of time." --Donald Liebenson

Much darker and not quite as tightly written or funny as season 1, but still more interesting and original than most things you'll find on TV.

Though I wish I had skipped the 29-minute extra called "Taping Nigel: The Gimpening." It's more than I needed or wanted to know about Gervais, who apparently has a bondage/bdsm fetish which he acts out upon film editor Nigel Williams who doesn't appear all that comfortable with the prospect...one can't help worrying that he puts up with being bound (by tape, etc) into also sorts of painful and humiliating positions simply because he's got bills to pay OR he is star struck. Then again, perhaps that's the point of this exercise: that people will allow themselves to be debased and abused just to be close to "stars." A little too weird for me.

The thing I love about Extras is that it gives you the dose of cringe-worthy humour that The Office brought, but without recycling tired scenarios & using cliches or innuendo to get a laugh. Both of those things, I think, only insult the viewer.

Gervais' tongue-in-cheek look into the life of a struggling actor is a breath of fresh air. If you liked Season One, you'll LOVE season two.

My only complaint is that there wasn't nearly enough of Stephen Merchant. I think that man is a genius as a comic, and he has a way of simultaneously making you pity and hate him on screen. He's brilliant.

While I found the direction of the second series not quite as fresh as the first, it was still brilliant and worth every penny.

My favorite season of the "Extras" series. The guest appearances are great. We understand the characters now and can appreciate their interactions more. Too bad the show won't be going much further.

I should first say that I am a huge fan of "The Office" and Season 1 of Extras. Season 2 however shows the creators as having nothing much more to say. Their mean spirited nothingness is eerily reminiscent of the demise of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where the goal seemed more to push the ugliness envelope than to actually provide laughs. If a joke is funny, there is no topic out of bounds. Here the comedy is missing so all that remains are the same tired parlor games of season 1. Celebrities are jerks / fame is difficult, and the disabled or freaks are fodder for amusement. They spin this within the commentary but it remains a glaring deficit upon their work.
In this world of diminished quality it is heartbreaking when great workers fail and this DVD is testament to the limits of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Season 1 and the Movie (Part 3) would have left a mystery as to their abilities, but "Extras" Part 2 seems an inside joke which speaks volumes about how success kills comedy. Like "Curb", misanthropy misapplied is nothing to laugh at.