Frasier was pretty good, right? Kind of…
Posted by Dan
January 7th, 2008 at 11:17am
In News
Looks like Ricky Gervais might be spinning off one of the characters from Extras.
Ricky Gervais may be planning an Extras spin-off starring Stephen Merchant’s dopey agent and Barry from ‘EastEnders’ as a pair of bumbling crimefighters.
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“The one thing we did bandy about, half in jest and half seriously, was the idea of a spin-off for my character Barry and the agent. Ricky thought they could go around in a camper van solving crimes or something.”
He added: “That’s strictly on the backburner for now as Ricky is busy in Hollywood at the moment. I’d jump at the chance to work with him again.”
For some reason, I love the idea of spin-offs. On one hand, it smacks of desperately trying to recapture the profitability of a deceased series. On the other hand, it allows characters who never realized their full potential to flourish.
It could work. It could not work. No one needs another Private Practice lead balloon.
Makes me wonder — if their respective series went kaput, which characters would have the most promising spin-offs.
As much as I enjoyed Extras, especially the Christmas series finale (OMG, Clive Owen), you could not make me watch a spinoff with Stephen Merchant’s character. God, I wanted to kill him.
Kenneth!!! (In fact, I’m pretty sure he won “most deserving of a spin-off” in Glowy Box’s ‘best of’ awards last year.) In five years, we’ll all be watching his spin-off, or dead by his hand…
Stephen Merchant’s character is the best part of Extras. I think it’s unlikely than anyone was serious about the spinoff besides Barry from Eastenders, but it sounds like it could be a hilarious show.
Also, what about Black Frasier? It was a big hit on BET.
I have a question for you foreigners. How does the whole “Barry from Eastenders” joke work for you? Do you have an idea of what Eastenders is, and is it funny that they call him Barry and not his real name? Or does the whole thing just sort of get ignored?
Isn’t Starbuck too central a character to warrant a spinoff? Especially considering that a lot of the BSG third season was pretty much The Starbuck Show anyway.