MSN TV: BBC1's THE VOICE (series 2); BBC2's LIFE'S TOO SHORT special; Channel 4's LABYRINTH

Today over at MSN TV: there's an apt trinity of reviews for Easter, as I cover the series 2 premiere of THE VOICE on BBC1; cast an eye over the hour-long return of spoof documentary LIFE'S TOO SHORT; and assess the first part of Channel 4's fantasy adaptation LABYRINTH.

The Voice is the Netherlands television format phenomenon, once tipped to usurp X Factor as the UK's premiere reality talent show. However, while the BBC1 series premiered to critical acclaim and a ratings bonanza last year, audiences fell away once its signature Blind Auditions ended and The Voice UK's live shows could only offer tweaks on the illustrious X Factor formula. This didn't stop The Voice UK becoming the BBC's most successful entertainment series launch for a decade (with a consolidated average of 9.2 million viewers), but it was clearly a show with kinks to iron out.

Continue reading 'The Voice' at MSN TV...

I didn't particularly like Life's Too Short when it aired in late 2011, so I didn't expect to enjoy this special episode (potentially) concluding the show. However, against expectations, this Easter special was one of Life's Too Short's better episodes and provided enough laughs and fun to please most viewers. It hasn't made me reconsider the weak and dawdling first series in hindsight, but it felt like an improved pilot that fixed a few problems.

Continue reading 'Life's too Short' at MSN TV...

Labyrinth splits its story between two time periods. In the present day, ostensible heroine Dr Alice Tanner (Vanessa Kirby) is helping with an archaeological dig at the Pit De Soularac in France. Inside a cave, Alice discovers two skeletons and a strange ring engraved with a labyrinth symbol, before experiencing a frighteningly vivid hallucination of being stabbed in the abdomen. She leaves the cave to witness a mound of bodies being burned by 13th-century knights.

Continue reading 'Labyrinth' at MSN TV...

Dan's TV Awards 2012 (including a Top 10)

It's December, which means most entertainment blogs and websites will be indulging their readers with extensive Top 10 lists. I've done exactly that myself for most of the seven years Dan's Media Digest has been online. But this year I thought I'd offer something different: an awards ceremony! Of sorts. You can call it the "Danos", or something. It's basically a run-down of television shows that I thought pulled off something particularly good or bad this year. And if you still prefer a more traditional Top 10, I've included one at the very end.

LIFE'S TOO SHORT ending with a special

Ratings and reaction to Life's Too Short were terrible earlier this year, so most people assumed the BBC would quietly axe Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's latest sitcom. But then Gervais claimed on Twitter that a second series was very likely, which felt strange and self-delusional at the time, especially as the show was then greeted with a muted response in the US.

Yesterday, the show's star Warwick Davis confirmed that Life's Too Short won't be back for another series, but the story will conclude with a one-hour special—to be filmed next February.

Davis cited time constraints for this change of plan, and it's true that Gervais is a busy man, but this smells like a compromise to me. It would be too embarrassing if Gervais and Merchant's latest show was axed after one series, and the BBC don't want to upset two talents with their status in the showbiz world, so best to make out Short's coming to a natural but premature conclusion because of things beyond their control.

What, didn't they plan to have time to write series 2? If Life's Too Short had been a massive success on both sides of the Atlantic, would we be reading about the show ending with a special in 2013? I very much doubt it somehow.

Oh well. I didn't like the show very much, so I don't particularly care. I'm actually more excited about Stephen Merchant's next project, because he's making a sitcom pilot called Hello Ladies for HBO, where he'll play an Englishman who's spectacularly bad with women and living in Los Angeles. I'm already laughing. He's writing it with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Gene Stupnitsky, who work on the US version of The Office. They also wrote Year One and Bad Teacher, which doesn't bode as well, but let's hope Merchant's influence is the strongest.

Dan's 10 Disappointing TV Shows of 2011

Let's get one thing straight: this isn't a list of the Top 10 Worst TV Shows of 2011, although many of the following programmes would definitely appear on one. I just think it's too easy to throw together 10 terrible television shows, but the truth is I don't tend to watch the really awful stuff for longer than a few episodes.

Instead, my list is about the TV shows that were just about good enough to keep you watching, or you felt obliged to stick with out of loyalty to the brand, genre, or talent involved.... but were nevertheless very disappointing. Fact is, I watched all the episodes of everything on this list, so on some level you could say they were a success, but that's not to say I enjoyed most of what I saw.

I hope that explains my thinking behind some of the picks you don't agree with here, or are perhaps surprised by. The same overall rules apply as before, especially regarding how shows that premiered in 2010 can be counted if they broadcast 50% of their episodes in 2011.

And now, here are my most Disappointing TV Shows of this year...

10. American Horror Story

(Season 1) I grew to strangely enjoy this show, as you "enjoy" picking at a thick scab. From the creative minds of Ryan Murphy and Bryan Falchuk (Nip/Tuck, Glee), this was a "haunted house" movie stretched to 12 episodes, about the dysfunctional Harmon family moving into a Los Angeles home full of frightening ghosts from the building's notorious past. It contained some neat ideas (like how some ghosts are so corporeal they interact with the living as "real people"), and Jessica Lange's performance was brilliant as bonkers neighbour Constance. But the problem with AHS is that it had no sense of self-discipline, the story felt half-improved, some of the actors didn't have the right approach to the material (especially Connie Britton), and a great deal of its better ideas were stolen from movies. (The show even used music from Psycho and Bram Stoker's Dracula!) Okay, it was by design and thus intended to be a loving confection of tropes, but for me it came across as desperate. (random reviews) FX / FX UK

9. The Killing

(Season 1) There are far worse shows around, but The Killing is on this list because of how disappointing it became. What's extraordinary is that it had the best pilot of 2011, by some margin, and I was engrossed for the first five weeks. Based on the Danish original (which is required viewing for Guardian readers here in the UK), all American showrunner Veena Sud had to do was Americanise where appropriate and condense the 20-episode foreign season into half that time Instead, she flushed away many people's goodwill by revealing a "twist" that meant half the season had been a colossal waste of our time, and then gave us a finale that didn't bother answering the "Who Killed Rosie Larsen?" question. That would have been defensible, had we not been led to believe there would be an answer this year, as most people only kept watching past episode 7 for an answer that never came. A crying shame, because the production on The Killing was exemplary, with a brilliant atmosphere (perpetual rain, overcast skies) and thrumming soundtrack. But they should have kept their eyes on the story and were wrong to mislead the audience to this extent. (review archive) AMC / CHANNEL 4

8. Chuck

(Season 4) The little show that would have been cancelled halfway through season 2, at any other time in NBC's history. It's managed to scratch out five seasons, but the fourth is where it started to lose much of its curious appeal. This is primarily because its story arcs didn't work for me, especially the annoying "search for Chuck's long-lost mom" storyline that soaked up so much time. As "Mama Bartowski", Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2) reminded us why her career tanked in the mid-'90s, bringing zero humour and scant charisma to an underwritten role. She was simply there because of her association with a geeky franchise, allowing the writers to do some cute Terminator in-jokes. Ex-007 Timothy Dalton fared better as a scene-chewing Russian super-villain, but even he outstayed his welcome. A poor year of a show that probably deserved the axe this summer, although the current fifth season has been much better... (review archive) NBC / SKY LIVING

7. Glee

(Season 2) If we're honest, Glee started to lose itself as early as mid-season 1 after its winter hiatus, but season 2 is where I lost patience. Overstuffed with (mostly weak) pop songs, it became clear the three writer-producers had little idea what to do with their talented cast. Beyond the storyline with Kurt and his move to the Dalton Academy, it was a case of random romantic match-ups (which were on/off more times than a light switch) and far too many celebrity guest stars. Gwyneth Paltrow had a brilliant first appearance (singing Cee Lo Green's "Forget You"), but bringing her back twice didn't work. The season also gave us too many "themed episodes", from Britney Spears to Rocky Horror. What was once a joyful show that made you giggle and hum along to cheery music became a one-trick pony you wanted to see put down. The most annoying thing is that I'm still watching Glee today, halfway through the even worse third season. I really have no excuse, beyond masochism and an unhealthy fascination with dancer Heather Morris. (random reviews FOX / E4

6. Episodes

(Season 1) A satire on TV production, specifically when hit British comedies get remade into terrible US remakes, Episodes was a leaden and unfunny misfire on most levels. There were performances from Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig (as a British screenwriting couple trying to keep their principles in the face of adversity), with a fairly amusing turn from Friends' Matt Le Blanc playing "himself", but it simply wasn't enjoyable to watch all the way through. It limped along after a poor start, with perhaps two episodes that actually rose to an acceptable quality level, which isn't enough. Given the talent involved and subject-matter that felt like it could have something to say about Anglo-American cultural differences, Episodes was one of this year's bigger disappointments to me. A comedy that had its handful of targets in mind, and bludgeoned them over and over, week after week... (review archive) BBC2 / SHOWTIME

5. Dexter

(Season 6) It's a huge shame to see Dexter appear on this ignoble list, as a few short years ago it was a regular in my Best Shows list, but season 6 was the year when the wheels finally came off Showtime's top-rated series. There have been warning signs for awhile now, notably during the ragged fifth season, but this year was a particularly bad run. Despite the potential of delving into a religious theme, the writers lost sight of what made the show so great in its heyday, and countless mistakes amassed throughout its run. The greatest sin being a twist tardily revealed weeks after most fans had guessed it, and a peculiar decision to have Deb suddenly find her adopted brother sexually attractive. Throw in the show's continuing problems in giving its extended cast anything worthwhile to do (just kill a few already!), and the misjudged casting of Colin Hanks as the season's villain (who's no Jimmy Smits, let alone a John Lithgow), and Dexter simply ran aground under a weight of shit. The only hope is knowing the show now has an end-date of 2013, so the writers can work towards a definite conclusion. Trouble is, can its current writing staff pull something off that fans will enjoy? (review archive) SHOWTIME

4. Primeval

(Series 4 & 5) This year we had a double-dose of Primeval, because digital partner Watch showed series 5 months after ITV finished series 4, as they were filmed back-to-back. It was an unexpected return of a show ITV axed because of costs, with two new regular characters along for the ride, but this was a very inauspicious year. Primeval has rarely been good, but it can be fun if you accept its flaws and formulas. I just don't think it has anything left to offer anyone, because the new characters were a washout (especially tedious Irish "action man" Matt), and the fifth series in particular was a big waste of time until a half-decent finale. It's a show that has moments to enjoy, but it's reached a point where I'm struggling to stay interested on a character or storytelling level—or even in a superficial "ooh, dinosaurs" way, to be frank. (review archive) ITV1 / WATCH / BBC AMERICA

3. Outcasts

It had a familiar yet appealing premise, an ambitious production filming in South Africa, with some good actors involved, but Outcasts failed to live up to expectations. SF nerds took great delight in tearing the show's setup apart, and none of the characters left any impression (apart from the excellent Liam Cunningham). It didn't help that Jamie Bamber's character was killed off in the first episode, or that so much of the story and twists felt analogous to things we've seen done better in Lost, Battlestar Galactica and Solaris recently. I have an appetite for intelligent SF mysteries with a measured pace and emphasis on character, but Outcasts just wasn't any fun and almost crawled through its hours. However, it did inspire this blog's busiest article in many years! (review archive) BBC1 / BBC AMERICA

2. Life's Too Short

(Series 1) The sitcom that appears to prove The Office's Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are creatively bankrupt, Life's Too Short distilled everything they've done before (a mockumentary format poking fun at a disabled character, with meta-jokes and celebrity cameos) but did nothing new or interesting with those ingredients. For half the seven episodes, it didn't even feel like a Warwick Davis-starring sitcom, as so much was an excuse to shoehorn in Gervais, Merchant and a guest-star-of-the-week. Things improved slightly for the last three episodes, once the storyline with Warwick's divorce became a bigger focus, but my goodwill was exhausted by then. It just wasn't insightful or clever, as everything here had been done better in Extras, and poor Warwick was forced to play himself-doing-a-David-Brent impersonation. A sore disappointment from two writers who used to demand only the best, but are now happy to devise stupid shows for their friends (see also Karl Pilkington's An Idiot Abroad). (review archive) BBC2

1. Torchwood: Miracle Day

While there were concerns about "Americanizing" Torchwood when Russell T. Davies announced those plans, I don't think any fan anticipated the debacle that Miracle Day became. It still had its creator at the helm, who managed to recruit a writing staff of people who'd worked on some impressive shows (Buffy, House, Battlestar Galactica, X Files, Breaking Bad), and it wisely refused to tone down the sex/violence. In fact, quite a few people believed this could be the making of Torchwood because it had more money to play with, had a very ambitious high-concept story (everyone on the planet suddenly stops dying for an unexplained reason), and was reprising its very successful Children Of Earth miniseries format.

Unfortunately, Miracle Day fell flat on its face after a decent start. Once the novelty of its idea had worn off by episode 4, it became clear just how irritating the new American characters were (especially belligerent dickhead Rex Matheson), they made the godawful mistake of trying to make audiences sympathise with a child-killing paedophile (then had no idea what to do with Bill Pullman's slimy character halfway through), dandy hero Jack Harkness had nothing to do until two-thirds into the story, Gwen Cooper was as irksomely forthright as ever, there were no aliens, and the ultimate explanation for the titular "miracle" was extremely silly and vaguely explained. I can't think of any other show that so spectacularly flopped after such a previous high (although Children Of Earth is somewhat overrated). It even made committed fans fall out of love with the show! I don't think anyone would care if Torchwood never came back now, as Miracle Day appeared to kill a promising franchise. How ironic. (review archive) STARZ/ BBC1

LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.7 – episode seven

There's a certain irony that Life's Too Short is co-produced by Backlash Productions, because it's provoked a lot of negative chatter about Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's careers. I'm sure they'll bounce back from this debacle, somehow, but they'll hopefully refuse to find another lazy way to poke fun at celebrity chums in the context of a faux-documentary. They may even quietly admit Life's Too Short didn't work one day, unless he they get the formula right next series.

The finale of this disappointing show offered us more of the same: a suicide gags (if you didn't get your fill last week), more jokes about the fact nobody recognises Warwick Davis (ho-ho), another celebrity cameo (Sting, playing himself in a sorely humourless part), the obligatory Ricky Gervais appearance, and more scenes of Warwick falling over when a better punchline doesn't present itself. The ongoing divorce storyline came to its obvious conclusion, with Warwick losing everything to his wife and having to move in with assistant Cheryl's family (sleeping in a drawer), and I don't know anyone who really cared one way or the other. Matthew Holness was still good as the deadpan adversarial lawyer, which was something, and the one gag with a bunch of paparazzo's refusing to take Warwick's picture at a charity auction made me giggle, but we're talking scraps here.

Life's Too Short was a real mess, no matter what anyone says. The kind of show that had to promote itself with special "previews" (including a Making Of documentary before the first episode had even aired), in a desperate attempt to make people think every half-hour would be as funny as out-of-context clips from seven episodes combined. My guess is that the HBO broadcast will hope to find an audience based on the people who devoured the YouTube clips of Liam Neeson and Johnny Depp sending themselves up—which are admittedly amusing. But given the fact Life's Too Short is fundamentally a British show aimed at British people (who get the gag of Keith Chegwin and Les Dennis cameos on an ingrained cultural level), most American fans of Gervais/Merchant will probably be even less impressed by this.

I'm glad it's over. There's nothing worse than when one of your comedy heroes starts losing his mojo, and for Ricky Gervais he's been creeping into post-Extras obsolescence since he started recycling his podcasts as cartoons and trying desperately to turn Karl Pilkington into a superstar. His big screen work hasn't exactly set the world on fire (Cemetery Junction went straight-to-video in the US, too), so he really needs another unmistakable TV hit. Gervais is a clever man. I hope he can pull himself together and do something that's as exciting and fresh as The Office was, instead of find ways to feed his fans the same meals in different packaging (which is what his stand-up tours are all about).

Unfortunately, Gervais has already mentioned on his Twitter that a second series of Life's Too Short is due in spring 2013, after Davis goes on a round-the-world cycling adventure with Pilkington, and he stars in a Channel 4 sitcom about a man called Derek with mental problems...

written & directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant / 20 December 2011 / BBC Two

LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.6 – episode six

I've acclimatized to Life's Too Short, which is a fancier way of saying I don't expect it to be very good, but take whatever goodness it manages to squeeze from each half-hour. After last week's uncharacteristic episode that contained no celebrity cameos, things were back to normal here. Warwick Davis threw a party, that he invited his wife (Jo Enright) and her divorce lawyer/lover (Matthew Holness) to, and tried to once again make a big showbiz impression by filling the guest list with famous faces. Naturally, he could only scrape together Les Dennis, Shaun Williamson and Keith Chegwin—with the added bonus of presenter Cat Deeley, on loan from an agency for £5000.

As usual, there were a few amusing moments here and there (Warwick's steps to reach his front door's spy-hole; Les, Keith and Shaun discussing the best way to commit suicide), but there was also plenty of misfires (like dopey Cheryl (Rosamund Hanson) and the "fridge swap" cock-up). Did the good outweigh the bad? Not really, but Life's Too Short at least has some innate appeal in Warwick's performance. I don't find it a tough or annoying experience to watch, just very disappointing given the pedigree behind it. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are in too much of a comfort zone, when they really needed to be stretching themselves at this point in their careers. There are too many scenes where you can see the punchlines coming, or the writing just feels very familiar. After so many years poking fun at celebrities, that particular source of humour is looking rather stale.

Oh well. Deeley was game for a laugh, even if the script didn't really give her anything very funny to do, and at least recent episodes have put Warwick's life in the spotlight. I just wish I cared about anything he's going through, as the divorce storyline just doesn't mean anything to me, and his romance with Amy isn't getting the attention it deserves. It's also a shame so much of Life's Too Short was previewed before broadcast, because there are always about three scenes in every episode I remember seeing before.

written & directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant / 15 December 2011 / BBC Two

LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.5 – episode five

For what it's worth, I thought this was the best episode of Life's Too Short so far. It's no coincidence it was the first to forego starry cameo's (even Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant didn't appear), so the story could instead focus on Warwick Davis' life. In so doing, this felt more like the fly-on-the-wall documentary about an egomaniac dwarf actor I've been expecting, although it's still a problem that many of the jokes are signposted and the show's style and targets feel oddly outdated. At one random moment I remembered that Gervais' favourite stand-up comedian, Louis C.K, is currently pushing the envelope with his self-titled, low-budget cable sitcom across the pond. It feels like Gervais may have opened the floodgates for a type of quasi-realistic comedy-of-embarrassment, but he's getting left behind now as fresher, braver comedians surpass him.

There was a lot of very tired humour in this episode, which is an unforgivable fact given Gervais and Merchant's stature in the industry. You just don't expect Gervais/Merchant to be peddling sitcom standards like a fraudulent psychic, "rapist" and "racist" wordplay, or characters like a stupid dating agency employee. Warwick Davis continues to give a good performance, but it's still too much of a David Brent impersonation. The way he ties himself in verbal knots, or makes a social faux pas that gets worse the more he tries to rescue the situation, is all extremely reminiscent of Ricky Gervais' shtick.

However, it was a relief to have an episode that remembered Warwick Davis is supposed to be the star of the show. For a full half-hour, he was front-and-centre, with no scene-stealing Hollywood guest-star to be seen. And this week's story, ignoring all the silly flourishes early on, wasn't half bad. It was actually a fairly decent insight into this fictional Warwick's mind, as he went on a date with a perfectly pleasant and pretty woman called Amy, but couldn't stand the fact she's a dwarf because it could mean "normal-sized" people would see them together and think pitifully of what he's had to "make do with". He'd much rather chase the fantasy of dating a six foot blonde stunner. This was the first time it felt like we were starting to see something interesting about Warwick's personality on the show. His self-loathing, masked by bravado. Seeing him sabotage the chance of a happy relationship with a nice woman was the first time I felt both angry and saddened for Warwick as a person. And that’s great, because I felt something.

Overall, episode 5 still wasn't good enough to have me optimistic Life's Too Short is turning things around, but it made a few improvements. I just wish they felt designed to be improvements, but it's more likely this was a happy accident. The quality of writing is still letting the show down. This episode touched on religion, paedophile priests, fake psychics, and Scientology... all incredibly juicy topics you'd imagine would be fantastic springboards for Gervais and Merchant's writing, but all the jokes that sprang forth were feeble and predictable.

written & directed by Ricky Gervais / 8 December 2011 / BBC Two

LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.4 - episode four

There's not much point in reviewing Life's Too Short too deeply now, as I think I've said all that needs to be said about its quality. It's a big disappointment for many reasons, but mainly because it isn't very funny and the targets of its humour are so lazy. Warwick Davis is doing a good David Brent impersonation, but the focus on his character's life isn't interesting or very revealing. The way the story contorts to include Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant is also awkward, and the celebrity guest-stars have been flops after the premiere's highlight of Liam Neeson.

This fourth episode, for the second week running, was a more pertinent look at Warwick's life (specifically his divorce, which meant a cameo from Garth Marenghi star Matthew Holness as a dour lawyer), but it was more obvious than ever that Warwick's fictional life isn't worth watching. We just go through the motions (people he meets haven't heard of Willow, he falls out of his car, he visits Gervais and Merchant). Davis is brilliant at clowning (loved how he climbed a bookcase to prove he can reach an award on the top shelf), but that's one of the few positives about this episode—the other being the brilliantly gormless Rosamund Hanson as Warwick's dopey assistant. Someone needs to write her something funny for her to appear in. The Steve Carrel cameo was enervated and predictable, topped by a weak Right Said Fred appearance for the climax.

More a jumble of random thoughts this week, but that's all this show really deserves.

written & directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant / 1 December 2011 / BBC Two

LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.3 - episode three

On the one hand, I preferred this episode to the previous two because it was more focused on Warwick Davies and, for the first time, actually felt like a sitcom about his showbiz life. On the other hand, this was easily the least funny episode yet, capped by a woefully unfunny cameo from Helena Bonham Carter—continuing the running "joke" that most people, especially famous people, sneer down their noses at dwarfs. Plus, as engaging as Warwick is, it's painfully obvious that all his lines come from the brain of Ricky Gervais in a quasi-David Brent patois.

Unless there's a remarkable turnaround next week, I think it's safe to say Life's Too Short is one of this year's big TVdisappointment. And I say that as someone who genuinely thinks Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are funny, clever writers. It's just too faithful to a "shock formula" that's now become very, very stale. When Warwick arrived at a school to condemn a 16-year-old schoolboy who'd been writing hurtful things about him online, was there anyone who didn't think the cyber bully would himself be disabled—to take the wind out of Warwick's righteous sails?

It's also very hard to see why Gervais and Merchant appear in this show, which somewhat undermines the whole project. It's like they think Warwick can't be trusted to carry a whole sitcom by himself, or Life's Too Short isn't marketable overseas unless they appear on-screen in some capacity (the same thinking that has cohorts Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant removed from the title of HBO's The Ricky Gervais Show). And while they're admittedly the funniest part of most episodes (sorry Warwick), they were surplus to requirement here.

Maybe the issue with this sitcom is that Warwick's character isn't appealing (on any level) and it's impossible for most "normal-sized" viewers to see our own lives reflected in him. How many of us are dwarfs, or actors, or run a showbiz agency, or know Ricky Gervais personally? Not many. So instead, we just see a small, manipulative man going about his day and encountering situations where he's mean to people (even fellows dwarfs), or people are mean to him. Then throw in token celebrity guest-stars (who either embrace their public persona, or flip it on its head), and some "cringe-comedy" that doesn't feel very shocking, insightful or unexpected. There just isn't enough here to keep me engaged for half-an-hour, as I find my mind wandering. It may be best to just scour YouTube for the three-minutes of celeb-based humour most episodes can scrape together to go viral.

written & directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant / 24 November 2011 / BBC Two

LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.2 - episode 2

The premiere may have split opinion, but I was prepared to give Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant some benefit of the doubt with Life's Too Short. Last week's episode was rescued by a handful of scenes (notably a sublime guest appearance by Liam Neeson as the world's least capable improv comedian), but there were worrying signs in almost every corner. Sadly, episode 2 was exactly the sort of misjudged nonsense I hoped this show would avoid.

In the run-up to Life's Too Short's release, Gervais and Merchant have been very careful to assure people that the show isn't being nasty about "little people", but this episode was very close to the bone. Okay, so Johnny Depp (playing himself as a resentful, irrational, malicious actor) may have been the one making Warwick Davis dance an Irish jig or sit inside a toilet, while making fun of his appearance ("a grub coming out of an apple"), but it was still uncomfortable to watch. So-called cringe-comedy is something that The Office excelled at, but this just felt like meanness-by-proxy. A way for Gervais and Merchant to ridicule a disabled person with the excuse that it's not them being nasty it's an evil version of Depp. Considering the fact Life's Too Short is all about a version of Warwick Davis living his life "like an open wound" for a fly-on-the-wall documentary, I find it rather sad that the real Warwick has basically done a similar thing in allowing Gervais/Merchant to find endless ways to belittle dwarves (no pun intended)—safe behind the excuse that Warwick's just encountering awful people who see dwarves as freakish.

The best moments of episode 2 were when the jokes weren't about Warwick's size—at a sci-fi convention trying to sell an autograph to a fan with a brain tumour for £25, or having a chat with his brainless assistant Cheryl (Rosamund Hanson). And just like last week, the highlight was another four-way encounter with this bizarro version of Johnny Depp; who came to Gervais' office to get revenge for the jokes slung his way at the Golden Globes. Oh yes, Ricky Gervais' controversial hosting of last year's Golden Globes. I'm bored to tears by that. While it was admittedly raw material for a ceremony that's so prestigious and toadying, Gervais' jokes weren't especially brilliant or incisive. Maybe in America they shocked people (as it's a nation where celebrity is effectively royalty), but from a British perspective it wasn't much to write home about.

Depp's role in this episode was also curious. He wasn't an exaggerated version of what Depp's persona is, he was the antithesis of all that. So it was practically another character calling himself Johnny Depp, and that didn't work so well for me. Liam Neeson was so brilliant because he's seen as being very serious and solemn, so the idea of him wanting to become a comedian was hilarious in itself. Seeing a celebrity play up to people's perception of them is funny, but giving us a contrasting version of a widespread perception is less amusing. Maybe if Depp was someone you'd think would be incapable of rudeness and weirdness, it could have worked (as it did for Kate Winslet on Extras), but he's really not.

Still, it wasn't all bad. Warwick's still a surprisingly engaging person, if sadly trapped in a show where he's upstaged by its creators (who swoop in with their Comic Relief-style celebrity sketches); I love Rosamund Hanson as Cheryl the dopey P.A, with her diamond shaped face, gigantic eyes and gormless expressions; and a post-credits scene with Shaun Williams was so funny it made me miss Extras. But Warwick dressed as a budget-version Ewok for a Star Wars nerd's themed wedding? I thought this show would be above that sort of thing.

Asides

• It seems audiences aren't so keen on this show. This episode lost a million viewers from last week, down to 1.5m (6% of the audience). Its lead-in Rev managed 1.7m, a similar drop from 2.4m last week, so maybe it's a sign people have decided Thursday comedy at 9pm isn't for them and they'll catch-up on iPlayer?

written & directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant / 17 November 2011 / BBC2

Review: LIFE'S TOO SHORT, 1.1 - series premiere

The Office was Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's early peak, spawning worldwide remakes and re-popularizing the "mockumentary" in general; Extras was a worthy follow-up, which some prefer because it's less toe-curling and pokes fun at celebrities; Cemetery Junction was the duo's move into celluloid, but for various reasons audiences weren't interested in a coming-of-age comedy-drama set in the '70s—despite it being a bold decision to avoid another spoof and relegate Gervais to a minor role. Since then, between solo projects, they've been content with making an unlikely cult hero of mutual pal Karl Pilkington, with an animated version of their award-winning podcasts and a comedy travelogue called An Idiot Abroad.

So it's interesting that their latest project for the BBC, Life's Too Short, is basically a mixture of everything that's worked for them on the small screen. It's a fake documentary like The Office, it's set in the showbusiness world like Extras, and a large part of the comedy comes from watching Gervais and Merchant torment another of their pals, renowned dwarf actor Warwick Davis. Warwick plays "himself"; a struggling actor who runs a talent agency for small people called "Dwarves For Hire", separated from his normal-sized wife (Joe Enright). In real life, Warwick doesn't run an agency and is happily married with a (literally) small family, so the similarities really only extend to name and profession.

The premise of Life's Too Short is that Warwick's agreed for a fly-on-the-wall documentary crew to follow his every move, so viewers can get an insight into the life of a dwarf actor/businessman trying to make a living in the modern world--a good quarter-century past his '80s heyday as an Ewok in The Return Of The Jedi and the eponymous hero of Willow. I was relieved to see the comedy wasn't entirely based around making fun of dwarves, although admittedly Warwick's three funniest moments involved such an angle (falling out of a car, being unable to reach an door intercom, getting stuck in a cat flap). No, by far the biggest issue was that Warwick's character is noticeably very Gervais-y—which seems to show that Gervais and Merchant, as writers, can't help falling back on a certain type of character for shows like this. I never once felt that this was Warwick Davis, more Warwick Davis behaving like The Office's David Brent.

But that's not really a criticism of Warwick himself, who was surprisingly enjoyable to watch toddling around showing the cameras his daily routines and getting frustrated with the idiots who share his day. He has a definitely presence, confidence and charm that I wasn't expecting, perhaps because you tend to think dwarf "actors" are just dwarves who learn the basics of a craft that's prone to putting them in fantasy or sci-fi projects as trolls, leprechauns and tiny robots. (Which, to be fair, is largely the case, and Warwick's certainly no stranger to the make-up chair for quirky roles like that.) Not everyone can be Game Of Thrones' Peter Dinklage, but he's above Verne Troyer in the talent stakes—although, as one scene amusingly made clear, Troyer's a bigger star these days because his hits are more recent. Oh, and he made a sex tape, which is the 21st-century shortcut to global fame these days—as approved by Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian.

Another problem with this comedy is that, to be honest, it only really became laugh-out-loud funny whenever Gervais and Merchant appeared—as themselves, perched behind the same glass desk they ridicule Karl Pilkington from before he flies across the world to swim with sharks and experience a Turkish sauna. Like them or loathe them, Gervais and Merchant were like a shot in the arm whenever they appeared here. But this is a very odd situation: a sitcom where the funniest moments don't involve your lead actor much, if at all.

The standout scene in this premiere was Liam Neeson's attempt at improv comedy with Gervais, trying to play a doctor and then a greengrocer without coming across as too serious and depressing, but utterly failing ("I've contracted AIDS from an African prostitute.") It was a brilliantly funny moment that was very evocative of Extras at its best, but it required absolutely no input from Warwick—who instead just sat and watched. Hopefully Warwick will be more central going forward, because right now this is a good but unremarkable spoof documentary about "small man syndrome", but Gervais and Merchant have egoistically ensured all the funniest moments fall to them. Why are they even in this show, when you think about it. It's as if they weren't convinced people would watch otherwise.

Still, I kind of admire the meta-meta universe that's being created. Shaun Williamson (aka Barry from EastEnders) makes a fun appearance, as it was revealed he's exactly like the foolish version of himself he played in Extras. Yet he isn't that character. He's playing a version of himself who played a version of himself in a sitcom written by two writers, who are now also appearing as versions of themselves in their latest sitcom. I've gone cross-eyed.

Overall, I'd be very surprised if Life's Too Short develops into anything approaching the achievement of Extras, let alone The Office. The concept's too thin, despite Warwick's splendid efforts. It's given a boost by involving Gervais, Merchant and a star-of-the-week (Sting, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sophie Ellis Bextor... um, Keith Chegwin and Les Dennis), but that suggests a lack of faith that viewers would be prepared to watch a wholly Warwick Davis-led spoof.

I've already noticed that deadpan Neeson's hilarious scene is doing the rounds online ("I'm always making lists. In fact, that's probably why Steven Spielberg cast me as Oscar Schindler in Schindler's List") That's to be expected, of course, but it again speaks to the problem here that Life's Too Short needs to prove that Warwick's the star and YouTube clips of his antics can be just as popular. Otherwise, why not just make a third series of Extras set in America, if self-parodying celebrities are all we're really after.

Aside

• Did anyone else feel that Warwick's hopeless accountant Eric would have been played by Stephen Merchant, had this been an episode of Extras?

written & directed by Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant / 10 November 2011 / BBC Two

Trailer: LIFE'S TOO SHORT (BBC2)

After too many diversions (movies, awards shows, stand-up tours, cartoons, comedy travelogues), Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are back doing what they do best: writing a television sitcom. Life's Too Short is a brand new BBC2 comedy starring renowned "dwarf actor" Warwick Davies (Return Of The Jedi, Willow) as the manager of an agency for actors of restricted growth. As you can see from the trailer above, it also features plenty of Extras-style celebrity appearances (Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Sting, Steve Carrell, Liam Neeson), with Ricky and Stephen as co-stars. But this looks to be Warwick's series, first and foremost, and hopefully it won't just be a succession of physical gags about his diminutive height.

As a huge fan of The Office and, to a slightly lesser extent Extras, I'm very keen to see this. I have a suspicion Warwick Davies is going to really impress people with his comic sensibility.


LIFE'S TOO SHORT premieres 10 November on BBC2.

Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant & Warwick Davis: 'Life's Too Short'

The BBC have commissioned a six-part comedy from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, called Life's Too Short, based on a pilot they've already filmed starring renowned showbiz "little person" Warwick Davis (Willow, Harry Potter).

Ricky Gervais, co-writer/producer/director:

"Third in our trilogy of TV sitcoms, Life's Too Short is another naturalist observational comedy, dealing with everyday problems, human foibles and social faux pas... but with a dwarf."

Warwick Davis:

"I am absolutely thrilled that the BBC has 'green-lit' the first series of Life's Too Short. For me, it is my dream acting job. I will be collaborating with the very best in the business -- the BBC, who produce the finest television in the world, and Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who are without doubt the best comedy writer/directors there are (they've won a couple of awards!)"

Mark Freeland, Head of BBC in-house Comedy:

"Warwick Davis has done it all -- blockbuster movies, books... but never starred in a comedy series on BBC Two, written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. But that's about to change and it's incredibly exciting."

Filming is scheduled to begin in 2011.

What are your thoughts on this project? Do you think Warwick Davis's life and struggles as a dwarf will equal comedy gold? Does it smack of being a rather feeble idea? I assume there'll be more warmth and heart than simply poking fun at Davis's diminutive height. Will it underperform because Gervais/Merchant aren't in lead roles, as their debut movie Cemetery Junction did?