badoli This first season shows the typical handwriting of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. You've got loads of awkward social situations, a protagonist that slowly but surely drifts toward self destruction and famous people popping in once in a while. Honestly it's "Extras" all over again, just with a different flavor.What surprised me is the speed at which the series looses ideas. While the first two episodes are hilarious (thanks to another great performance by Johnny Depp), later ones loose themselves in the monotony of repetition: Same jokes, same ideas, same plot twists. Worse is that the celebrity actors don't keep their quality. While Liam Neeson, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter satire the public view of their persons pretty hilariously, Cat Deeley only puts a visual highlight on her episode and Sting just plays Sting, which honestly works better in a Guy Ritchy movie.If you liked everything about "Extras", you still might be a bit disappointed by the slight quality drop in direct comparison. It's still worth a watch though. I personally still have a hard time sympathizing with the prevailing idea in Gervais' stories of the arrogant and ignorant protagonist that ruins his life the fullest. It just makes watching the whole thing quite painful once in a while.

Adam Daly In writing this review, I think it is only fair to remove any influence that successes such as The Office, Extras, The Ricky Gervais Show and An Idiot Abroad may contribute towards it. I find that in doing so, I may avoid the typically predictable droning about it 'being better or worse that his last show'. I find that argument boring and it's narrowing both the potential comparative and the viewers focus when watching.So, with my 'Gervais' hat now removed, here is my review for 'Life's Too Short', the new mock-umentary from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais.Gervais cited a number of ideas that had influenced the making of this show. With an influx of those awful, 'look at me' celebrity documentary things in which a television crew follows one, or a number of deranged, fame hungry socialites doing nothing other than sleeping with each other and shopping for new Ugg Boots and push-up bras.In Warwick Davies, we have the protagonist, albeit an unlikeable one. Desperate to cling on to fame's back side, he invites a 'film crew' to follow him around, heightening his celebrity status at every opportunity. Much like those awful celebrity docu-soaps, Warwick yearns for all and any publicity, hoping blindly that living his life like an open wound would somehow benefit his career. Only...Warwick is a dwarf actor looking to pay a huge tax bill.He continually annoys Gervais and Merchant, who both play themselves as conduits to Warwick's celebrity life. Warwick seeks their help in finding his way to higher pastures but is continually berated and mocked, mostly for his size. All in all there is an abundance of misfortune in this man's life, and we're party to all of it.As you'd expect, there is an abundance of 'short jokes' in this. The casual observer would possibly assume a level of discrimination in doing this, feeling Warwick is somewhat exploited. But that could not be further from the truth. Although we see Warwick's immense difficulty with his stature, it is his small mindedness that we are most amused by. Where some might think forcing a dwarf down the toilet is immoral and wrong, others look at his reasons for agreeing this - trying in vain to impress Johnny Depp. Where some might see his hilarious scaling of a bookshelf and think it is somewhat derogatory, others might point out his ridiculous pride in saving face so not to give his ex-wife's new partner the upper hand. These moments are aptly portrayed in such a way as to mock only Warwick's personality and not his disability. This is a 'small man' in mind alone. He is petty, vain, desperate, small minded and arrogant. He is a small 'Alan Partridge' with the same delusions of grandeur that made Alan such fun to watch.Most of Life's Too Short is familiar to fans of Gervais. His touch is evidently there, and the overall show is stylistically more similar to The Office as oppose to anything else. The physical comedy is done brilliantly and Warwick has such a commanding grasp on this realm. Yet there is too much missing from the show. The writing is just not funny enough. The incredibly funny parts, such as Liam Neeson's scene are too few and far between. I dare say it, but there is too little of Gervais and Merchant. And once more, Barry, Cheggers and Les Dennis are back to provide the odd laugh inbetween, proving the show needed additional comedy from somewhere. Other than Warwick, nothing stood out. Gone are the level of characters such as Tim, Gareth, Darren Lamb, Barry (who we see too little of), Dawn and the lovable Maggie. Finding incredible characters and creating interesting and brilliant people to play them is what Gervais and Merchant have done brilliantly. Yet there's nothing too special here. It's as though they narrowed their view solely to Warwick and forgot about the outer world he'll exist in.But still, with my Gervais hat still gone, I will review this show on its merits. Ultimately it is very funny in parts. Watching Warwick scale that bookcase had me in tears. Liam Neeson's bit was one of the greatest scenes the guys have written and the whole idea behind the show is still strong. I enjoyed watching Life's Too Short and it was in no way a bad show. The current viewer rating on IMDb is 7.8/10, a little generous for my liking. If I could be more specific, I'd give the show a 7.4/10...or 74/100...or 74%...whatever works.All in all - not too bad, not too great. Just good.

James Clarke From Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (The Office, Extras) comes Life's Too Short, a "mockumentary" series starring Warwick Davis, best known for his work in the Star Wars franchise, particularly as both beloved and hated Wicket the Ewok. (And although Life makes no mention of it, I personally can't forget the image of Davis as the Leprechaun in the movie series of the same name, so bad that it's somehow fantastic.)The joke of the series is Davis' ego is big as all outdoors despite his being unknown to the public at large. One very funny scene has Davis arguing with a passerby about his celebrity, with the man saying "Now if you say Verne Troyer, I know exactly who you mean!" Clearly, this is not a real documentary. Davis obviously has the courage and great humor to portray himself this way, and it works well, with his entire life falling apart around him while he continues to brag about his exploring new frontiers in his acting and agency "empire".Davis has surrounded himself with a group of people with no clue what they are doing. His accountant (Steve Brody) can't do math, and hates to "argue with the tax people", and his administrative assistant (Rosamund Hanson) says her dream is to prove that the people who went to the moon really went there. But it's Gervais and Merchant who provide the hook for the show, as Davis drops by their office to constantly bother them for work, only to wind up in the middle of scenes with other celebrities pitching comedy. In the pilot episode, it's Liam Neeson who strong-arms them into doing improv with him, only to fail miserably at it. (And if you've seen the headline today "Liam Neeson tries and fails to do comedy", that headline is misleading. The idea of the scene is that Neeson is unfunny, but the scene itself is laugh out loud hilarious. Neeson proves once again that he can do anything.)I thought the pilot was very funny, and I was glad to see an actor like Warwick Davis get a chance to show a new side of himself. Here's hoping Life's Too Short sticks around for a long while.Rating: 3.5/5 Recommendation: Check it out! (And check out my other reviews at clarketaculargeek.wordpress.com!)

angusmcc I was expecting so much more. Ricky's previous fly on wall Extras was great, now introduce the small person, who played his part well. It was a sad sitcom, God Bless them for trying, The whole idea was flawed, see a cynical look into the hidden camera jokes were stale. I watched for the stars, Not a good start. Just poor in all ways, is a an allegory of all xxx-ism and bias? No, just a badly acted out script. 0/10 for writing and direction, 10/10 for Warwick doing his best. You can better than this. and I watched it with my mum (74) and the C<>t word was used. And I cringed. Never watched a TV comedy with that particular word. In It's context, did even work, just gratuitous . My God, if this if the future of comedy, I despair. I love swearing, don't get me wrong, but c<>t was not needed, i guess Gervais has a right now...he's a Brit export. "Shut up, Ricky and call your' mum a c<>t to her face". and he probably would. Oh my bah is over Ricky get back to why you made us laugh. and don't buy the box set of "Life is too short"