Life's Too Short - Series 1 [DVD]

As the DVD has not yet been released, my review is about the televised version. The hype for this show really did this programme a lot of damage, as it did not seem to promote the series as a 'comedy' in the true sense. We were all lead to believe that this was going to be a gritty look at the struggle of a man of short stature making it any way he could in the world of show-business. Gervais said he is an unlikeable character, who screws people across to get what he wants. It appeared that we were going to get something a little dark and maybe sinister. What we actually got was a slapstick dwarf-fest of painful gags and some atrocious acting. yes those little guys have not made it because they are actually bad actors! So it fails before any real point can be made. The lazy premise of someone going through a divorce and being a victim of circumstance has been done so often it ends up being clichéd beyond belief.

Davis himself was (and is) annoying. He was trying to act, but honestly...he cannot. It all feels like something that has been cobbled together from a short bit in 'extras', which only showed Warwick Davis briefly. That is why it worked then and not now. His mere extended presence on screen became the dead-weight of the show. Worse still he appears to be doing a very bad impression of Ricky Gervais. The constant mugging at the camera, as yet another situation unfolded became tiresome after the first 10 minutes of episode one.

To add insult to injury, Ricky and Stephen Merchant make cameos, playing themselves, which broke the wall between what they had done before. So were they characters, or themselves as they really are? Their palatial office was festooned with posters from their previous hits and misses. It was not subtly done and I suspect this was serving as a sort of on-screen resume, so as to remind the viewers of whose company were were in. Equally Warwick Davis had to keep reminding viewers of his previous 'bits'. The sad thing is of course, he really was a bit player in all of the things he did. So the joke did not work. As it is stating something we already know.

The other fatal mistake of this show was to bring in elements of the first two programmes made by Gervais and Merchant. The use of Keith chegwin - Les Dennis - and Barry from Eastenders only helped to mess this show up even more. Once again, were they playing themselves or were they parodies? It was as if material from the past was eating itself, consequently, It only served to confuse the plot and worst of all - lacked any genuine humour. It all seemed re-heated and done before. Almost like a last-minute thought, to fill out the weak main story.

The main story was generally weak, with the occasional 'celebrity' being brought in the give that extra sparkle. As it happened - it all fizzled out quite quickly. Apparently 'stars' are queueing to appear in one of Gervais's shows. Well - you could have fooled me.

I loved 'The Office' and 'Extras', but this latest series just comes across as half thought out and lazily written. Some bits look so throw in, it actually becomes embarrassing to watch.

The pathos of the main character is lost, by his glaring inability to act, which seemed to match perfectly the wooden performances given by the rest of the ensemble. Warwick's secretary being a perfect example of poor acting and poorly realised and written character.

There is so much more to write here...but I could go on and one about how awful this is.

Any message of inequality or lack of social understanding that this show was supposed to be giving, was completely lost by the slapdash approach of the makers.

Apparently there will be a season two, Which would suggest that there was always going to be a follow up.

After the abysmal 'Episodes', which appeared on our screens in 2011 and was panned by all who saw it, 'Life's Too Short' now (IMHO) takes the trophy for the worst
comedy to appear on TV in a fair number of years. And there have been some other real stinkers in recent times.

The recent one-off 'Derek' made by Gervais, was in my opinion a much better programme, despite the unnecessary slapstick, it still had heart and ended up having the desired effect.

Comedy is subjective and maybe you will disagree with everything written here.

Personally, I will not be buying this on DVD.

4 out of 10

I Loved this show and can't wait to get my hands on the dvd. I've been a fan of Warwick Davis for years, well before becoming the mother to someone of small stature. It's great seeing him perform this uglier, overblown, self important caricature of himself. (In reality he's a modest, down-to-earth family man) A lot of the criticism from other Amazon reviewers is that it's not funny, or too like The Office. I've not seen The Office, but I can testify to this show's comedy. It's nail-bitingly funny, with the right mix of slapstick, farce and satire. Frankly, I'm looking forward to series 2 already.

I'd like to start off by saying I'm actually a big fan of Gervais and Merchant. I thought The Office was superb and was also impressed with Extras.

However, I just could not get into Life's too short at all. The writing was lazy and used a lot of the same jokes and cliche's that were in the office and extras. The main character also seemed to be doing a bad impression of David Brent and the only moments I found funny were the slapstick ones.

There were some great names as guest stars but I don't think any of them were used very well. I thought the Steve Carrell cameo was just awful and summed up the laziness of the whole series.

Gervais and Merchant really need to come up with some fresh material because Life's Too Short was way below what they are capable of producing. They're in danger of becoming known as one-trick ponies and I really hope they aren't considering doing a second series of this show. The Office was so fresh and new and in comparison Life's too short felt stale and predictable.

Hugely dissappointing 2/5