Life's Too Short For This, Ricky

After coming to the conclusion that Ricky Gervais' dwarfy new BBC2 sitcom really is as bad as it first appeared, I promised myself I wouldn't make a terrible joke about Life's Too Short and 'life being too short'. But then again, I promised my mum that I'd stop watching Eurotrash when I was eleven - some promises are just impossible to stick to, aren't they?

I'll start off by saying that I don't hate Ricky Gervais. There seems to be a bit of a war going on between him and the media of late, sparked by recent criticisms of his more dubious jokes and 'special faces' on Twitter (and then taken nuclear because of his impressive inability to take any form of critique whatsoever). This piece here has no agenda (other than to entertain and inform you darling people), in fact I rather like a lot of Gervais' output, it's just that, well, Life's Too Short really is below-par.

Now I was keen to wait until after the second episode of his and his comedy partner Stephen Merchant's new programme to make up my mind fully, and for two reasons - firstly, knee-jerk reactions, especially to comedies, often tend to be wrong (although mine rarely are, of course). And secondly, I had hoped that week two's showing might have proved that the questionably unfunny first episode was just a one-off. Unfortunately though, it didn't. And unfortunately for the BBC, it pulled in just 1.5m viewers, a million down on last week...

Woopsy, Ricky.

Here's my main gripe: it's hugely derivative. And you don't have to look far to see its main programming forefathers - The Office, Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show's star, Warwick Davies, is a mini David Brent (with the same desperate desire for fame, extreme social ignorance and even the same facial expressions), surrounded by celebrities for variously contrived reasons. Sound familiar? When The Office first came out, the 'mockumentary' style was new and Martin Freeman's exasperated looks to camera and Gervais' constant glances added an extra something. Now you just think, 'HE'S LOOKING AT THE CAMERA. JUST LIKE IN THE OFFICE!'

Twitter apart, the Reading-born comedian's risky jokes during the Golden Globes, on podcasts and in stand-up sets are often very funny. Never ground-breaking, but often a guilty laugh. The more controversial lines here though can really make you wince. The pay-off line towards the end of the second episode about an infertile newlywed bride being 'barren' was especially jarring.

That's not all though, here are my top three other beefs with it:

• 'The Gervais Ego Scene'. Although Warwick Davies is the star of the show, each episode has him dropping into Gervais and Merchant's office for no good reason at all, other than to seemingly surrender the scene over to Gervais. It's painful.
• Cameos for the sake of them don't work. Unexpected and interesting appearances from people like Les Dennis, Ross Kemp and Ronnie Corbett made Extras work. Crow-barring Johnny Depp in just because he's Johnny Depp (and not even giving him any funny lines) is just depressing.
• This is the biggy - the thing that really grinds my gears about Life's too Short - why is Stephen Merchant sitting at a desk like that? Next to Gervais, in the middle and without a computer or phone near him. Who would sit at a desk like that?! Who? And why would they?! WHY?!

The odd joke strikes though and Liam Neeson's scene in the first episode was truly hilarious. Watch out too for Warwick's secretary, played by Rosamund Hanson - she's the real highlight. The quirky-looking Shameless and This is England actress really has a strong presence and a real eye for delivery. Tim Key's brief appearance last night was very funny too. But three laughs from an hour of comedy just isn't enough.

Is it Ricky?