Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994 TAG: 9402120219
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID BIANCULLI NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Extras," to me, are little bonuses thrown into certain TV shows - additional reasons, other than the plots or punch lines, to elicit enjoyment out of certain television programs.
The dialogue on "St. Elsewhere," for example, used to be loaded with "extras" - tossaway references to rock songs, names of characters from old TV shows, that sort of thing. "Twin Peaks," full of allusions to old movies and TV shows, was another series with a lot of extras.
A recent echo of that type of wordplay came on a recent "NYPD Blue," when guest star John Wesley Shipp, playing a cop who went undercover in a card game, complained of having lost his "flash money." In precinct parlance, "flash money" is cash that's given to undercover cops so they can look like genuine players - but the "extra" meaning, in this case, is that Shipp's last TV starring role was as the costumed superhero "The Flash."
These days, extras are where you find them - and where you know to look for them. I'd be interested in knowing where you find them, and what they are; meanwhile, here's a quick list of some shows I turn to when I want to enjoy something extra:
On Fox's "The Simpsons," the extras include the changing gags on the opening credits, in which Bart writes a different "detention phrase" on the blackboard each week and the Simpsons' race to the couch to watch TV ends differently every episode. And, of course, each episode is bursting with noncrucial but delightful pop-culture references and satires.
On NBC's "Frasier," it's fun trying to pick out the voices who call in to Frasier's radio talk show - before they're identified during the final credits.
On ABC's "Home Improvement," it's interesting to watch the clever ways in which an object from one scene is used, in postproduction, to segue into the next scene. There's also the running gag of watching how scenes will be photographed to obscure the face of Tim's neighbor, Mr. Wilson, and the final-credits bonus of a "blooper" outtake or two from the show itself - also an extra part of ABC's "Roseanne."
On NBC's "Seinfeld," the question "How many ways are there to enter a room?" is answered, with inventive and seemingly infinite variety, by Michael Richards as Kramer.
On ABC's "NYPD Blue," I can't help looking and listening for how the writers will slip in some usually forbidden words and images.
On "The NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw," I always look, when Fred Francis is reporting from his office, to read the title of whatever book he has strategically placed in the background.
And on the premiere episode of ABC's "The Critic," I got a lot of enjoyment from what I hope will evolve into a regular extra. At home, most of the critic's wardrobe consists of freebie promotional T-shirts - a "My Own Private Idaho" here, a "Color Purple" there. Funny stuff - especially since, as I'm typing this, I'm wearing something similar.
Consider it an extra, large.
by CNB