HBO Orders Second Season of 'The Ricky Gervais Show'
HBO has renewed 'The Ricky Gervais Show' for a second season, reports the BBC. Michael Lombardo, the President of HBO programming, said the renewal was due because the show "has sparked a loyal and enthusiastic following that is growing steadily throughout the season."
The animated show, which uses audio from Gervais' highly popular podcasts, is a collaboration between Gervais and Stephen Merchant who previously worked together in the hit series 'The Office' and 'Extras'. Karl Pilkington voices the third character in the show, which has been dubbed by Gervais as 'the global village idiot' due to his odd and often nonsensical opinions.
Production on season two of 'The Ricky Gervais Show' will start later in the year and is slated to air in 2011.
Ricky Gervais is probably best known for his role as David Brent on the BBC version of "The Office." Gervais produced, wrote (with Stephen Merchant), directed and acted on the mock documentary series from 2001-2003. Twelve episodes and a two-part Christmas special later, "The Office" is consigned to broadcasting history as one of the most perfectly crafted comedy series in British TV history. The show was showered with awards and critical acclaim and Gervais became a household name. Gervais and Merchant teamed up again in 2005 to create the award-winning series "Extras" in which he played an aspiring actor.
Following his success from "The Office," Gervais embarked on his first live standup show "Animals," based on his fascination with the animal kingdom. He spent much of 2004 on tour around the U.K. with his follow-up standup act the, highly acclaimed "Politics." Both shows became best selling DVDs. In 2007, Gervais' stand-up show "Fame" became the fastest-selling British comedy tour of all time. In 2008, Gervais took to the stage again and received an Emmy nomination for his special "Ricky Gervais: Out of England - The Stand-Up."
This year Gervais wrote, directed and starred in the feature film "The Invention of Lying" alongside Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe and Tina Fey (NBC's "30 Rock").
"Cemetery Junction" -- Gervais' second film as writer and director and his first film co-written and directed with Stephen Merchant, is slated to be released in April 2010. He is currently in development with HBO for "The Ricky Gervais Show" -- an animation of his record-breaking audio books, scheduled to air on the network early 2010. Gervais is also in development with Illumination ("The Simpsons Movie") for "Flanimals," a movie based on his award-winning children's book.
Gervais also executive-produces the American version of "The Office" with Greg Daniels, Ben Silverman, Stephen Merchant, Howard Klein and Paul Lieberstein.
