The Televangelist: Life’s Too Short” Preview”

• BBC2
• “Yeah ... how did I get talked into this again?”

In the recent whirlwind press junket to plug his upcoming half hour scripted comedy on HBO, “Life’s Too Short,” every clip of Ricky Gervais’ new show that has been previewed has been of Ricky himself - Ricky and Johnny Depp, Ricky and Liam Neeson, Ricky and Helena Bonham Carter. The only problem is … the show is not about Ricky. It’s about Warwick Davis, who you may recognize from Willow or as Professor Flitwick from the Harry Potter films (or as a joke that is made throughout the seven-episode series says, “Warwick who?”).

In the last few years, Ricky Gervais and his writing partner Stephen Merchant have stepped away from scripted comedies and instead focused jointly on promoting their friend Karl Pilkington, whose grumpy and unique look at the world lead (in the last decade) to multiple and extremely successful batches of podcasts and audiobooks, as well as the travel show “An Idiot Abroad.” Though the duo collaborated on the hidden gem of a film Cemetery Junction in 2010, “Life’s Too Short” marks their first return to TV since “Extras” as well as a return to the faux-documentary format they popularized, though without Gervais in the lead acting role.

Already at the mention of “documentary,” the troubles start. The show has some trappings of a documentary - a camera crew following Warwick Davis in his day to the day life - but, in many scenes, the documentary format is forgotten or ignored (much like “Modern Family,” it employs the style and the talking heads without the logic of the why or how). The second issue is the presence of Ricky and Stephen throughout the series. Warwick is playing a fictionalized version of himself, a la “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” who finds a pretense to visit the duo in their London office almost every episode. But Ricky and Stephen’s comedy overshadows Warwick’s performance to such a degree that in many of those scenes Warwick is a forgotten figure entirely (literally being ignored by the string of celebrity guests - and each episode has at least one - who also traipse in and out of the office). As “Life’s Too Short” progresses, one cannot help but wish the show followed Ricky and Stephen instead of Warwick, who is limited to a series of cringeworthy scenarios that lack the pathos of David Brent or Andy Millman because the character of Warwick is never shown in a likable or flattering light. He’s just portrayed as an incredibly self-absorbed, well, dick who happens to also be a little person. Is that supposed to be controversial? Or subversive? Or is it just a little easy?