7 replies to this topic

[morty]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this. I just started watching the DVDs a few weeks ago, I'm almost done season two.

I don't know why I like this show. There's not much drama to it, it's not very soapy, it's witty, but not funny...

The show is about a fictional young film star name Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) who grew up in Queens NY, is on the verge of super-stardom, and now employs all his old buddies as his entourage.

There's Kevin Connolly as his manager, Eric Murphy, Jerry Ferrara as Turtle, he's like a driver and gofer. Kevin Dillon plays Johnny "Drama" Chase, Vince's brother. Drama was an actor on "Melrose Place," but hasn't have a good part since, now he goes to auditions and cooks for the gang that live in Vince's mansion. One of the best characters in the series is Ari Gold, Vince's agent, played by Jeremy Piven. There are some other recurring characters, and lots of real Hollywood names playing themselves, like Bob Saget, that lives next door.

When I'm watching Turtle, Drama, and even Eric, they remind me of people I've worked with. This is a very talented cast.

Entourage is loosely based on the Hollywood experiences of Mark Wahlberg, one of the executive producers.

[fizzle]

i am a watcher of this show. with so many other threads on other shows, i kinda didnt realize there wasnt a thread for Entourage.

but now that it is here, i will say that its a nice change from all the other shows out there. its different and its only 30 minutes each show, so its not time consuming. I love Ari...Jeremy Piven plays him very well. I am glad they are back again this year.

[Dade]

Courtesy of: TV GUIDE, THE WATERCOOLER

Entourage

June 11, 2006: Aquamom
Well it’s official: The boys are back and better than ever. I didn’t think it would be possible for me to love Vince, Eric, Turtle and Drama any more, but after seeing them interact with their moms, I just fell in love all over again. Maybe I’m being too much of a girl, but come on, how cute was it that all three mothers got to fly on a private jet to come see their sons living it up in Hollywood? And, of course, there’s Drama complaining that his brother got the first hug even though he was the firstborn. I guess some things never change.

So the much-anticipated third season of Entourage kicked off with an appearance on L.A.’s popular Power 106 morning show, a lunatic James Woods, and a very pregnant Shauna. How much time is supposed to have passed since last season? I know Debi Mazar was pregnant in real life and they were writing it into the show, but how come no one acknowledged her bulging belly? It would be hilarious if Ari ended up being the father, although I am such a fan of Ari’s relationship with his wife — especially after she told him that if he died she’d be worried the life insurance check would bounce. Ah, true love. I’m glad to see Perrey Reeves getting a lot of well-deserved air time as “Mrs. Ari,” and I don't think we'll be finding out her real name any time soon. Who really cares, as long as she keeps on spitting out brilliant one-liners?

And I love the fact that Ari doing push-ups in his suit at the office qualifies him being at the “gym, the f---ing gym.” That scene alone, which included Ari’s lame attempt at yoga, proves why Jeremy Piven has already been nominated for an Emmy and two Golden Globes after just two short seasons. Which brings us to the return of Lloyd, who’s forever being harassed by his ethically challenged (to put it nicely) boss and his clients, mostly over the dust and broken elevator in their new office. Hey, at least they are no longer working out of the Coffee Bean. Last but not least, hats off to James Woods for having no shame in making fun of himself in his cameo. Watching the Oscar nominee grabbing a handful of quarters from the jar for parking meters and then screaming into the security camera at the boys’ house was just classic.

The worldwide premiere of "Aquaman" was a perfect ending for tonight’s episode, leaving us all to wonder if Vince is about to become the biggest movie star around and how the rest of his entourage will handle it. Welcome back, boys, and from all the fans, thanks for making this season an extended 20 episodes instead of the usual 14. Or actually, thank you to the nice people at HBO.
Posted by Maya Schechter 06/12/2006 4:20 AM

June 18: One Day in the Valley
Having been born and raised in the Valley myself and knowing how brutal those 105-degree summers can be, it was hilarious watching Drama bring a cooler on the road trip to Northridge. Come on, who really does that? That’s what I love about this show — it exaggerates so much that it’s totally believable. By now I’ve gotten to know Johnny Drama well enough to know that filling a cooler with cold-water bottles for a 30-minute drive (including a few empty ones to use as a bathroom) is not completely absurd.

So this episode was all about Aquaman’s big release day, — or as Ari put it, “Game Day" — and also the reason he couldn’t have sex with his wife for three weeks. But apparently it didn’t stop him from talking dirty to E at five in the morning. It’s really hard for me to quote this show since every other word is one our website censors, but you know what I’m talking about — “I love it when you say f---, say it again.”

Also loved that on Vince’s biggest day of his career he was doing beer bongs with a bunch of high school kids and having an Almost Famous moment by giving a drunken speech up on the roof. How sweet of him to help the two nerds hook up with the hotties at the party by pretending to be their cousins. And not only that, he gave them the keys to the Maserati and said they could finish out its lease. Now seriously, who does that? Oh, right. The biggest movie star on the planet whose film is about to beat Spider-Man in the box-office game. It must be nice to roll with the Entourage.

And to end on Drama’s words (since I’ve got to represent the 818): “The Valley ain’t so bad.”
Posted by Maya Schechter 06/19/2006 3:39 AM

June 25: Dominated
Vince may have been talking about the roller coaster when he said “the slower the rise the quicker the fall” but I have a feeling it was a hint at what’s in store for his career. “Aquaman” is the biggest thing that’s happened to him so far, but there is a very ugly side to show business we may be witnessing very soon.

Overall, the episode was a little disappointing. I mean, nothing much had happened in the first two, but at least I found myself laughing out loud quite often. This one was lacking those brilliant one-liners and witty banter this show is known for. I really could have done without the scenes of Ari and his daughter in exchange for some always-hilarious Lloyd time. And I still don’t understand why they haven’t really acknowledged Shauna’s pregnancy or E’s supposed girlfriend, Sloan.

OK, I shouldn’t be too critical, there were a few funny moments that are noteworthy: the guys hearing Dom have sex with the um, very vocal girl (insert expletives and lots of “agreeing” here); then Dom walking around naked in the kitchen; E, Turtle and Drama elbowing each other while sitting squished in the backseat; Dom attacking celeb stalkarazzi E.L. Woody; and Dom asking, “What kind of a fruit name is 'Ari'?” Hmm, most of the comedy seemed to have come from Dom, so maybe it’s a good thing he’s sticking around for a while. Hopefully he will spice things up because I was really missing the good old-fashioned humor of this show tonight.
Posted by Maya Schechter 06/26/2006 4:40 AM

July 2, 2006: Guys and Doll
Ding, dong, Dom is gone. I can’t say I’m too disappointed that his short stay has come to an end, although I did enjoy the fact that he was the only one in the house having really loud, obnoxious sex. Oh, and even though I’m not a criminal nor have I ever been to jail, I think I would have done the exact same thing as Dom had I found myself in the home of Shrek's director (and by the way, Paul Rubenstein was actually a fictional director played by Bruno Kirby) and I would have stolen the doll, too, since it’s definitely in my top-10 favorite movies.

Anyway, so the reason that Vince was about to land his dream role as Pablo Escobar was, ironically, almost the very same reason it could have all been taken away from him — Dom. The guy means well but clearly didn’t learn his lesson during all that time in the slammer. Thankfully, Vince finally caught on and let him go, although a Hummer and apartment was a pretty nice severance. And the fact that “Aquaman 2” was scheduled to start filming the same day as “Medean” — wow, I felt like Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” should have been playing in the background. There really is no business like show business, huh?

A few other hilarious moments:

— E setting his alarm to 6 am just so he could try to wake up Ari....
— And in response, Ari making up a new derogatory term for E: “---- muscle.”
— Finding out Lloyd is not into bad boys.
— Vince arranging to miss traffic by taking a very expensive-looking helicopter to Santa Barbara.
— Drama hoping to see himself on the bat mitzvah video. Seriously, when is this guy ever going to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around him?
Posted by Maya Schechter 07/4/2006 7:38 AM

July 9, 2006: Crash and Burn
First things first, congratulations to Jeremy Piven on his second Emmy nomination for his incredibly hilarious role as Ari Gold. I’m such a huge fan and am crossing my fingers for him to win. And not to be a greedy fan, but I am a bit disappointed the show didn’t get a best-comedy nod. (Don’t even get me started on the Lost, Zach Braff and Edie Falco snubs.) Maybe the Emmy voters got a little bored with last season’s overdose of Mandy Moore. But I think tonight’s episode was a perfect display of why Entourage is one of the funniest shows on television these days. It was probably the best one all season, now that I think about it.

It’s hard to remember which moment had me laughing harder — Ari telling this week’s celebrity cameo Penny Marshall that Max was “Dakota Fanning with [male private parts],” or Turtle falling flat on his face outside the very prestigious Spago while racing Drama. Or maybe it was Ari having his housekeeper spy on his daughter in exchange for “a big gift for Navidad.” And what about Drama comparing himself to Robert De Niro and George Clooney when he played a bulimic pedophile? It doesn’t get much funnier than that.

But besides the amusing moments, this episode explored the real and seldom-seen side to these characters, beyond the money and glamour. I mean, they’re still obnoxious as hell in buying four matching Aston Martins. But it was so exciting watching Turtle’s face light up when he started getting offers to sign Saigon, and Ari told him his life was about to change. And while Vince can be so unlikable at times, I actually admired him for finally standing up to what he wanted without having someone else do it for him. Kudos for him telling Paul Haggis he was the only man for the role. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that easy now that Warner Brothers said they can’t risk their billion-dollar franchise by having “Aquaman doing three hours of blow in every multiplex in the country.” Uh-oh....
Posted by Maya Schechter 07/10/2006 5:50 AM

[Dade]

Courtesy of: TV GUIDE, THE WATERCOOLER

Entourage
by Maya Schechter

July 16, 2006: Three's Company
Yes, three really is company, and I’m not just talking about the sexy ménage à trois. What about Drama being the three’s company between Ari and every time he tried getting ahold of Vince? OK, yeah, that doesn’t compare, but Ari of course did have the best lines again in the episode. More on that in a bit.

So Sloan was finally back after being MIA for five episodes, and what a return she made. Let’s not forget this was not Emmanuelle Chriqui’s first girl-on-girl on-screen kiss. She appeared on The O.C. last year as Jodie, the ex-girlfriend of Alex — the girl who dated both Seth and Marissa. And kudos to The Comeback’s Malin Akerman for making her own comeback to television with a racy scene that probably had Nikki Hilton jealous. (Nik’s dating Kevin Connolly who plays E.) How awkward though, when E woke up cuddling with the wrong girl. I can’t wait to see where this one goes, since I really like getting to see the personal sides of each of the guys and not just have it be about Vince.

Speaking of which, that whole conversation between Lloyd, Ari and Johnny was just so damn funny: “I have Ari — do you have Vince — here’s Drama” that went on forever. I could probably watch an entire half hour of just Ari and Lloyd and be cracking up the whole time. Lloyd was hilarious and does his best work when trying to manage Ari’s anger. Too bad he didn’t know that holding Ari back from throwing the rented computer monitor across the room would get something thrown at his rear end. (This is the part of the column where I shamelessy worship Jeremy Piven.) I love that Ari was so desperate to talk to Vince he offered $10,000 to the first agent to find Drama a job. Go figure it was Lloyd who came through even though, Ari said he’d be paid 10,000 yen. I wonder how many dollars that amounts to?

So best line of the night, and unfortunately I can’t use the real words, but you guys know what I’m referring to — Ari telling E that Jake Gyllenhaal will be replacing Vince: “Brokeback mother [Bleeping] Aquaman, take that [Bleep].” Enough said.
Posted by Maya Schechter 07/18/2006 3:06 AM

[Dade]

Courtesy of: TV GUIDE, THE WATERCOOLER

Entourage
by Maya Schechter

July 23: Strange Days
Well, in case any of you were wondering, Ari Gold watches Desperate Housewives. How else would he have known to call his wife and her lunch pals the “girls from Wisteria Lane” and ask them “Which one of you is hiding a large black man in your basement?” Tonight’s episode was another great one with most of the attention given to E’s morning-after awkwardness with Tori and Ari’s $11 million negotiation. We didn’t find out if Drama got the Ed Burns pilot or if Turtle has had any luck with Saigon, but I like how the writers spread out all the different storylines instead of shoving them all into one episode like many shows out there do.

I enjoyed Seth Green’s short but sweet cameo and that he was able to make fun of his cancelled show (referring to the short-lived Four Kings), although I was kind of hoping he’d bust out in his Chris Griffin voice (a la Family Guy.) And congrats to Ari for buying that enormous office space, christening it by having a quickie with the Mrs., and that Adam Davies is now trying to kiss up to him. Ari’s clearly been practicing his yoga, the way he was holding up his wife like that!

Also loved when the guys gave Eric a hard time for falling in love during a threesome and for being a sensitive guy. The best was when Drama taught him “men spoon, E, women snuggle.” At least we found out that E wasn’t imagining the chemistry between himself and Tori, although it was kind of a jerk move to kiss Sloan and open his eyes to look at Tori. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for E, Tori was a good friend and gave him only a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving town. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of her. Eric really should take a lesson from his best friend Vince — you can’t always have your cake and it eat too… but I guess sometimes you can get lucky in the coat room.
Posted by Maya Schechter 07/24/2006 3:50 AM

[Dade]

Courtesy of: TV GUIDE, THE WATERCOOLER

Entourage
by Maya Schechter

July 30, 2006: The Release
Has Vince completely lost his mind, or is it just me? I understand the guy has principles, but is he trying to commit career suicide on purpose? When it came time to speak at the “Queens Boulevard” press conference, instead of smiling and being cooperative like Ari had asked him to, Vince didn’t hold any true feelings back by saying “These execs ripped out its soul” and they “don’t give a [Bleep] about art.” Now I can see the frustrations in a movie not turning out the way he had planned, but if he keeps the horrible attitude, no one in Hollywood will ever want to work with him.

So maybe it’s a good thing Drama is getting his chance at acting again, who knows — we may see some role reversal here, and he’ll become the guys’ source of lavish living. First of all, I love that he compared getting a parking ticket to living in “Communist Russia.” Only Drama would be, well, that dramatic. And who would have known that giving up The Brothers McMullen to do three episodes on 90210 sexually harassing Tori Spelling would have ever paid off? (Was he supposed to be the one who stalked Donna Martin when she was a weather girl on Cal U's TV station? Just kidding.) Ed Burns surely appreciated it, and in return offered Drama the role in his new pilot. Drama was so excited he didn’t even seem to mind that Eddie only wanted him to audition to make sure he hadn’t aged too badly.

And in the world of Ari Gold, I really hope things start looking up for the guy because he keeps getting screwed over by his so-called colleagues. Even though he does a pretty good job defending himself, namely calling Terrance a “Hitler-loving, anti-Semitic [Bleep] bag” it still doesn’t help the fact that Terrance won’t be giving Ari any of his settlement money. Oh, and on a side note — did anyone else notice Shauna was back and all of a sudden not pregnant anymore? It should be interesting to see if the new Miller-Gold agency will hold water in Hollywood, especially now that its No. 1 client has gone on a studio-dissing rampage.

Well I was missing me some Lloyd-Ari loving last week amidst all the threesome mess, so I was very happy they got a few minutes together tonight. Ari telling Lloyd to try being as much of a man as he could be, then asking him if he was Indian because he had a red zit on his forehead… The abuse doesn’t get much better than that! Next up, Vegas baby!
Posted by Maya Schechter 07/31/2006 5:04 AM

[morty]

Vincent Chase's comeback continues: HBO has picked up “Entourage” for a sixth season.

Production on the new season will begin early next year for a summer debut.

Fifth season of the half-hour laffer bowed last month.

Michael Lombardo, HBO prexy of programming group and West Coast operations, called “Entourage” a “smart, sharp comedy series that continues to evolve.”

Indeed, show about the adventures of a young actor in Hollywood is enjoying a creative resurgence after its fourth season fell flat with many critics.

Series, created and exec produced by Doug Ellin, stars Adrian Grenier as once-hot thesp Vincent Chase, as well as Jeremy Piven, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara. Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson also exec produce.

Source: Variety.com

[joyami]

Thanks Morty! So good to see ya!!