HBO’s Entourage recently made it across the Atlantic, and I read a preview article in a newspaper a few weeks ago that was hyping it up as a “must-see”, and basically saying that the whole of LA grinds to a halt on Sunday evenings when it airs.
So anyway, I caught it for the first time at the weekend. I missed the first episode, so maybe that’s part of it (although having read about it I was pretty familiar with who was who from the outset) but I was distinctly underwhelmed. It was billed as a comedy – well OK, satire – but I laughed only once, and smiled at maybe two or three other lines. Not a great hit rate for a 40-minute show.
The characters seem pretty universally unlikable. Maybe that’s the point – this is Hollywood, right? – but surely we ought to be able to empathise with at least some of them. Vince and his buddies seemed to spend most of the episode I saw playing golf, throwing food and drink at each other, and generally acting like kids. And not in an endearing “Hey I wish I was part of their gang” way, just in a “What are these morons doing on my telly” way. The women seemed to be there purely as lech fodder, but the male characters don’t appear to have any charm or other attractive qualities (other than the obvious) to justify it. If it’s meant to be a clever satire on the shallowness of Hollywood then it’s hardly subtle, is it?
So are there any Entourage fans here? Educate me, tell me what I’m missing…
I think it’s probably a pretty accurate depiction of a young actor who makes it and brings his friend along for the ride. They’re taken out of their environment (NY, NJ) and practically placed in a different world where they can do and buy.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers but they all seem to try to find their own niche.
It’s not a profound, earth shattering show but it’s enjoyable. I really enjoy the friendship aspect of the show and how much they really like each other and look out for each other.
It’s sort of grows on you.
+1 - I think of it as like Seinfeld in a surreal Hollywood setting, where the Jerry character isn’t a moderately successful standup guy but instead a mega-movie star. You have 4 friends who hang out and deal with…nothing. Should Johnny Drama get calf implants? Should Vince wear the Aquaman suit? These plot elements are not about the element themselves - I don’t care about calf implants, thankyouverymuch - but more as a setup to get the characters intereacting and talking about stuff.
And watching Jeremy Piven play Ari the agent is pure comedy gold.
I don’t really care about the Hollywood lifestyle. I don’t watch Entourage to sympathize with struggling actors. I like the characters - they can be downright nasty, and they make me laugh. The writers seem to push the characters right to the edge of being able to hate them, and then something happens where you think they’re ok guys.
Plus, every episode seems to end on a “cliffhanger” note anymore so that keeps me coming back. And Jeremy Piven is really fantastic.
It’s hard to articulate why I like the show. I just do. Maybe it’s just the right pace and length for my short attention span - a good dramedy that keeps me amused for 30 minutes a week and makes me want to come back to see what those crazy guys are up to this time. Perhaps it’s all about plot lines.
I think it has some enjoyable elements, Jeremy Piven and Kevin Dillon being primary among them. It’s still kind of a hard show to get into, though, the story lines move at a snail’s pace and like 60% of every show is just Vince and Co. going to parties. Why do the writers think they have to throw at least one party scene into every single episode? They’re all exacly the same. the guys sitting around drinking cocktails and looking at chicks in bikinis. Every other scene is a scene like this. No plotlines are ever advanced. I don’t see the point except to show some gratuitous skin and hammer home – over and over and over again – the obvious point about how good these guys have it. If we nevers ee another pool part, that’s just fine with me.
Ditto on that. Honestly, I think that without him I wouldn’t be interested in the show.
I too feel like I’m watching a fairly realistic version of ‘a dude who makes it big and brings some friends along.’ I live in an apartment with three other guys, and I imagine that if the four of us were transplanted to California, and one of us suddenly fell into stardom, that many of the dynamics and relationships in our lives would be similar to those depicted in Entourage (to a certain degree).
Of course, the level of drama, and importance placed on insignificant choices is a little hard to swallow sometimes.
That’s the appeal of the show. While most guys can’t relate to the Hollywood star stuff, most of us can relate to various aspects of the relationships between Vince and his friends:
-Friend who is effortlessly successful (Vince)
-The uptight, high strung friend always obsessing over his relationships (Eric)
-The fun, happy go lucky friend (Turtle)
-The guy who’s a bit older than everyone else (Drama)
-Picking up girls
-Drinking and smoking pot
-Making money
-Hanging out and goofing off
I can’t identify with being a movie star, but I can identify with hanging out with a bunch of goofy guys, drinking too much and getting into harmless trouble.
The show is essentially a Sex in the City for guys. Instead of four women in New York who are it’s four guys in L.A.
I watch the show solely to worship the deity who is Jeremy Piven.
No actually I really do enjoy the show and as you said it has a Seinfeld-esque air but the latter seasons are taking it more seriously and it’s becoming more of a drama.
I also admit I found it hard to follow the dialogue. Everyone talks so damn fast, and often over one another, and the ambient noise is often louder than the speech. Maybe next week I’ll put the subtitles on and see if that helps…
Hey dude, I’m 22 and I tend to watch with subtitles just out of habit. Dad watches with them usually since he has some hearing loss, so I just tend to watch with them on.
That’s how I describe it (I’m not sure it deserves the Seinfeld comparisons). And instead of expensive shoes, they’re blowing money on flashy cars and pot. Pure wish fulfillment. I don’t find the characters that mean, but then again I watch a lot of Arrested Development and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (best. show. ever.)
It’s worth noting that Mark Wahlberg is exec producer and early storylines are taken straight from his experiences in Hollywood, while the rest are all pretty much true but from different sources (including the cast members own experiences with fame after the show’s debut/success). It’s a bit inside baseball at times.
Another thing, the first season started off pretty slow, got a little better, then the second season was great. Season 3 was decent, but Piven has me hooked anyway, so it doesn’t have to be as good as S2 to keep me coming back.
The best episode so far was the second-to-last episode of the second season, called Exodus. As you might guess, it prominently features Jeremy Piven, who is the best thing in the show. But the other stuff about Vince, Eric and the boys is great too.
Is it on regular television over there? As in, “is it edited”?
Here, it’s on HBO (pay TV) so it’s an uncensored show. Still, that doesn’t make too much of a difference. There is some good nudity, and swearing, and drug use, though.
It’s not what I’d call a “sit com” so I don’t really go into it expecting to laugh. I find it satisfying on the dramatic level, but mostly satisfying on the character level. You do get to like the characters as the show progresses. They can be shallow (but they’re not assholes); they may be “character types” but they’re still well-written, and very distinct from each other.
And, as time passes, they branch out from just being hangers-on.
Also, FWIW – I tuned out after a couple episodes in Season 1, and only got back into it later on when I caught some reruns. When the second season started, I was fully hooked.
Just to pipe in, I’ve watched it from the beginning. I thought the first season was okay but not “must see” and watched mostly on the off chance of seeing some impressive nudity and occasional laughs. The second season was excellent IMO and I am now hooked.
Uh… in non U.S. countries, regular television does not necessarily equal edited to fuck. The FCC does exert its evil influence within the 50 states, but other nations’ networks are generally permitted to show stuff that in America is restricted to the ghetto of HBO.
