With season 6 just released on DVD and season 7 in full stride, I figured it was time to go back and re-watch Entourage from the beginning.

Season 1

Where is all began…So many of the best lines happened in this one, including maybe my all-time favorite, “What do you mean you were ‘on Kimmel?’ Is that like ‘X’?” It was only 8 episodes long but crazy Gary Busey and all the other cameos are great. Remember that at this time no one knew where this show was going so it was great to see celebs willing to be “themselves”. I think the Kimmel episode “Talk Show” was my fave of the first season.

Season 2

Definitely not as strong of a season as the first, but it did lay some groundwork for the future. The first half the season was solid and the buildup to James Cameron picking Vince was nice. But the stupid Mandy Moore storyline was just annoying. I suppose it was supposed to make it seem like celebs have crushes just like “regular” people, but I watch this show to escape “regular” people. I got so sick of it, and the fact that it was basically the driving force behind the 2nd half of the season, was terrible. Who knew that Sloan and Lloyd would be such long time characters though. The comic-con episode brought us the first Viking call, “VICTORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.” That episode was really solid, but I think the episode at Sundance where we find out Vince is doing a James Cameron movie is probably the best.

Season 3: Part 1

Season 3 was split into two parts. I don’t really get why TV producers do this. Why not either make it one uninterrupted season or two separate seasons? The first two episodes with the premiere and opening weekend are really solid. The two infamous Dom episodes were just brutal the first time around. But in retrospect they were interesting. The Vegas episode has so much promise but the fight at the end is so annoying. Of course one of my favorite episodes ever comes next, “I Wanna Be Sedated,” where we get our first look at the new agency, and the debut of Bob Ryan (Martin Landau) and his great catchphrase, “what if I were to tell you…” Plus the scene where Drama is being dangled from a balcony and his assailants reference Viking Quest is priceless. More Bob Ryan and The Ramones capped off by the season finale where Ari gets fired. The last three eps from the season push it up the list overall.

Season 3: Part 2

The best part of Season 3: Part 2 is probably Carla Gugino. She starts the season as Vince’s new agent and she is just great. I also think it’s weird how Sloan just disappeared the 2nd half of part 1 and most of part 2. “The Resurrection” is one of the best Drama episodes ever. His show debuts and he ends up drunk and the Grand Canyon, before finding out its a hit and producing one of my favorite moments ever, where he yells “VICTORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!” And of course, Wally Balls in the finale was pretty much the surprise of the series. Who would have though Walsh would direct porn in his spare time?

Season 4

Strong start with the Medellin documentary. It really gets the season going and it’s got some hilarious moments. The next couple of episodes are solid, if unspectacular. The party Drama has at his new place is hilarious though. Only he would put a combination lock on the bathroom door.  And the cameo of Stephen Tobolowsky as the Beverly Hills mayor is priceless. But the first third of this season is just one Medellin problem after another. There are plenty of good episodes but I don’t really like how there isn’t a good season long storyline. Vince and Walsh finally get a new movie but of course it doesn’t work out. The Medellin disaster premiere vindicated Eric, but definitely set Vince back.

Season 5

The season starts with the Murphy Group having a new client, Vince hiding in Mexico and Drama still rocking Five Towns. Eric tries to sell a script two hillbillys (Lukas Haas and Giovanni Ribisi) wrote and get Vince in the movie at the same time. Of course nothing ever works out the first time and Alan Gray buys the Smoke Jumpers script and effs Vince over. The ‘shrooms at Joshua Tree with Eric Roberts are typical random hilarious Entourage stories. I was shocked when Ari got offered the studio head and I honestly thought he would take it to create something new. But I am happy that Dana Gordon got it because the more Constance Zimmer, the better. The last third of the season is great. Smoke Jumpers, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Gary Cole. It was a nice callback to bring Seth Green back into the fold, but it was strictly a way to bring Sloan back. Vince quitting the movie and moving back to Queens was a great moment, but the moment when you find out the other end of the phone is Martin Scorsese might be top 5 of the series.

Season 6

I finally saw Season 6 last month and I really like how it started. It seemed like the first episode was really pushing the idea of the gang breaking up. E moved out and Turtle has a sugar momma. I also thought it was interesting that Vince already had his next movie booked, meaning this season would be different. Sloan appears to be back in the picture early, but Eric has a rather young looking girlfriend. Mark Wahlberg and Tom Brady were awesome cameos. The Lloyd storyline this whole season was pretty stupid. I was so sick of seeing him groveling and not being made an agent after all this time. Jamie-Lynn leaving was an eventual given but I thought there break-up would be less awkward. The Matt Damon/Bono/LeBron cameo was very awkward that I can only hope was more than just a commercial for their charity. I believe season 8 is going to be it, if that’s true they are definitely doing a good job laying the groundwork for that. In retrospect, I think it’s interesting that we didn’t see Dana Gordon once. I guess that’s since for once we didn’t spend the whole season focusing on Vince getting a new movie.

So…

I started this exercise in attempt to rank the Entourage seasons. Obviously this is all personal opinion:

1. Season 3: Part 2
2. Season 1
3. Season 2
4. Season 3: Part 1
5. Season 4
6. Season 6
7. Season 5

To me, it’s just another workplace drama like so many others that have come and gone over the years. The show has its share of work & relationship issues, character triumphs and tragedies, and an occasional secret that changes the fate of everyone forever. The only difference it all takes place 40 years in the past!

I understand his point. I think a big part of the appeal though IS that it takes place 40 years ago. Anyone under the age of 60 probably doesn’t know what it was like to have an office job in the 1960s.

It’s more likely that unrealistic expectations have ruined it for people. I started watching around the end of season 1 so I got in “early.” But by now anyone that checks out the show is likely doing it based on a glowing recommendation from someone they know. So they likely have very high expectations that probably won’t be met by most shows.

This might have to me too excited to actually pan out but how can I not be thoroughly excited? No word on the air date apparently.

I watch Entourage mostly because it’s funny but also because it provides a view into the world of Hollywood. Living in a “flyover state” doesn’t give me much insight in what it’t like to live in Hollywood. And the ability to live vicariously through these four guys is great.

Another point is one that I would miss if Weiner follows through with his decision. The idea that Mad Men would take us through the 1960s into the next decade. So far, we’re still in 1963. There are seven years left of the decade to be reflected in the lives of these characters, including the entire counter-culture revolution, the women’s liberation movement, the Great Society and the Vietnam War. Aren’t you interested in how Mad Men would treat all that and more?

This is something a lot of fans/critics have said. There are so many things that are coming up in the timeline of the show that would be great to see them tackle.

Like Ben Patterson, my major problem is sports:

There’s one important factor that’s keeping me from pulling my scissors out: live sports, and particularly ESPN, my 24-hour sports companion. Sure, as a football fan, I could keep up with the Jets and the Giants via over-the-air TV (although I’m not sure my landlord would be all that ecstatic about my installing a TV antenna on the roof of our Brooklyn brownstone), but without cable, I’d be left high and dry when it comes to Monday Night Football.

College Football will be my major sticking point. I would miss some White Sox games, but being limited with pigskin in the fall would be brutal. Nevertheless, it’s becoming more and more appealing to ditch cable TV.

The other part of the article that mentions The Persian-American version is no shock to me. A lot of people assumed they would explore other ethnic cultures in similar shows.

(via Unplgged)

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said the company does not pay for product placement. It did provide an iPad for the show. An ABC spokeswoman declined to comment on the back story behind the episode, as did a 20th Century Fox Television spokesman.

A lot of people think it’s even more lame that they would do a basically free iPad commercial for 30 minutes especially without being compensated. As a geek (and what some call an Apple fanboy) I liked it. Phil acted so much like so many people I know, and his line about early adopters was priceless. In the DVR/IPTV age we are going to see a lot more of this. I think if it’s as well done as this, I will have no problems with it.

First, it introduced most people to a sub-culture that they didn’t even know existed. The first episode had be smiling and laughing the whole time. I don’t know anyone like this and it was just great. I never heard the word “guido” used that much in my entire life before the first episode.

Second, it put 8 people who were very similar in a house together. This is usually the opposite of these kind of reality shows. Usually it’s 8 very different and diverse people who at some point clash big time. They actually hope that happens because fights draw ratings. Additionally, there are usually a few hook-ups amongst the roommates because they are maybe not used to the kind of people they are living with and it’s appealing to try it out. Jersey Shore’s cast was so similar that there wasn’t much conflict (at least far less than a typical reality show) and almost no hooking up between roommates.

The appeal of being exposed to a new sub-culture made the first few episodes must watch. Especially as someone in their mid-20s it was hilarious to me to see people like this. I couldn’t imagine the people I work with ever acting this way. But now the surprise is over. By the end of the series, it was more about the people and less about the appeal to the things around them. And the people just weren’t that appealing.

More importantly though as to why it won’t work, is the people. The first season was filmed over a span of 30 days. Much of that time was spent with people getting used to each other and feeling each other out. If you put the same people there again, you don’t have that build up, they all know each other. So I worry that a lot of conflict and situations will be forced. Plus they have been hanging out and doing appearances like crazy. They will be recognized everywhere they go and that will ruin it a bit, because the people around them will just be going for attention. The Hills worked because as Bill Simmons says, people know to leave the celebs alone in Los Angeles.

There is no way you can take the same 8 people and make a show that is appealing as it was the first time around. The suggestion that has been made that they should pick different sub-cultures and show people them is a much better idea. I wish I could find the list of all these people that someone suggested, but it was great.

The only way season 2 works is if they go to Europe. Somewhere these guys will have no idea what is going on and be totally out of their element. Putting them in South Beach or Vegas just won’t be as good. Of course, I hope I am wrong. Regardless I am sure I will watch. And so will you, bro.

Modern Family

This show has gotten some good love (at least on the interwebs) and to me it’s the best new comedy on TV. Big Bang Theory and 30 Rock are the only funnier shows on TV right now. If you haven’t seen this, it’s a docudrama about 3 families that are all related. The “grandpa” is Ed O’Neill and married to a hot Columbian with a son from another marriage. The “daugther” is married to this crazy guy who wishes he was 13. The “son” is gay and he and his boyfriend just adopted a Vietnamese baby. Needless to say it’s one laugh after another. The interactions between the families is great, but on their own they are just so solid. The only thing that worries me is how over the top the crazy husband is. They need to tone it down a bit so they don’t go to far, to early.

The Good Wife

Julianna Margulies is back on TV in this lawyer drama. Her husband is a former state’s attorney who is in jail for abusing his power and sleeping with a bunch of hookers. Margulies resumes practicing law after like a 10 year absence in order to support her family. It reminds me a lot of The Practice which I like. Plus Josh Charles (Sportsnight) is just solid as her boss. My knock on it so far is that she just wins every case. And she just seems a little too perfect. Even with everything she is struggling with she jump seems too perfect. That needs to be fixed to give this show longevity.

Community

This is my other favorite new comedy. This lawyer apparently cheated his way through school and has to go back to community college if he wants to keep practicing law. He starts with this study group, originally so he could try to hook up with this chick, but ultimately it becomes the launching point for the show. They are a diverse group of people all there for different reasons. Chevy Chase is a former executive of some sort (I honestly forget why he had to go back to school) who is very believable. He does and says all these crazy things, but when you realize how far Chase’s career has fallen in the last 10 years you could totally see him doing something like this in real life. The show overall has it moments. My problem with it so far are that the stories are just really bad the comedy has to carry the whole show and it’s not there yet.

Cougar Town

We gave this one episode before throwing in the towel. Courtney Cox proved she has gone nowhere since Friends and this show was so over the top it was ridiculous. They fit every stereotype about Cougars into the first episode which left nowhere to go but down. Most people I know gave up on this early, but it surprisingly hasn’t been cancelled.

Trauma

Due to limited space on the DVR, we didn’t get to this for a while. I watched the episodes on Hulu to get caught up. And literally the day last week when I did, it was cancelled. It was mildly understandable. I hear it was very expensive to make and the characters never really hooked me. I suspect the format of the show left people unfulfilled. So many of the people they picked up (this show was about paramedics/EMTs by the way) you never knew what happened to the them after they dropped them off. I get that was the point of the show but I bet it bothered some people. I wasn’t ready to give up on this show yet, but I guess I was in the minority.

If I had to name my five favorite shows (still on their original run) on television Mad Men would definitely crack the top 5 (joined by Entourage, Big Love, Big Bang Theory and Friday Night Lights). I say “no one is watching” because I have to come across anyone I know in real life who watches this show (other than the people I have introduced to it). For the uninformed, it’s a show about Madison Avenue advertising men in the 60s. They do an amazing job on sets and props and using current events to make it feel authentic. I can only speculate whether or not this is how things used to be, but it’s entertaining if it was. The men all smoke constantly, drink all day long and womanize like crazy. The lead character, Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), is great. Hamm does such an amazing job you wonder how he is just now, at 38, emerging. The show is written and produced by Matt Weiner who had the same job on the 12 episodes of The Sopranos. It’s hard for me to describe what it so great about this show. There are some twists, some laughs but for the most part there are no major hooks. I kept hounding my dad to watch it, then I finally lent him the DVD and he is now hooked.

The 2nd show is In Plain Sight. This is a USA Network show with Mary McCormack (who I had a crush on from a 6 episode run on ER, but most people know her from West Wing). She plays a US Marshall in New Mexico that is responsible for people in the witness protection program. This is another show that I can’t really explain my passion for. McCormack is kind of a bitch on the show and more times than not she just pisses you off for being the way she is. But she pulls off her character awfully well. The stories seemed repetitive at first, someone in the program gets tracked down by the person responsible for them being in the program…you can figure it out from there. This season they have gone a different route and mixed the stories up a bit and it has been very enjoyable. McCormack’s partner Marshall is funny in his quirky way and the more we see of the Albuquerque detective Bobby D, the better. The best case I can give you for watching this show is that despite all the crime dramas we have seen, I think this is the first that is about the Witness Protection Program.

Lastly, is a new one from TNT that is only three episodes in (I have seen the first two) called Dark Blue. This is a show starring Dylon McDermott as the leader of an undercover unit in the LA (?) police department. Basically this unit doesn’t exist. McDermott’s character’s record has nothing in it for a couple of years. The 2nd episode, one of his guys is being held hostage (without his cover being blown) and McDermott needs $100,000 in like 10 hours. He does some shady things to get the money because the department can’t do it fast enough. McDermott is really strong in my opinion. I think it’s safe to say that this guy has talent and can carry a show. His team is made up of three people (2 males, 1 female). One of the males is on the bring of cracking, one is a newlywed who seems tired of the gig and wants to be with his wife and the female is new to the team but has a crime-ridden background. The biggest problem with the show so far is that the supporting cast has been kind of weak. None of the characters seem to compelling. It’s early to call this too good, but I like the way the show works so far.