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June 19, 2006
Entourage Blogging
Given that the good folks at HBO have seen fit to advertise their show on my sidebar, may as well give it a plug: Entourage is my favorite show on television. And not because -- or not merely because -- it's a male fantasy with superb production value. Entourage is, at least for now, the only show on TV that really believes in the happy ending. Far from the Big Love's and Soprano's of the world, where tension and drama are injected by ensuring you leave each episode with a knot in your gut, each episode of Entourage is a self-contained fairy tale -- 30 minutes that's guaranteed to end happily. Nearly every show finishes with the episode's minute bit of uncertainty or conflict fully resolved, and the four characters toasting the basic awesomeness of their existence, generally while surrounded by supermodels, friends, and success.
This week, for instance, the rolling blackouts that were supposed to hamper Aquaman's opening day take not only didn't push the film under expectations, as was hinted throughout the episode, but it didn't even derail its march to the largest opening weekend of all time. And this grand news was delivered, of course, at a high school party that the four protagonists attended in order to radically improve the social standing of two dweebs who'd approached them at a screening. The show isn't just kind and the actor's lucky; it's dreamily compassionate and its main characters are charmed. And, as it happens, I find that unstoppably refreshing.
June 19, 2006 | Permalink
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Comments
The Wire comes back this fall. Hopefull you'll be singing a different tune then.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | Jun 19, 2006 5:15:12 PM
Woo. When Hollywood did that for years they were disparagingly referred to as "formula" shows - most commonly by Disney studios.
Posted by: opit | Jun 19, 2006 5:35:37 PM
The Wire comes back this fall. Hopefull you'll be singing a different tune then.
If he doesn't, we'll know there's something terribly wrong with him. (Which, by the way, we already know, because Deadwood is infinitely superior to Entourage.)
Posted by: Tom Hilton | Jun 19, 2006 5:39:45 PM
Hey! Deadwood is back. But your description of Entourage is dead on perfect. Kinda 7th Heaven for the irresponsible perpetual teenager in us all.
Posted by: bob mcmanus | Jun 19, 2006 5:41:46 PM
With my sloppy reading, I thought you said: unsloppily refreshing instead of unstoppably refreshing. Almost the same.
Please stop incenting me to give the Comcast ogre more money by taking HBO. I'm at $110/mo for HD cable and broadband.
Is Ezra still reading science fiction, too?
Posted by: JimPortlandOR | Jun 19, 2006 5:53:13 PM
I didn't get into Entourage until this season. I watched a few from last season and I was hooked. I started relating to the idea about how cool that life could be. To have a friend like that who takes his buds along for the ride and live it to the fullest. It's a fairy tale and a good one at that. To compare this show to Deadwood or the Wire, both of which I thorougly enjoy, and which are more akin to nightmares, is just proof that some are so warped as to not recognize a story of hope, friendship, and loyalty.
The brighter side of life is shown in this show and I can only hope it continues.
Posted by: marcus | Jun 19, 2006 6:25:19 PM
I am so not the intended demographic (45, female, some grad school, never mind the damned household income). But I gotta tell you, Ezra, I love this show for the same reasons: escapism, belly laughs, and a lovely and guaranteed happy ending, even when someone gets fired, loses his company Mercedes, and has to get a ride home in a muscle car with his man-secretary.
Plus the actor who plays Vince is molto bello. I can't believe he isn't Italian.
Posted by: litbrit | Jun 19, 2006 6:29:48 PM
Piven makes me laugh my ass off. That's what keeps me watching.
Posted by: sprocket | Jun 19, 2006 6:45:25 PM
Entourage is great. My wife even liked it after a couple (literally) of episodes! It gets better and better as it goes on...so far.
Posted by: slickdpdx | Jun 19, 2006 7:57:24 PM
i'm not trying to rain on the parade here, but this season has been a disappointment so far. johnny drama has stopped being funny. the plots have been shallow (happy endings are only good if they follow some real/believeable tension). ari's jokes are starting to get a tad predictable, nevermind the repetitive catchphrases ("lloyd!"). and what happened to all the good story lines from last season? ari's big battle with terrance? turtle's budding career as a music producer? eric's relationship with sloane? vince nearly throwing away his entire career over his weakness for mandy moore? was all of that just resolved off camera before this season? if so, lame.
be honest. do either of these episodes come close to any of the highlights from seasons 1-2? the beach party episode and the pot smoking with val kilmer episode make the recent efforts look especially bad. and we haven't seen any minor characters that approach the brilliance of scott wick or billy the director, among many others.
i loved the first two seasons, so i'll be patient. but let's not delude ourselves here.
Posted by: mrc | Jun 19, 2006 11:42:54 PM
MRC: It's the second week of the season, and both eps cover a span of about 20 hrs. Give it a bit of time. But I really hope the producers don't take Ari's character into Fonzie territory. The show works best as an ensemble; a break-out character is neither necessary nor desirable.
Posted by: Jimmm | Jun 20, 2006 8:28:41 AM
"Nearly every show finishes with the episode's minute bit of uncertainty or conflict fully resolved, and the four characters toasting the basic awesomeness of their existence, generally while surrounded by supermodels, friends, and success."
That sounds horrific. I think this is the fundamental difference in taste between Americans and Brits in TV comedy. Of course I love lots of US comedies and lots of Americans love lots of British comedies, but as a rule I (along with most British comedy fans) prefer the Green Wing/Alan Partridge style of comedy where each episode ends with one or more of the characters staring into the abyss of their own neuroses or inadequacy. We like to watch comedies through our fingers. This has become increasingly pronounced in recent years with a string of shows (including Nighty Night, Peep Show, The Smoking Room, Alan Partridge season 2, Jam, Green Wing) following the neurotic spiral formula almost as rigidly as American TV follows the life affirming resolution formula. That's why Arrested Development is so popular in the UK.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Jun 20, 2006 9:21:07 AM
I think this is the fundamental difference in taste between Americans and Brits in TV comedy. Of course I love lots of US comedies and lots of Americans love lots of British comedies, but as a rule I (along with most British comedy fans) prefer the Green Wing/Alan Partridge style of comedy where each episode ends with one or more of the characters staring into the abyss of their own neuroses or inadequacy.
Um, not that it was that deep or anything, but Seinfeld's characters ended up screwed. And it did well in the ratings here in the U.S., I seem to recall.
Posted by: fourmorewars | Jun 20, 2006 10:01:42 AM
Seinfeld's characters ALWAYS ended up screwed, is what I meant to say.
Posted by: fourmorewars | Jun 20, 2006 10:02:43 AM
Ginger Yellow, as an ex-pat, I think it's entirely possible to love both sorts of comedy. HBO certainly does, as it offers both Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm, a show which, in my opinion, comes as close to being a masterpiece of comedy--American or foreign--as anything on TV ever has.
Posted by: litbrit | Jun 20, 2006 10:06:21 AM
Oh I know, LitBrit, and as I say I do love a lot of American comedy that does follow the typical format (for starters: My Name Is Earl and Scrubs). And it's fair to say that HBO defies most stereotypes about American TV. But there's no denying that one sitcom style dominates domestic production in the States and the other in Britain. All that said, I might well find Entourage as good as I do Scrubs - it's just that the description makes me want to throw up.
Fourmorewars: I take your point, but Seinfeld's characters never really took themselves seriously enough for the screwedness to be as visceral as it is in, say, Alan Partridge or Green Wing.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Jun 20, 2006 10:17:25 AM
Ginger Yellow,
God-fucking-Bless You for name-checking Alan Partridge, Nighty Night & Green Wing on Ezra's blog. Let's also not forget the League of Gentlemen (while pretending the movie never happened). Yanks don't know. And we should. With the advent of YouTube eradicating the need for hard-to-procure Region 2 DVD players, there's no excuse.
Posted by: Spencer | Jun 20, 2006 11:17:57 AM
Among the mentions of British comedy, is The Office too far in the past? As cringe-inducing as Curb Your Enthusiasm, but with an overlay of the boring inevitability of office jobs in general. Brilliant!
Posted by: Cal Gal | Jun 20, 2006 5:50:43 PM
I left out the office because while it's in roughly the same idiom as say People Like Us, it doesn't really fit the neurotic spiral paradigm. It's certainly not a Friends style upbeat comedy, but it relies more on the cringe reaction to individual lines/behaviour than the downward emotional spiral for its comedy. In that respect, as you say, it's closer to Curb Your Enthusiasm than anything in British comedy besides PLU.
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Jun 21, 2006 5:53:21 AM
I don't see Entourage as pure male fantasy land. Yeah, it is an optimistic slant like most comedies are want to do (in the end, anyway), but they sprinkle a severe amount of overarching dramatic plot in there that a lot of people don't even realize they're riding along with. The show isn't gut-busting funny very often (though when it is, it is nearly fatal) but it generates that almost constant little grin when you watch it that signals you're being thoroughly entertained on many levels. And they never sort to cheap Scrubs or Family Guy-esque segueway humor.
Comparing this show to The Wire is just wrong. They're different genres and angles of television. You can't really compare the two. A better comparison would be The Wire to The Shield, or Entourage to Joey. Hmm.
Posted by: Cavillari | Jun 27, 2006 11:18:42 AM
I couldn't love Entourage more. I mean, what's not to love? Great production values, hilarious dialogue, great character development..
It's an insder's look at Hollywood, complete with real locations, Malibu, The Ivy, etc, but without the real life nastiness. (notice how nobody actualy in the show does coke, just smokes weed? Blow is only seen rarely, and then just being done by out of focus scene-fillers.)
So, it leaves me feeling happy and pumped at the end of an episode, instead of anxious and vaguely depressed. So what? Explain to me again how and why that is a bad thing?
Posted by: Jim | Jun 30, 2006 3:36:23 PM
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Posted by: jose gomez | Sep 24, 2007 8:55:14 PM
