Entourage

[weezie]

Last night's premiere episode.....has the show jumped the shark?

[Mal]

If it has, I'd say it happened last season.

Last night's episode was sort of weak, I thought. Setting out the themes and re-introducing us to everything is fine and excuses the general lack of anything "happening" but there wasn't anything particularly funny, either. Ari's interactions with Lloyd seemed lacking in the verve that typically puts those scenes up there with the funniest. The writing just seemed off.

Plus, I'm pretty disappointed the show's hiatus apparently has to substitute for the entire time period between "Vince gets job on Scorcese movie" to "Scorcese movie with Vince set to open in a few days." Lame.

[rthomas]

If it has, I'd say it happened last season.

Last night's episode was sort of weak, I thought. Setting out the themes and re-introducing us to everything is fine and excuses the general lack of anything "happening" but there wasn't anything particularly funny, either. Ari's interactions with Lloyd seemed lacking in the verve that typically puts those scenes up there with the funniest. The writing just seemed off.

Plus, I'm pretty disappointed the show's hiatus apparently has to substitute for the entire time period between "Vince gets job on Scorcese movie" to "Scorcese movie with Vince set to open in a few days." Lame.

Did you watch the new HBO series after Entourage and if so what did you think about it? I couldn't make up my mind about it.

[Mal]

No, didn't catch it. Looks like a fairly funny premise, although it seems better for a movie than a series. I don't know how there's enough substance to be stretched beyond a season here - what depths are there to explore that haven't been covered a million times? The writing and characters will have to be pretty good to overcome that. Previews and general concept make it look like the first instance of HBO emulating a Showtime offering instead of vice versa, 'cause it sure sounds a lot like Weeds.

[weezie]

Ya mean "Hung?" I'm getting ready to torpedo it. Without the Detroit angle, it's pretty "limp."

[Lord Ash]

Hm, I for one actually enjoyed Entourage for the first time in a while. I felt like it was a fairly mature episode, actually, and really set up some nice personal stories well. It avoided the slapstick crap with Drama and Turtle which has largely ruined them in my opinion, and I like seeing E and Sloan hitting it off again. I don't know, I thought it was a good set-up for a season, to be honest. Plus, the idea of a movie about Enzo is pretty damned cool:)

[tommy]

If it has, I'd say it happened last season.

Last night's episode was sort of weak, I thought. Setting out the themes and re-introducing us to everything is fine and excuses the general lack of anything "happening" but there wasn't anything particularly funny, either. Ari's interactions with Lloyd seemed lacking in the verve that typically puts those scenes up there with the funniest. The writing just seemed off.

Plus, I'm pretty disappointed the show's hiatus apparently has to substitute for the entire time period between "Vince gets job on Scorcese movie" to "Scorcese movie with Vince set to open in a few days." Lame.

I don't think there was much they could do with the Scorsese thing, as I doubt he wanted to play a recurring role in a series of episodes directing the movie.

Even cutting them some slack for that, though, I agree it was pretty weak. Only things I laughed at were a couple of Drama's lines, but I always laugh at him. The Turtle-Jamie Lynn thing is so absurd it makes me want to turn off the TV every time they have a scene together. Why on earth would she be interested in him? She wouldn't.

The writers/creative people have totally missed opportunities to develop these characters in believable ways. Maybe they'll try here now with Lloyd, but he's a background guy. They seem to be so afraid to branch out, always feeling like they have to maintain, or quickly revert to, the "4 inseparable guys, living and working together" thing that they can't expand their horizons. Disappointing and unrealistic.

[NYC Duke Fan]

I don't think there was much they could do with the Scorsese thing, as I doubt he wanted to play a recurring role in a series of episodes directing the movie.

Even cutting them some slack for that, though, I agree it was pretty weak. Only things I laughed at were a couple of Drama's lines, but I always laugh at him. The Turtle-Jamie Lynn thing is so absurd it makes me want to turn off the TV every time they have a scene together. Why on earth would she be interested in him? She wouldn't.

The writers/creative people have totally missed opportunities to develop these characters in believable ways. Maybe they'll try here now with Lloyd, but he's a background guy. They seem to be so afraid to branch out, always feeling like they have to maintain, or quickly revert to, the "4 inseparable guys, living and working together" thing that they can't expand their horizons. Disappointing and unrealistic.

Ferrera and Sigler are an item off the screen as well.

[Bostondevil]

Ferrera and Sigler are an item off the screen as well.

True, but offscreen he's a reasonably well-known actor on a hit TV show.

[Rich]

True, but offscreen he's a reasonably well-known actor on a hit TV show.

It's Not TV. It's HBO. :rolleyes:

[NYC Duke Fan]

True, but offscreen he's a reasonably well-known actor on a hit TV show.

I had never heard of him before Entourage.

[pacificrounder]

Entourage season openers usually fall short of the expectations that build up before them. That said, I liked the episode. I thought it was great to see Vince back on top after spending all of season 5 in the gutter recovering from Medellin. I think they are starting to develop the guys into their own characters -- after all, Vince coming home to an empty house at the end was a first for the series.

Entourage is a show that is supposed to be fun to watch. If you look too much into the writing and talk about "jumping the shark," it's not fun anymore.

[Matches]

Any episode that features Sloan is a good episode. She just gets better and better looking all the time.

On a plane ride yesterday I read an interview with the guy who plays Turtle, and it sounds like the producers had a lot of debate about whether they wanted him to hook up with Sigler on the show - clearly it stretches believeability somewhat but I'm willing to give them some slack.

And LLoyd DOES need to take off at least 15 lbs.

[Oriole Way]

It was a pretty weak episode, but I'm willing to give it a pass if they can make the Lloyd hazing/agent plot and Vince being alone storyline interesting (not really expecting much on the Vince front, but hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised).

It's pretty amazing how Drama's character has deteriorated. He used to be one of the highlights of the show, and now he's basically become a huge jerk spouting off lame jokes.