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« Entourage
July 1, 2007: Artists and Capitalist Pigs
Raise your hand if you are officially sick to death of hearing about "Medellin." Is it just me? I feel like this story line has dragged on forever with no resolution in sight. It is like an anchor weighing down all the humor and fun. So tonight, for your consideration, I offer you my top three suggestions for getting the Entourage back on track:
Ari: Everyone’s favorite agent doesn’t seem to have much to do lately. Where is the verbal sparring with Lloyd? Why isn’t he hanging with the boys? For me personally, Jeremy Piven is 50 percent of the reason I keep tuning in week after week, but I need more than just a cameo to keep me interested (and no, that contrived story line about his son’s school does not count).
Billy Walsh: I enjoy this character a great deal, in small doses. But these past few episodes he has completely dominated the action. Please take it down a notch… and soon.
Eric: Kevin Connolly seems to have the market cornered on two emotions — peeved and perturbed. While it is still fun to watch Ari belittle him in clever new ways (“Do you know your man broke out of the Oompah Loompah factory and is up to no good?”), Eric’s role as perpetual straight man is making him increasingly unappealing.
Some things that are working? The guest appearances are definintely entertaining. Lisa Rinna's turn as a middle-aged, hot-to-trot ex-flame of Johnny's was unexpectedly good. (Nothing against Lisa Rinna, but little in her Dancing with the Stars performanaces prepared us for her potty-mouthed partner-swapping.) Dennis Hopper also deserves a shout-out, playing himself with self-deprecating humor. (I laughed when one of his guests made reference to his sideline shilling for a financial-services company.) Kevin Dillon continues to provide comic relief on a weekly basis. I think it is perfectly fitting that the boys are all crashing at Johnny's pad these days, since he is generally the caretaker of the group anyway.
I am anxious to see what happens once the movie gets to Cannes and what happens when Eric attempts to pull the rug out from under Harvey again. It likely won't be pretty. It looks like "The Suit" is in for a dressing-down.
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Jul 1, 2007 11:20 PM
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I don't have a problem with Medellin, this show is about the life of a young actor and I'm sure this sort of scenario has taken place.
With that said, we are 100% in agreement about the lack of face time for Mr. Ari Gold and the overexposure of Billy Walsh.
I guess I can see why Eric has been so irritating of late but I was irritated by Vince's actions last night or lack of action I should say. He finds out he is dead broke, his agent tells him that his manager is trying to sell the film in order to regain the privileges of final cut, and what does Vinny do? Spends the afternoon watching soccer. If my entire career and livelihood was in jeopardy, I think I might just try and do something about it.
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Jul 2, 2007 1:20 AM
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Was anybody else annoyed by the inconsistent pronounciation of "Cannes"? They alternately pronounced it "Can" or "Con" (the correct way being "Can", btw).
I know it's a bit off-topic, but it was annoying and didn't ring true for me if we are to believe they are true industry insiders.
(Ari got it right, of course. More Ari!)
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Jul 2, 2007 2:48 AM
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Is Jeremy doing a movie or something because I can't see the writers purposely decreasing Ari's role for the good of the show.
The story has dragged a bit but thank goodness for Johnny Drama, his misadventures will always keep me coming back. The look on his face as he was being bent over the side of the pool was too funny.
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Jul 2, 2007 3:48 AM
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I am so over Medellin it's ridiculous. I need more Ari!!!! If I don't hear Ari yell at Lloyd soon I might go crazy. Although he did have one great line last night 'Do you know your man broke out of the Oompah Loompah factory and is up to no good?'
Other than that I'm losing serious patience.
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Jul 2, 2007 8:20 AM
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The Drama and Turtle storyline is getting continually worse and more boring each week. Those two characters could be the most uninteresting characters on television at the present moment. You say Kevin Connelly is one note.. Amend to that but Kevin Dillon is so one note you can't even hear the noise the note is making anymore.
Last night if you compared any of the episodes of the cancelled "The Loop" that aired to this unfunny half hour you would wonder what has happened to the audience for actual comedy in half hour comedies? On one hand you have a show that is cancelled. It had no viewers to speak of yet when you watched you found a sharp - foul mouthed - comedy with a group of actors that made us want to watch more. Mimi Rogers and Philip Baker Hall were both on the top of their game each episode - and both have excellent comedy chops. It took like three episodes of that show to get its actors looking like a well oiled cast capable of delivering comedy. "Entourage" has been on for four years and has never been that well written or well acted.
"Entourage" is nowhere near as good as it once was. This show has been on for too long already. The main problem is the cast. The writers have already hit what these actors are capable of conveying. There is nothing left to explore. This show has been resting on its own buzz for the past few years yet has never derserved or lived up to it because of a mediocre cast. Jeremy Piven is the most overhyped of the entire group. He is always just Jeremy Piven being Jeremy Piven. Nothing new ever comes from his performances.
This show actually needs more Billy Walsh. His story is interesting. The actor is better than any in this cast. (He is funny!) You never get bored with his performance. More Billy Walsh and less Johnny Drama is just what the doctor ordered.
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Jul 2, 2007 10:48 AM
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Was anybody else annoyed by the inconsistent pronounciation of "Cannes"? They alternately pronounced it "Can" or "Con" (the correct way being "Can", btw).
Everybody pronounces this both ways - even the French! This IS nit-picking!
I think that everything will get back on track when the whole clan gets to France. I do agree about Medellin and to tell you the truth - this show as funny when Vince has no money!
I do love the guest-starts though! How funny was Dennis Hopper talking about living in a cave for months while filming Apocolypse Now!
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Jul 2, 2007 10:57 AM
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This show actually needs more Billy Walsh. His story is interesting. The actor is better than any in this cast. (He is funny!)
That statement alone is enough to disregard everything you had said beforehand.
This show needs Johnny Drama, more than it needs anyone else in the cast.
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Jul 2, 2007 2:34 PM
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Please ... less Billy and more Ari!
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Jul 2, 2007 2:55 PM
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 Wrap up the movie mess, and bring on the Ari. And please, Drama/Dillon must catch an excellent break or two soonest, and get Turtle a life. Hope the writers are holding out for a good reason. My patience is wearing thin. Many thanks for the Hopper!
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Jul 2, 2007 3:29 PM
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I am in total agreement that Ari is being under utilized. I think Jeremy Piven is just perfect the way he is. He is the star of the show for me. He is the reason I keep coming back for more, just to hear what might come out of his mouth next, LOL.
Walsh is ridiculous. We are supposed to believe he is so brilliant that it is worth putting up with his mood swings. I don't see it, nothing is worth that. There have to be tons of directors with just as much talent that are not as annoying.
I love the adventures of Turtle and Drama, keep them coming!
I was annoyed at Vinnie for almost losing a bet, getting lucky enough to get out of it, and then placing another one. He has no sense of responsibility. I don't see his charm.
I like Eric. I think he is the most sensible one and I think he is a cutie, even if he did escape from Willy Wonka!
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Jul 2, 2007 8:50 PM
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I agree we need more Ari. But given that Vince and Eric put their life savings into Medellin, I think it would be a bit unrealistic to just wrap up the story in a couple of eps and move on.
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Jul 3, 2007 9:36 AM
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Does anyone else think that Medellin kind of looks like it sucks? Every scene we glimpse kind of looks like it was shot with a sitcom camera style (whereas Entourage still looks more like a film) and it kind of seems, to me, that either Adrien Grier has trouble playing a double role (you know Vince playing Pablo Escobar) or the part is just cheesy. I guess one of the things that I like about Season 2 was there was all this talk about Aquaman and the fun of watching them deal with the publicity and having to deal with that, but we never saw one bit of Aquaman.
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Jul 3, 2007 11:25 AM
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I feel like I missed an episode or two along the line. What happened to Turtle's sneaker girl? And it sounded like they were trying to set E up with someone, was that the boys just being themselves? Or did he and Sloan break up? Wasn't he moving in with her? What happened with that?
The f-word is seriously starting to annoy me. I don't mind it, but no one ever uses that word that much! I also did think it was terribly foolish of Vinny to just place another bet when he doesn't have the money.
I'm interested in seeing what happens with Medellin, however.
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Jul 3, 2007 11:50 PM
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You touched on a few things I've been thinking of joy9585. I guess they did ditch Turtle's sneaker girl. I don't mind that. It seems like they were bowing to the PC police for that story and we need Turtle in hapless love adventures anyway. And I didn't think E broke up with Sloan. I seem to remember a fight they had before the crew flew off to the set. So maybe they did break up at the time.
I want to see more of Ari as well. He has been relegated to cameos the last few eps. I am still interested to see what happens with Medellin. But Billy does get on my nerves.
I did like the two guest stars for this eps. Lisa Rinna was smoking. It was funny. I honestly thought her friend was wearing a fat suit and was going to take it off in the end. Like teaching them a lesson or something. I guess not. Dennis Hopper was cool. My pet peeve was that they got the gambling aspect wrong in the ep. If a match is tied at the end of regulation, you cannot win on either team. You would have to have bet on the tie for you to win. Teams have to win in regulation for you to win in that sort of bet. Take it from someone who has bet on soccer quite a bit and especially the English Premiership.
I have heard Cannes pronounced both ways by industry people. I don't think there is one true way to pronounce it.
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Jul 4, 2007 3:57 AM
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