up to the minute

So, because I like to keep on the razor sharp edge of what's happening RIGHT THIS MINUTE, I just finished watching season 1 of Entourage on DVD. (it is currently in its 3rd season on HBO.) I'll admit, it took me a couple of episodes to warm up to it, but once I had my a-ha moment and realized that the young-actor-in-Hollywood culture being explored was as foreign to me as the wild west of Deadwood*, I was able to settle in and watch it without thinking "those assholes!" every 12 seconds.

Some basic background: Vince Chase is a hot young actor who moved to Los Angeles with "his boys" from back home in New York. There's E, who acts as his de facto manager; Johnny Drama, his older half-brother who was in a show called Viking Quest 10 years ago (think Hercules); and Turtle, who as far as I can tell is there for purposes of procurement and excess consumption. The other main person (in season 1 at least) is Vince's agent Ari.

initial thoughts:

+ those assholes!

+ is there a more stupid, more ridiculous or reprehensible vehicle than a banana yellow Hummer? (answer: only a stretch banana yellow Hummer)

+ Is this what guys sound like when they're alone?

+ Perhaps I am judging too harshly.

+ Surely they will give Jeremy Piven a better toupe as the series goes on. (and they do! My prediction is that soon there will be less stigma for being bald or wearing a toupe. The population is aging, it seems like it has to happen sooner or later. They can call them cheveux chapeaus or something.)

+ Oh.My.God. are there any women on this show who do more than slither around on a pole or threaten to break up the band?!? (... a couple, but honestly women have a lot more agency on Deadwood -- which is set 150 years in the past and 80% of those women are whores. This (along with the recent Supreme Court decision) does not fill my heart with hope.) Maybe Entourage gets better in this regard during seasons 2-3. I do love Debi Mazar, and Mrs. Ari looks like she may play a bigger part.

+ I think Johnny Drama may be my favorite member of the entourage so far, which surprises me. He's never going to have the success of Vince and he knows it, but he has his dignity.

+ I haven't really warmed up to Vince yet -- he's the pretty-faced enigma at the center of it all, but he just sort of floats along. He's almost pathologically conflict averse, except I'm sure he wouldn't see it that way. (example: he never breaks up with anyone, he just stops calling -- in his mind, this is a kindness.) I find myself not liking him much (although I don't dislike him either), sort of like I didn't really like Bullock -- the purported hero of Deadwood -- at first either. (Evil Ari, like evil Al Swearengen is so much more charismatic.) But the whole thing pivots on Vince! I am forced to admit that by the last couple of episodes of the season (the ones with the crazy director) it seemed like they were diving a little below Vince's placid surface. I liked how that whole final transaction happened right in front of E, but it was incomprehensible to him because he wasn't picking up that artiste vibe.

+ Ari: the asshole you love to hate. I have enjoyed Jeremy Piven in other things (CUPID! I miss that show...), but he seems to have found the part he was born to play. He's got that high-strung needy energy thing going on that's so perfect for Ari.

+ I am hooked enough that I want to see what happens next, particularly with E taking on the part of official manager. I guess I'd better put season 2 on hold as soon as I have some room on my hold list.

* (I have only seen the first two seasons of Deadwood -- don't tell me how it ends!)