Guys On Film

I've been watching first season reruns of Entourage and it's a fascinating contrast to where it's ended up.

It's common for the first season of a sitcom to seem a bit stiff and comedically soft in retrospect, since the actors and writers are only discovering what the characters are like.  But Entourage was never

a straight sitcom.  Produced by Mark Wahlberg, and based vaguely on his career, it's as much about wish fulfillment, and the strong bond of boyhood friends, as anything.  So letting these East Coast kids loose in Hollywood, a new playground, works best in the early seasons.  They're excited, not jaded, and they're learning new things. (You can only party with supermodels so many times before you get used to it.  Or so I suppose.) More important, Vinnie, the star, is on his way up, and there's no guarantee he's going to make it--they have to make decisions, artistically and commercially, that have impact.  In later seasons, the gang's got a lot less to prove.

The show isn't quite as flashy as it would become.  Even with all the conspicuous consumption and beautiful women, it's fairly muted compared to today.  I guess when the drama's less compelling, the easiest thing to do is turn up the wattage.

For the last couple seasons the show has stalled.  In a way, they've painted themselves into a corner.  Whether the central plot's about Vinnie succeeding or failing, we've seen it before.  But if they try something new--in particular splitting up the gang and giving them all separate stories--it moves us away from what made the show special to begin with.

Is there a way out?  Perhaps.  Though the most obvious is to end the show, it's done what it set out to do.