My favorite show on television... I really don't follow any other show with a whole lot of regularity, but I'm in love with this show, and I've seen every episode multiple times.. I love the characters, the concept, and the blending of comedy/drama.

The fact that its on HBO makes it even better... Since Sopranos went away, this is really the only show I watch on HBO.. I'd like to get into Big Love, but I've missed so much of it its hard to go back and start from the beginning.

Anyways, I love this show, my only complaint would be that its so short, only a half-hour per episode.. I wish they could show back to back episodes every week, lol..

Anyone else like this show as much as I do?

I like it a lot.
The writing is, at times, phenomenal.
Jeremy Piven makes it worth watching alone.

The friendship and comradery of the 4 guys really makes the show, even if the writing isn't always that strong or the comedy involving them isn't always that funny. It's like Sex and the City in that way- it's about the characters.

This show WAS one of my favorites, solely based on Jeremy Piven and Kevin Dillon's characters. The first and second season's were brilliant (james cameron doing aquaman? I would think about selling my soul for that to actually happen!!). The show, as of late, however, has in my opinion been going down hill. I enjoy Californication and Dexter much more these days.

I felt the same way upon watching the show when it was airing on HBO... But since buying the DVDs, and rewatching the episodes a few more times, I don't feel the same way anymore (except for season 4 which I believe is still enjoyable, but the low point of the series so far).. the episodes really grow on you, and I find that if you watch a few or more of them in succession, it makes for a more enjoyable experience.

I wasn't very fond of season 3 when it first premiered (coming on the heels of season 2, the high point of the series) but since owning the DVDs and watching the episodes time and again, I view the season as fondly as any other.. I think that will be the case, at least with me, for all the seasons.

Having said that, I think this past season, season 5, was a pretty good rebound from a mediocre season 4.. I'm psyched for next seasons when Vinny does the Marty Scorsese picture.

It's a funny, super enjoyable show, but most of the time it doesn't make any sense.




EDIT (Trevor): Please use provided spoiler tag. Thank you

Because his rise to the "top" of the acting world was on the back of a massively successful action movie, and not on his acting ability. So when he made Medellin, it was his opportunity to show the world he could act. And he failed, miserably. Vince was offered numerous roles after that for small-time work. As in, "if you can still do the little stuff, you can keep doing the big stuff." But he turned all that down. He was then seen as egotistical. He flat-out refused anything that didn't have a top notch script.

He then used Ari to muscle him onto Smoke Jumpers, and he came across to the director as a snotty bitch who whines about everything. That information made its way out of the shoot, and it became gossip.

So basically, his perception in the industry at this point is that he's a good looking guy that can't act, and is trouble on the set. Essentially he's not worth the extra money his presence will bring to a movie.

Scorsese had seen Queen's Boulevard, and had seen his footage from Smoke Jumpers. As a director he probably saw that the poor result of Medellin was because of Walsh and not Vinnie. Also, Scorcese isn't looking to make a crazy amount of money with his movies, so the marketing aspect is irrelevant to him. He sees a good actor down on his luck. Gus himself said the footage was excellent, but he wasn't right the role. Which could be 100% true, you could be an Ed Norton or Sean Penn, and want to be in something like the Wrestler.

I totally agree with your explanation of how Vinny rose to the top..

But, what I took from the whole Smoke Jumpers fiasco was that the director was just as much to blame for what went on on-set as Vinny... As evidenced by the fact that we find out

After what happened with Smoke Jumpers, I never really got the impression that Vinny fell out of favor with the studio.

No he never fell out of favour the studio over it, but the rest of Hollywood wasn't at that meeting. Everybody just heard the rumours of him being difficult on the set. Regardless of the director, that kind of stigma sticks to an actor.

So even if the studio thought he was fine, he has to convince a casting director or just a director himself. If all those people hear are the rumours instead of first hand from Vinnie or Dana, then they won't want to touch him.

Either way the show has some extremely improbable plotlines, but it's still just a fantasy. That's why everyone likes the show.

A fantasy highly based and inspired by Mark Walhberg's real life and friends

I randomly started watching this show just a few weeks ago. Since then I've fallen in love with it. The acting is all top-notch, ranging from the insanely energized Ari, to the usually chill, but still moody Vincent. My favorite character is Johnny Drama though, whenever he's on screen you know something hilarious is about to happen, and he usually delivers. Of course the show is a little ridiculous, not everything that happens would probably happen in real life, but hey, its fun to think about. The celebrity cameos are great too!

I agree, Kevin Dillon steals as many scenes as Jeremy Piven now... I'm glad to see them BOTH nominated for awards lately..

Season Six has been good thus far, although I'd love to see them delving into the acting world a little more. Show Vince on a set, at an awards show or being interviewed at more shows like Jay Leno.

Agreed, for some reason I am just not sold on the strength of the Ari-Andrew relationship, for a guy like Ari to show that much compassion just seems very uncharacteristic. The best thing about last night's show was a. Jeffrey Tambor replaying his George Bluth character from "Arrested Development" when he's cheating his golf score while trying to impress his kids, and b. Ari slamming Lloyd with a golf club.

The show is going in a good direction however as they've colored the rest of the guys enough so you can care about the career path of Eric, and dare I say...Turtle.

Sadly, after half the season, I'm not liking the show that much anymore. Vince finally gets some success, but instead of showing the guys having fun, the writers decided to make everything uber-dramatic. Eric's got his girl troubles. Turtle wants to open a business. Even Ari hasn't been that funny because he's always dealing with Andrew's affair.

Like... what are they doing? They've taken a great premise for a show and turned it into something so boring and stale where every character's got his annoying problems and the original lead is barely relevant.

I agree this season has been disappointing so far, it's still mostly watchable, then again "Entourage" has been on a steady decline after Season 4 in my mind, although it's still a good show, you can't top Seasons 2 and 3 with Vince teaming up with Cameron.

I have faith that they'll figure it all out and make it funny again. There's only so many awkward sexual situations and colorful subplots you can come up with for a show. Although they're basically dragging out the inevitable that Eric will get back with Sloan, everyone has seen that coming ever since this season began. We'll see, it started off okay and introduced some good ideas (such as the Turtle subplot), however it has really yet to flesh those out.

Last few episodes:

+ I like how Eric isn't being a little bitch and how he stopped letting himself get jerked around by Sloan. In real life, no one would ever abandon Sloan for another girl because she's too hot, but in TV-land, I'll accept it.

+ The Bob Saget stuff last week was quite funny.

- Again, next-to-nothing to do with actually being a celebrity in Hollywood or actual movie making.

- Ari, again, wasn't funny because he was too busy dealing with Andrew. The writers have destroyed one of the best characters on TV.

Last night's episode of "Entourage" is probably the worst episode I've seen so far in the show.

First, as much as I love Peter Stormare (was awesome in "Prison Break"), that whole thing with Vince's "stalker" is just way overblown and paranoid. I just don't buy it.

Then, as said above, Ari is being depreciated to nothing more than a fixer-upper when he's much more capable of providing laughs and energy to the show. As much as I like Gary Cole, his character is driving the show underground. I get that the writers are trying to show a different, more compassionate and sympathetic side to Ari, but it's gone a bit to far. The car driving into the house scene felt extremely "Hollywood".

yep, I agree with that ~!!!!!

Another sub-par episode last night with funny moments but, overall, it was more of an excuse to vege in front of the TV than anything else.

agree, Kevin Dillon steals as many scenes as Jeremy Piven now...