Entourage: Remember When This Show Used To Be Good?

Ugghhhhhh, you’re killing me, Smalls (yes I realize that this reference is lost on about 70% of you). It pains me to say this, but this show has been sucking royally this season and I, for one, have had it. Remember when Ari used to do really slimy and underhanded things? Remember his lawsuit-worthy treatment of Lloyd and how funny it was? Remember Vince banging girls he didn’t have to pick up at the local coffee shop? And E being relegated to the “B storyline”? *Sigh* Those were the days…

The action this week can be summed up by an Ari quote in the first 5 minutes when he lamented “I’m bored.” Amen to that, Ari, we know the feeling. Here’s what happened, in case you missed it. Or fell asleep during it. Or threw your remote at the TV and broke the screen, whatever…

Vinnie Chase’s movie “Ferrari” has been temporarily delayed due to a monsoon (um, OK, sure…), leaving him with 3 months to kill and no one to kill it with, or so we’re supposed to believe. So what does he do? He goes to lunch with his trusty entourage and decides that if his own friends are too busy to play with him, then he’ll just have to pick up some random waitress skank, and wouldn’t you know there was one standing nearby who was only too happy to oblige. Even she didn’t stick around long to hang with Vince though; he’s been THAT boring lately.

On the Turtle front, he’s still happily dating Jamie-Lynn and has somehow procured Kanye West’s entire wardrobe, which he’d probably get beaten up for wearing if he went back home to Queens. Jamie-Lynn has convinced him that he needs new clothes to start school and that all the cool kids are wearing the Carlton Banks look this semester, neato! Then Drama, fresh off a casting call for his female love interest for his TV show, decides to ask Turtle if he can borrow his girlfriend to make out with on the next episode. Yes, you read that right, he wants to borrow his girlfriend – apparently, after kissing half the models in LA and begging Ed Burns for a “big name actress” to share the screen with, he decided that the home grown approach was best (she agreed, FYI). Actually, the scene where Drama made out with all of those girls (I’m purposely saying “made out with” as much as possible, it’s a phrase that needs to come back, in my opinion, because it’s AWESOME) was the most entertaining part of the whole episode. I was practically on the verge of changing the channel out of boredom until the Ed Burns cameo popped up (swoon). I think the true gauge of how badly a show is tanking is by how many celebrity cameos they include, and lately it’s been a veritable parade of stars trying to jump start this gravy train. At this rate next week’s episode will include very special appearances by President Obama and Jesus Christ Himself, I swear. And speaking of celebrity cameos…

David Schwimmer stops by the Miller Gold agency to do business and ends up trying to bed Andrew’s newly single former office flame, Lizzie. That is, until Andrew decides that breaking up with her (upon Ari’s insistence) wasn’t such a good idea and he crashes Ross Geller’s lunch date with Lizzie. That was the straw that broke Ari, since he was already pissed that Andrew’s wife, Marlo, had called Mrs. Ari late at night looking for her rogue husband and Ari had to lie to his wife (and we all know who, what Andrew was off doing…). In any case, Ari tells Andrew to think of his kids and back away from the Lizzie situation, and Andrew responds by leaving his wife for good. Yikes. Oh, and then Ari says he’s never cheated on his wife in 15 years of marriage – am I the only one who doesn’t buy this? The man conducted business in a synagogue on a high holy day and we’re supposed to believe he’s never dabbled? That’s about as believable as Ari’s son’s acting ability on this show (someone stop giving that kid lines, please).

On the E front, he’s still hanging with that annoying girl Ashley (feed her, for the love of God, feed her), and she drops by his office for a little afternoon delight. Then she tells E that the Murphy Group is kind of a joke, and he should shut down his business and just manage Vince, and he takes her advice. Great, now you’ve put his 90 year old receptionist out of work; nice going, Ashley.

This episode had a few things wrong with it, namely too much E story AGAIN, his Skeletor girlfriend is still allowed to lurk about, and the worst problem – Lloyd was barely featured at all! Dear Producers, Please make this show scandalous again, or else you’ll have to bring Ed Burns back every week just to keep me interested and tuning in. Oh, and David Schwimmer’s eye brows were not a good idea to include either, I could’ve done without seeing those babies, thanks. See you next Sunday…maybe.

For another take on this episode, read Running on E by Tanya Lane.

Season 6, Episode 3: Running on E (originally aired August 2, 2009)

For more Entourage, click here.

Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO.