Every time there’s a new episode of Entourage, I sit on the couch and watch it, laugh maybe two or three times, figure out how the episode is going to end, realize about fifty percent of the time that I was right, episode ends, I go to bed, wake up, and get on with my life. That next day, though, I end up talking to a half dozen friends who are unexpectedly furious about the twenty-two minutes of fluffy television I have just seen, yelling everything from “Another piece of s*** episode, nothing happened,” to “I’m f***king done with that show, forget it.”
When I think about the show in a logical manner, I’m not blind to the fact that the plots are repetitive, or that Adrian Grenier ironically isn’t a very good actor, or that every time there’s a major conflict it ends up being immediately diminished, often without explanation, or that the show’s most common criticism, that a bunch of its fans are just frattish dudes who aspire to that livestyle — watch it in a room full of more than five dudes and you’ll need to take a thirty minute shower afterwards — is both true and obvious. Somehow, though, not only do I keep watching the show each week, but I also never really get mad at it, even with a subplot like last night’s Turtle-dealing-with-ugly-old-woman fiasco, which would seem more at home in a National Lampoon’s dvd-only release than in an HBO show, or at least it would have if Turtle vomited condoms every time he opened his mouth, including speaking.
What’s weirdest about this phenomenon is that I’m usually the A-hole on the other side of the masses, playing devil’s advocate in arguments ranging from Family Guy to “The Life Aquatic,” and now here I am with nothing bad to say about a show that tries really hard to make me notice that it’s not that good, and that even my American Dad-loving friends can’t stand to watch anymore? Maybe everyone complaining makes me subconsciously turn the other way and pretend to love punchlines that infants could probably see coming, even if they don’t yet have the ability to speak? Maybe I just don’t hold the show to any kind of standard? Maybe as a blogger, I’m just more inclined to enjoy mainstream television and music instead of being instantly spiteful, because I’m so open-minded? (Hint: it’s not that one) Am I the only one in the world with this dilemma???
All things being equal, I guess Entourage is just an ok piece of pizza to me. All my New York friends may complain about why it sucks, and I can’t disagree with them, but I don’t really care, it’s just pizza. Or maybe I’m just a frat dude at heart.
