Entourage

At its core, Entourage is about brotherhood.  It may have a glitzy Hollywood douchebaggery outer coating, but really its just about four guys who are bros.  The new season seems like it will be more of the same, but with some escalation.

Like most kickoffs, this one plants seeds that will run through the rest of the season.  Vince’s career is again on the upswing, and his merry band of frat boys are enjoying the fruits of his labor.  As his newest movie draws towards its premiere, the gang is feeling great, except maybe for Eric.  Feeling like he needs to grow up a little, he reconnects with ex-girlfriend Sloan about possibly moving into his own place.  This causes some suspicion of the group, worried that they might lose Eric to adulthood.  Meanwhile, Lloyd is convinced that he is ready for a promotion, much to Ari’s jargon.

Overall, while funny and cool, the writing of this show is notorious for being a little low brow and silly.  The premiere and subsequent episode are no exception.  The dialogue ranges from kinda sweet to mediocre to straight up awful.  The only character that still seems to have some heart is Eric, and on the other end Vince is barely even human.  He is just a device to make everyone rich.  Bad writing and acting aside, the characters are still just as relatable as we know them to be, and evokes the inner frat boy in us all.

It looks like this season is going to be about growing up and upgrading.  Since its start, Entourage has been accused of having flimsy characters that hard to like because, well, they are assholes.  After watching the first two episodes, it looks like they may be trying to cast off their shackles of bro-dom and try being independent men.  But who will be left behind?  If the little group stops acting like 14 year olds with too much money, there won’t be an entourage, will there?  It looks like everyone is going to have to make some self improvements over the course of the season, but keeping the band together is going to be the real challenge.