When Entourage premiered on HBO way back in July 2004, it was a groundbreaking comedic series that beautifully blended male bonding with Hollywood stardom, smoking hot chicks, booze and lots of weed.Initially, Entourage was able to connect with its viewers in a way like few shows before or since. Vince, Drama, Turtle, E and Ari were all great because we knew them. We were part of that crew and we were along for the ride.
But at some point, the ride veered off the tracks, flew off a sixty-foot cliff, crashing to the ground in a giant fireball that charred a national park and all surrounding wild life.
The eighth and (thankfully) final season of Entourage was so bad that it should have been on the CW. It was almost like the writers went to rehab with Vince and never came out.
I wish I had an answer for why I continued to watch. Loyalty, I guess. Or maybe I liked being able to sit on the couch for a half hour and bitch about how each episode stunk more than an overturned Honey Bucket at a Train concert.
This ultimately poses the question: Can a show actually be considered a comedy if you don't laugh?
The series finale was full of the usual slop and absurdity that has marred this once great series for years. The least they could have done was bring back Sasha Grey and Alex, the marble mouthed tequila model, for a proper send off.
Even Emmanuelle Chiriqui's Sloan character became so grating that you feel bad that E undoubtedly will be forced to live in misery listening to Sloan bitch about everything for every second of every day.
If Entourage were a professional athlete, it would be Vince Carter. You were captivated by the respective brilliance for the first three years. And since then, you've been trying to figure out what the hell went wrong.
But it's important to focus on the good times. Over the last month or so, I've re-watched a handful of episodes from Entourage's first two seasons. It's so good in fact that I'd pit those two seasons up against the two best seasons from any comedy series in history.
The writing, acting and story lines are all brilliant. It completely sucks you in. The early episodes make you want the 30 minute episodes to become an hour.
It's just too bad they were unable to sustain that greatness.
Goodbye, Entourage. Don't let Adam Davies kick you in the ass.
