Monday, September 12, 2011

YOU'RE AMAZING, VINCE:  Go ahead, I dare you: find something nice to say about the Entourage series finale, a fantasy of wish fulfillment perhaps not seen on tv since the days of MTV's My Super Sweet 16.  Seriously: who thought this made for good television?

40 comments:

  1. JosephFinn9:11 AM

    Please tell me there was clinking of champage glasses at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alice Eve's incredibly attractive and was quite funny in "She's Out Of My League."  I hope that her upcoming "MIB 3" role isn't as thankless as this was.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ummm...my husband enjoyed seeing Mrs. Ari's tush in a bathing suit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would like to meet some people who thought it was a good episode of TV.  I can't think of a single redeeming thing that happened.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't even think Barry Alvarez is keeping it on his DVR.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I haven't watched Entourage in years, but now I think I have to check this one out.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Benner11:27 AM

    Entourage has had its series finale.  BOOM.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That opera music was good.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Some more good things about the episode:

    -It was only a normal-length episode, not double-legnth.
    -Andrew Dice Clay did not appear.
    -Hardly any rap music.
    -Only one homophobic Ari/Lloyd joke.
    -Didn't end with ten seconds of silent black screen.  [I know -- some here would've liked that.]
    -No stress over whether or not Carrie will find Big.
    -It sets up a movie in Italy.  (Or was it France?  Somewhere else?)

    ReplyDelete
  10. <span>

    Sorry, I forgot to add the #OHYEAH tag.
    </span>

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think Russ nailed it, but I take issue the movie set-up being a GOOD thing.  I thought it was terrible.

    ReplyDelete
  12. kd bart11:55 AM

    At the end, I was hoping the planes would collide in mid air.  I figure Turtle would be the only survivor.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Has any show so thoroughly failed the Alison Bechdel Test as much as this one did?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think there were a couple of scenes over the course of the series of Beverly D'Angelo and Constance Zimmer discussing business--admittedly, those discussions typically linked up to either Vinnie Chase or their respective relationships with Ari, but maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Was this show EVER good television?  I tried, really I did, but just never got it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. kd bart12:35 PM

    At this point, I'm ashame to admit that Doug Ellin went to my high school.

    ReplyDelete
  17. To be clear, I'm not cheering the movie per se.  But, recognizing that there WILL be a movie, the ep helps set up a reason why it can be in Italy. 

    ReplyDelete
  18. I thought the Alison Bechdel Test was "Is there a full-page drawing depicting lesbian cunnilingus to which Russ might unexpectedly turn while sitting in an aisle seat on an airplane full of kids heading to Orlando?"

    ReplyDelete
  19. Jenn C2:06 PM

    I enjoyed the Charles Widmore cameo.

    Even the clothes were ugly (why has Vince been wearing this horrible grandpa cardigan?).

    ReplyDelete
  20. Where was Widmore??  (You sure you're not mistaking Malcolm McDowell for Alan Dale?)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Post-credits epilogue.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wow, I think I missed that.  Must go check out.  Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  23. cagey3:18 PM

    The only good thing about that episode was hearing Led Zep's "Going to California" over the surround sound.  We actually finished the credits just for the music.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ok, just watched it.  Few comments:

    1.  HBOGo knew exactly where I had left off, even though I watched it on another device. I shoudln't be surprised, but that's cool.

    2.  That explains comment about Mrs. Ari's tush (barely) in a bathing suit.  Wow.

    3.  Nice ending.  When I said above that it set up the movie, I didn't realize how much it set up the movie.

    ReplyDelete
  25. So, I'm curious what people think:  COULD Entourage have had a great finale?  It seems to me that the shows with the best finales generally rely on some sort of character growth, plausible arcs, etc., and the power of many finales draws on those forces signfiicantly.  Even S&tC, which meandered at first, closed out with some meaningful arcs that bore fruit in the final episodes.  But Entourage, for whatever reason, never went in for that in a consistent way, and its effort to create arcs in the final season just seemed forced and rushed.

    That said, even with what they had, they could have done better. 

    ReplyDelete
  26. How about 3-5 episodes to show Vince growing up and wooing, Ari figuring out what really matters to him and changing his life gradually, and Turtle branching out on his own?  Instead, all the character development this week happened off-screen or via miracle.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Deus ex back-end.

    ReplyDelete
  28. The other alternative is a bleaker ending--Ari alone with his family having abandoned him and rejected his chance to reconcile, Vince relapses after the girl rejects him and spirals downward, losing all his money, Turtle's restaurant bombs, Sloan finally tells Eric to go away for good, and Drama's show, despite the buzz, winds up tanking (let's be serious--an animated show about monkeys with the voices of Johnny Chase and Dice?)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Marsha4:29 PM

    I watched the first three seasons of Entourage, I think, then ditched it. Is there any reason for me to watch the finale? Will I even follow it?

    ReplyDelete
  30. chuckie4:42 PM

    While I enjoyed the first several seasons in a mindless entertainment sort of way, meh on the finale, the last season, and the last couple of seasons for that matter.  That said, though, I've never understood people who complain about how vapid the show is, or the lack of character growth, or the lack of consequences -- but then continued to watch (and gripe about) it for 8 seasons!   "That show was never any good, and I know because I watched every second of it!"  Entourage was what it was, and it never really deviated from its basic formula.  If you didn't like the formula, I don't understand why you stuck around.  Now, are you mad at the show-runners or yourself? 

    ReplyDelete
  31. I think you can follow the episode even if you don't speak English. 

    No, no reason to watch.

    ReplyDelete
  32. spacewoman5:05 PM

    Now *that* I would have enjoyed.  Instead, I spent the rest of the night muttering, "F you, Vincent Chase" every few minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  33. spacewoman5:06 PM

    Yeah, you're absolutely right.  I have no excuse. But I love to hate it anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Jenn C6:03 PM

    HBO Go is amazing. I want them to break free from the cable companies and just charge people for it like Netflix/Hulu Plus.

    ReplyDelete
  35. JosephFinn7:00 PM

    But only if he encounters Hugo coming out of the woods.

    ReplyDelete
  36. People do this all the time! I think Television Without Pity wouldn't even exist if people didn't love to hate shows, and bitch about them endlessly. I keep watching True Blood even though it fills me with rage every week. I am DELIGHTED to be freed from its grasp for another season. But you can bet I'll be back for the next season. Absolutely.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Jim Bell10:40 AM

    I can't wait to watch it!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Jim Bell10:41 AM

    There's no accounting for taste, especially mine.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Paul Tabachneck10:52 AM

    The whole thing was insane.  We experienced no real understanding of Vince's relationship to She'sOutOfMyLeague to make us understand how he turned the corner, or even how she, of even mind, accepted a marriage proposal from a man she was barely learning to trust!

    Ari's game has always been that supporting his family to his satisfaction required satisfying a demand at work, and that was all he ever felt he was doing.  That he gave it up, or that taking the CEO position was even a question, negates all of his character work.  Unsatisfying.   Kids aside, I would much have rathered that he stay with Dana, who at least understood his career because she shared it.  At least it would have been in line with the show's theme of wife-hating (not one I agree with, but we're talking about Entourage here.)

    I could care less about Eric and Sloane -- I don't understand what split them apart, ever, or what brought them together. EVER.  

    Drama never evolved.  Why did Drama never evolve?  It's ridiculous that he never got to understand who he was or where he was, ever.  I don't get that.

    Turtle was the only character I respected in the end (never would have called that), and that was diminished when Vinny saved his ass, but still, you've gotta have something.  

    ReplyDelete
  40. Aimee1:47 PM

    Oh, okay.  Now I get it :)

    ReplyDelete