HBO’s Entourage is Embarrassingly Addictive

I’m not much for soap operas and, other than Flavor of Love and The Sopranos, they’re aren’t too many television shows which I adore in a pre-teen, boy band kind of way. Although I have to admit that Entourage has slowly fallen into this category. My transformation into an Entourage-junkie was indeed a slow and tiresome process. I didn’t watch any of season one and I caught only a few second year episodes by chance; I thought it was funny but since I wasn’t engrossed in the ongoing plot I felt left out and disconnected from, for lack of a better term, the show’s heart.

However, a little, destructively addictive innovation called HBO On Demand changed this. HBO On Demand didn’t just allow me to watch all of the old HBO Original Series’, it pretty much forced me too. Like a sexy nymph hovering outside my bedroom window, singing a siren’s song and sweating the glistening gleam of a desired future that I could only dream of, HBO On Demand called to me.

It said, “Jetlag Democracy, I love you. Watch all the HBO shows that you’ve heard so many good things about. You can watch them whenever you want. You can even pause them if you need to go to the bathroom or make a turkey sandwich. Come to the light.”

I am, after all, only human, so I did what HBO On Demand said. I watched all the back episodes of Big Love and was magically (read: sadly) swept into that series. I even watched the tired, raunchy sitcom Lucky Louie and got sucked in there. But the most hardcore, addictive drug that On Demand had to offer was Entourage. I was drawn to that show like Mel Gibson at an open bar KKK meeting.

In case you don’t know, Entourage tells the story of Vincent Chase, an up and coming movie star who brings his two buddies from New York and his struggling actor brother along for the wild ride of fame. On paper this show seems really stupid, but it’s actually real funny. Jeremy Piven (Old School, PCU) steals every scene as Vincent’s spaz-out super agent and is reason enough to watch the show. But despite the laughs, the main reason that anybody (at least any male) watches this show is because of the soap opera factor. This hard to admit, but like The OC or The Sopranos or Lost, the main appeal of a show like Entourage is the rolling plot line. You could watch one or two episodes a season, but what are you really getting out of that besides wasting time. Watching the entire season is most likely a waste of time too, but it won’t feel like it.

Look, I don’t know if the Aquaman backlash is going to kill Vinny’s career. I’m not sure if what he said to the Hollywood Foreign Press is going to keep him from getting work. Maybe Johnny Drama’s pilot or Turtle’s hip-hop client will be big hits and everyone can mooch off them. I don’t know.

The only thing I know is this: I am ridiculously and embarrassingly addicted to Entourage. Is this sad? Maybe. Do I care? Nope. Not at all.