OK, tell me you're not fired up for July 12th yet? Seriously. If you say you're not, you're lying. But perhaps this will help you get through the days leading up the Season 6 premiere of "Entourage."
Looks like we're going to have ourselves a few Sloan sightings this season, too. All seems right with the world right now, doesn't it?
Blog reader Paul sent this email in my direction on Wednesday:
Been scanning the web for Entourage stuff in anticipation of season 6 and found this: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1914477. I don't know if you've seen it. As much as I love entourage, this is pretty funny....
Paul, I hadn't seen this until your email. It's hilarious. Hope you all enjoy it, too.
Driving into work this morning, "Super Hero" by Jane's Addiction just so happened to be playing on CD. A sign? Perhaps.
"Entourage" will return to HBO on Sunday, July 12. It's time to start getting excited again. I've been on YouTube all morning watching clips from past episodes, including the Ari-Mrs. Ari therapy scenes. They're arguably the best scenes in this show's history.
Among the guest stars we'll see this season: Tom Brady, Ed Burns, Zac Efron, Jami Gertz, 50 Cent, Jay Leno, Steve Nash, David Schwimmer and Mark Wahlberg.
Emmanuelle Chriqui will also reprise her role as Sloan for a few episodes, and I think the entire world is happy about that. Same goes for Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
The little hand is so close to the 3, if this was a gossip tabloid about scandalous clocks, I'd have to write "they were seen canoodling."
The big hand sits on top of the 10 like King Kong Bundy demanding a five count.
I'm talking about the time of 2:50, and if you remember "The Sundance Kids" episode from Season 2 of "Entourage," you know where I'm headed here.
That's right, folks, the 2:50 meeting. It was one of Ari Gold's best scenes in terms of not-so-over-the-top antics and comedy that leads to a lasting impact down the road (how's that for a niche?).
Quick refresh: E gets a lunch with Harvey to talk about "Tapping the Source." Ari laughs at the time of 2:50. Vince adds, "Who meets at 2:50?"
Why do we care now, as we sit just a few months away from the start of Season 6? Well, why not?
Even though time only allows for 2:50 to occur twice a day in a particular time zone, it's amazing how many 2:50 meetings one person can attend in one day.
Think about the next time your boss makes you go attend a silly, fruitless meeting. Tell him, "Guy, that's a 2:50 meeting." If he doesn't get it, consider finding a new boss. And then send him this link so he can watch the video.
(Then, if you're really gutsy, set up a daily meeting schedule in Outlook for 2:50 p.m. and send it to him.)
I've stayed away from all the "mercury toxicity" stuff involving Jeremy Piven and his early exit from "Speed-the-plow."
Personally, I don't really care. Just show up and be Ari Gold. The rest of life is up to you.
But if you want to read a real undressing of Piven by Page Six, here you go. Note: It's brutal.
But again, so long as nothing happens to Ari Gold's character, the position of "Entourage: Let's Blog It Out" is we don't care about off-screen stuff.
(Getty Images)
We'd like to thank all who participated in the voting for the Season 5 Joshie Awards. (We'd also like to thank all who put up with my delinquency in posting the winners. Life and work threw me some Tom-Gordon-in-his-prime curveballs the last few days, thus causing the delay. No excuses, but that's my excuse.)
The results are quite interesting, I think. A few surprises, a few predictable winners and a few that I'm really glad the Vegas oddsmakers different offer any lines on because I'd have Marvin calling me right now telling me to file for Chapter 11.
The results are below, and be sure to frequent newsday.com/entourage (that's a shortcut URL for this blog) throughout the offseason for more goodies. Season 5 may have ended, but we'll have some during the time between now and June when Season 6 hits the airwaves.
Adrian Grenier's band The Honey Brothers just announced a Jan. 24 performance at Williamsburg Music Hall, for all those who will be in the NYC/Brooklyn area around that time.
Grenier is a drummer and his Honey Brothers crew has a movie called "Adventures of Power." When it will come out, I have no idea. Some time in 2009, I believe.
It stars Grenier, Ari Gold (not Jeremy Piven!), Michael McKean, Jane Lynch and some other folks. It screen at Sundance and earned Audience Choice Best Feature Film at the Vail and Memphis film festivals. "Adventures of Power" also won the Grand Jury Prize at the San Antonio and TriMedia Colorado film festivals and Best Comedy at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
Who knows what any of that really means since there are roughly 423 film festivals nowadays. But here's the trailer. It's about air drumming. It could be amusing.
The fifth season of "Entourage" is officially over, and the winter will feel colder as we wait for the sixth season next summer.
In the meantime, it's now Joshie Award season!
The Joshies celebrate excellence in "Entourage" each season. And the "Let's Blog It Out" offices spent Monday night in the judges' circle watching and nominating scenes and characters in 12 different categories. We even incorporated your suggestions this time around for the third annual Joshies.
Below you will find all the nominees. At the bottom of all 12 categories listed is a link to the voting booth. The polls will remain open until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2. Then, on Thursday, Dec. 4, we'll announce the Season 5 Joshie Award winners.
We'll start with the two new categories for this season, then continue with the original 10 Joshie Award categories.
At the spot. Drinkin' with the boys. Seeing the family. Rolling with old neighborhood friends at old neighborhood hangouts as if no time had passed.
Oh the joys of coming home again.
The Season 5 finale of "Entourage" nailed that sentiment, and at the perfect time of year. I've always been a huge proponent of the parallels between when a show airs for the first time and the actual time of year it is.
The first four seasons of "Entourage" aired during the summer and it completely enhanced the show's carefree, live-life-to-the-max attitude. When Season 5 was delayed because of the writer's strike, I wondered how that would affect the way we subliminally compute this season in our brains.
It took all of 0.8 seconds to know this episode wasn't going down in Hollywood. Hello, "Me Myself and I" by De La Soul. A Long Island-based rap group from the late '80s/early '90s. Another strong soundtrack choice by the producers (and I think that just might be the start of a new category for Season 6).
With that, it's time to channel my "thinking like a New Yorker" bias that I just claimed didn't exist a few minutes ago.
Does anyone else want to see more episodes shot in New York? Not a full season or anything like that because that would change the dynamic of the show, but maybe three or four episodes in Season 6?
I didn't care when Barry Bonds took the cream and the clear, and I wouldn't care if "Entourage" did the same thing here. There's such a different energy in New York than Los Angeles, and the Season 5 finale proved that. The photography of this episode felt different, too, but again, I'm a lifelong Long Islander and New Yorker, so I'm probably completely biased on this.
But filming a few episodes in New York City could reinvigorate "Entourage" among those who may not have enjoyed this season's overall story arc. Of course, we think those viewers are crazy, but five seasons is five seasons, and with the way people consume television these days, no show is above minor tweaking and storyline expansion.
Still, I'd love to see Johnny Drama have a meltdown in his own bar and then storm off into the streets of Queens. I'd like to see Turtle ride the subway. I'd like to see Vince play a plastic bucket drum with a street musician. Maybe E ordering a coffee and danish from a breakfast truck on the street? And can you imagine Ari Gold being approached by a bum on the street? Hello, future Joshie Award for Best Scene!
Despite the star power that is/was Vincent Chase, "Entourage" really centers around E. He's the true lead of the show, at least conceptually, even though the ensemble cast makes "Entourage" what it is.
Thus, we'd be shocked if Vincent Chase ever took home the Big Knish for the most Best Printable Lines in a season. But every now and again, the writers throw him a bone. As do we.
Vince smoked the competition and scored the BPL in the Season 5 finale. Sitting on the stoop talking to Ari after being harassed by his mother (how many New York natives can relate to Mercedes Ruehl's performance as Mrs. Chase?), Vince drops this bomb:
"My mom's all over me. She's treating me like she usually treats Johnny."
Great line. Of course, Ari locked up this season's Big Knish last week, his second straight and third overall. Watch for the Big Knish ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
This episode had nothing to do with Ari Gold. These things happen.
But when you commit to the Ari Gold Mine during the first episode of the season, you still have to find the AGM. Such is life when chronicling our favorite TV show.
Seeing Ari in Queens was awesome. He made it even awesomer (not a word) by delivering Martin Scorsese on the phone, flashing that smug "Look how I awesome I am" grin and then calling E "a little McNugget."
Ari the Savior is occasionally more fun than Ari the Slayer. Occasionally.
I was tempted to give every New York City scene and reference Writer Props this week. But then I'd be guilty of that East Coast media bias people love to talk about. And I'd be found guilty of an even greater charge of "thinking like a New Yorker."
But once the phone sex scene between Turtle Sal and Jamie-Lynn Sigler arrived, I put all that aside. Turtle using his mother's land line to talk naughty with his girl Jamie-Lynn and getting caught doing is exactly why we love "Entourage."
Well played, Mr. Ellin. Well played.
Victory
Turtle deleting all logs
Just a quick programming note to those who read me right after "Entourage" ends Sunday night (yes, haters, there are quite a few who do that).
My flight from Nashville doesn"t land until after midnight, so get a good night's rest on Sunday, then hit the blog hard Monday morning.
I know, I know, how can the world's pre-eminent "Entourage" blogger skip town for the season finale, especially when they finally come home to New York?
Well, when your boy -- in this case, Lawyer friend Steve -- drops a buddy pass on you at 2 p.m. Friday, it's hello Nashville, hello Jets, goodbye undefeated Titans.
Don't get too mad, though. Remember how quickly Turtle Sal ran to the airport when his boy Vince needed him? And he was chillin' with gorgeous Jamie-Lynn Sigler at the time.
Plus, remember this season"s slogan: "Entourage. Live it."
This is as close to that as I can possibly get on my salary.
J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS!
Just in time for the Season 5 finale and the third installment of the Joshie Awards. Sweet!
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