Entourage

I find myself strangely hooked to a new HBO series, Entourage.

Season 1, comprising of only 8 episodes, is currently playing on Tuesday nights at 9 pm on HBO (Starhub Cable channel 60). Season 3 is now being screened in the US.

This Emmy nominated series is about the celebrity lifestyle of a movie star, Vince Chase (played by pretty boy Adrian Grenier) & his entourage of childhood pals comprising of his brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), best friend/Manager, Eric (Kevin Conolly), and Turtle the “COO” of his household (Jerry Ferrara). On the sidelines are his agent (ably played by Jeremy Piven), and publicist (Debi Mazar).

At first glance, one is surprised at the success of this series of half hour episodes. After all, how many of us can relate to the extravagant lifestyle of the rich & the famous. But I guess celebrite is such a draw these days as evidenced by the appeal of gossip newspapers, & the way papparazi is drawn to taking otherwise mundane pictures of Brad Pitt crossing the street, or Britney Spears drinking a cup of coffee – The People want to see such things.

Anyway, it is interesting to watch this supposed insider look at how the celebs really live (after all, Mark Wahlberg is one of the executive producers). Loose women & one night stands, smoking pot, spending ridiculous amounts of money (eg splurging >$300,000 on a car, then returning it to the dealer the next day) – all the clichés by which we think of how these Others live, you name it, it’s there, & couldn’t be further from how we plebians live.

It’s probably morbid curiosity that draws us viewers in…