Entourage Season 1 Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Adrian Grenier as Vincent Chase
Kevin Connelly as Eric "E" Murphy
Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold
Jerry Ferrara as Turtle
Kevin Dillion as Johnny "Drama" Chase

Plot: You follow Vincent Chase and all of his friends, rise to the top of the acting biz, only to be met with tons of obstacles that come with becoming a star, and overall as a person.

I'll be honest, i'm not much of a TV person. So, when you see that I've written something about a TV show, it must be something good then. Personally, I find it hard to get into TV shows. Some of them have really good plots with poor execution, some of them I just don't find interesting and most really can't grab my attention for too long. HBO shows/series on the other hand, they really hook me. They win all these awards, year after year, and it's easy to see why. A lot of effort gets put into these shows, and you can see it.

Enough of that, let's get into why we're here. Entourage. I caught Entourage for the first time in Season 7, after noticing that the sexy Emmanuelle Chriqui was on it. I got hooked on the show as a whole and decided, it's time to get myself caught up. Entourage is now in its final season, season 8, and I plan on giving you a review for each season, leading up to the finale and review of the 8th and final season.

Season 1 only consists of 8 episodes, which shows that HBO thought that maybe they had something, they just didn't know what. So, 8 episodes, 25-30 minutes each episode, doesn't seem like much to go on but the content is very good in this short amount of time.

Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) and E (Kevin Connelly)

What made Entourage work in season 1, and what has made the series so great, is the characters. Not one character presented in season 1 is dull. From the main 5 characters all the way down to the small roles and cameos. 

Adrian Grenier as Vincent Chase, presents Vince as a hotshot, up and coming actor who already looks like he's going to enjoy the party lifestyle that comes with being a star. From hooking up with girl after girl, to spending crazy amounts of money on luxury items, he's the free spirited, sometimes insecure, character of the group.

Going down the food chain, the management behind Vincent Chase consists of two people. One guy being his best friend and his eventual manager, Eric "E" Murphy and the other being his agent, Ari Gold. Now, Ari and E really go at it, back and forth arguments during the season. E, very much like Vince, comes from a small neighborhood in Queens, New York. So it's fair to say that E is probably not qualified to be a movie stars manager and Ari doesn't let him forget that, but being the stars best friend helps. The constant back and forth between Ari and E is probably the best part of season 1. It's clever, heated and above all, damn entertaining to watch. Jeremy Piven as Ari is dare I say, gold, and has easily become my favorite character of the series. He's this extremely witty, off the wall kind of character that entertains the whole season.

Johnny Drama and Turtle

Finishing up the food chain, we have Vince's two tag along/lackey kind of guys. His brother, Johnny "Drama" Chase is trying to find his way back into the acting biz while their friend Turtle is really just along for the ride and mooches off of Vince. I wanna say they provide some comedic relief, but everyone else is already funny, and I personally like Drama's "side" story of his career revival.

Season 1 is entertaining all the way through, filled with comedy, good drama, great storytelling and lots of celebrity cameos. Including: Jessica Alba, Leighton Meester, Gary Busey, Larry David, Scarlett Johansson and so many more.

Season 1 is a great way to start the series, but definitely the best has yet to come.