What I’m Watching: Entourage (Season Premiere)

Entourage: Season 6, Episode 1 “Drive” (B)

It’s always nice to see Vince and his crew, and it signifies that summer has truly arrived if the boys are back in town. In this case, they’re recovering from a very sub-par season last year, and this first episode is a fairly content-less half-hour which just sort of gets the wheels spinning on future developments. Most importantly, nothing regrettable, like Vince’s whole “Smokejumpers” arc, is started here, and Vince, for a change, is doing well. Sure, he can’t pass a driving test, but he can offer the tester free tickets to the premiere of Scorsese’s Gatsby movie, and that seems to be his current ticket to success. Going on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” wasn’t too much of a plot point, but the main thing is that Vince is doing well at the moment and hopefully the misfortunes which befell him constantly last year won’t continue to do so this time. Drama may finally be getting a proper, serious acting job, which could be a good dramatic move for his comic relief character. The reintroduction of Sloane, who hasn’t been around for a while, is a bit random, but she’s a reminder of the good old days when “Entourage” was truly superb. E could also benefit from having some good connections again. Turtle’s relationship with Jamie-Lynn Sigler was a nice thread from last season, but at this point it hasn’t been utilized well beyond the initial surprise that she was actually interested in him. The most significant change is the addition of Gary Cole in the role of Ari’s newest partner. The strange thing is that Ari’s always been great when he’s alone getting into his own messes, or with the sarcastic but dutiful Lloyd at his side. Cole is there, it seems, to serve as a sounding board for Ari and nothing more. Exploring how he conducts his business would be an interesting avenue, especially since it’s likely very different from how Ari does things. At this point, he seems extraneous, especially if the terrific Lloyd does in fact become an agent. I’d love to see Lloyd given a bigger role, though the risk of course is that Lloyd might make a far better assistant than an agent. We’ll see; I’m excited for the second episode, when things really start going for season six.