What I’m Watching: Entourage

Entourage: Season 6, Episode 4 “Running on E” (B+)

First of all, I’m very impressed by the title of this episode. It’s a clever take on one of the central characters’ names, and it’s a very truthful, accurate description of the content of this episode. No one’s really doing much of their own – Johnny’s kissing girls all day, Turtle’s getting dressed by his girlfriend, and Vince is quite literally sitting around doing nothing at all. Even E, who’s actually at work doing something, finds himself terribly bored and ends up not doing a thing all day except have sex with his girlfriend, who’s really inserting herself into his life. Johnny’s interactions with both Timothy Busfield and Edward Burns are entertaining, and those two represent examples, like Jamie-Lynn Sigler, of actors who are pretty good at playing themselves, as opposed to, say, James Cameron or Gus Van Sant, whose unenthusiastic renditions of themselves fell flat. The guest appearance of David Schwimmer was funny, especially because his awkward interaction with Lizzy was exactly like how Ross would interact with someone. Andrew leaving his wife was a bit of an unexpected move, but it certainly will reign down hell on Ari both personally and professionally. I’d like to see Lizzy promoted to a bigger role (on the show, not at the agency) because Autumn Reeser hasn’t had a chance to showcase her talents. Otherwise, this is a good installment of the show and hopefully future episodes will go the same way.

Regarding future episodes, this show will have plenty. Last week, HBO renewed “Entourage” for a seventh season, and after eight more episodes this summer, it should return in summer 2010.