JEFF PEARLMAN

JEFF PEARLMAN

Entourage: fear the jumping shark

entourage

Tonight begins a new season of my favorite TV show: Entourage.

I am nervous. For five years, Entourage has maintained a very sharp edge. Oh, there have been low points. Mandy Moore’s brief run. The episode where the crew went to Vegas, and another one last year when they all tripped on shrooms. Val Kilmer as The Sherpa. But, overall, Entourage is fantastic. It’s introduced me to Jeremy Piven (an anus by most accounts—but brilliant as Ari Gold) and Rex Lee. On a personal note, I know that the creator, Doug Ellin, has gone on sports radio praising my first book, “The Bad Guys Won!” (he’s a big Mets fan). How can I root against him? 🙂

And yet, even the best shows usually crash. Party of Five, one of my all-time favorites, devolved into a bad 90210 spin-off. Happy Days forced Fonzie to get married and adopt the Poltergeist girl. Etc, etc.rex-lee-2a

This season, the Entourage gang returns to New York, where Vince is supposedly working on a new Martin Scorsese film. This makes me nervous. Feels a bit like a gimmick—like a way of freshening up what, in all honesty, doesn’t need freshening up.

We’ll see …