Fun
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Nostalgic
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Curious
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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: July 18, 2004
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Entourage, “Entourage” (Season 1, Episode 1) [Stream on Hulu]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: From the very first moments of the Entourage pilot — the first actual line of dialogue is Jerry Ferrara’s Turtle ogling Jessica Alba on a movie poster, for the record — it’s clear how desperately HBO was in the market for a male-skewing version of Sex and the City. And with Mark Wahlberg exec-producing this L.A. story loosely based on his life as an East Coast transplant to Hollywood and navigating the life of a hot young movie star, they found it. The shows were each other’s opposites in many ways. Four women in New York versus four men in L.A. Whereas Carrie Bradshaw was ambitious and romantic, Vinny Chase was a cocky douchebag. Charlotte was a chaste idealist, while E was a cocky douchebag. Samantha was a sexually voracious, slightly older woman, while Johnny Drama was a cocky douchebag. Miranda a neurotic career woman, while Turtle was a cocky douchebag.
Over the course of eight seasons (…I know), Vinny Chase and his bros proved that while Hollywood has sucked the life out of many an idealistic and beautiful young starlet, four good friends from Queens could survive all the box-office disasters, cokehead directors, emotionally abusive agents, hate-crimed gay assistants, and women who were there to be ogled, disrespected, and disappointed in the bedroom. Was Vince a good actor? Honestly, that might be a more enduring mystery than anything HBO ever put forth in The Leftovers. What Entourage made sure we knew was that he was a successful actor. One who thankfully never lost that cushy life of privilege that his beautiful face bought him. …Honestly, good for him.
