2014 BEST TV COMEDY #4 -> Entourage

Because…

• Perfect mixture of comedy and drama, as characters we love and care about make tough decisions. Superb.


• High-energy episodes with everyone in crisis mode.


• The show does two things really well: demonstrate what a tight-knit group these guys are… And put them at odds with each other on a regular basis.


• Great balance of comedy and drama.


• Perrey Reeves’ character has become one of the highlights of the show.


• As much fun as it was to watch the boys playing when things were going their way, it was much more interesting to see them struggle at bit when things went wrong.


• The show became infinitely more interesting in Season Five, with Vince’s career is down the toilet.


• Season Five successfully showed a kinder side to Ari, giving us several insights into the inner workings of his mind.

[9.19]

Entourage 5.12

Ending is a cop out, but otherwise this is a strong and dramatic episode. Cool to see the boys back on home turf. 9/10

Entourage 5.11

Peter Berg. Superb juxtaposition between a dramatic, thrilling storyline (“Smoke Jumpers”) and a genuinely sweet love story (for Turtle). 10/10

Entourage 5.10

Seth Green Day. Back on form. Big time. Three storylines. Each one with a major ‘villain’ for Ari, Eric and Vince to overcome. Excellent. 10/10

Entourage 5.9

Gary Cole. Two storylines: one successfully showing a kinder side to Ari as he tries to help a friend, the other showing some uninteresting shenanigans on set. The fact that Jason Patric is stealing Vincent’s lines is too lightweight a plot for a full episode. Even the twist at the very end doesn’t salvage it. 7/10

Entourage 5.8

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Frank Darabont . Perfect mixture of comedy and drama, as characters we love and care about make tough decisions. Superb. 10/10

Entourage 5.7

Jeffrey Tambor, Alan Dale, Jason Isaacs. While the Vince (chases a supermodel) storyline is bland, this is a great episode for the Ari character, with several insights into the inner workings of his mind. And the Ari/Vince scene at the airport is a series highpoint. 9/10

Entourage 5.6

Martin Landau. The Drama/Turtle storyline isn’t funny, and makes Drama look meaner than usual, but the golf game stuff is superb. Great tension. And the heart attack ending… wow. 9/10

Entourage 5.5

Eric Roberts, Brandon Quinn. The story is nothing special, but there are a couple of very hearty laughs to be had (mostly concerning Ari) and a couple of good character moments (concerning Vince’s decision, re: the Benji movie). 8/10

Entourage 5.4

Absolutely superb. The tension surrounding the script Eric represents is some of the best drama this show has ever had. Nail-biting stuff. Great character drama. The show is infinitely more interesting, now that Vince’s career is down the toilet.

And the Johnny Drama b-plot is serious (for once) and equally superb. 10/10

Entourage 5.3

Fran Drescher, Kevin Pollak. A wonderful episode, with many superb scenes.

• The car race with Ari in his new Ferrari.


• The confrontation where Ari punches the other guy.


• Ari’s triumphant return home.


• Any/All of the short scenes showing the success Eric is having with the script he represents.


• Most of all: the singing scene at the very end. Non-stop laughter guaranteed.

10/10

Entourage 5.2

Mark Wahlberg.

• As much fun as it is to watch the boys playing when things are going their way, it is much more interesting to see them struggle at bit now that things have gone wrong.


• Vince is certainly a much more interesting character here, and his conversation with Ari is especially good.


• Eric, too, has a good storyline, which I hope continues for many episodes to come. As we watch the progress of this film he has found.


• For once, the Drama storyline is a bit of a non-starter. Otherwise, a very strong episode.

9/10

Entourage 5.1

Kim Coates. Light on laughs, but some good character moments (in the fallout over the disastrous Medellin) and a nice twist in the story. 8/10

Entourage 4.12

Cannes. A fun episode, with underlying tension in all the scenes. Lays the groundwork for troubled waters ahead. 9/10

Entourage 4.11

Kanye West, Sydney Pollack, Anna Faris, airport. Great balance of comedy and drama, with all storylines being very strong. And lots of foreshadowing. Eric's dilemma being the best part of the episode. Love the way that Perrey Reeves’ character has become one of the highlights of the show. 10/10

Entourage 4.10

John Heard . High-energy episode with everyone in crisis mode. Ending is very exciting and satisfying. The Anna Faris character is the springboard to more tension and drama within the group. Which is what is needed, seeing as the show only does two things: demonstrate what a tight-knit group these guys are… And put them at odds with each other on a regular basis. 10/10

Entourage 3.19

(Brett Ratner) Strong plots. Turtle's attempts to date a girl with a strict father probably most unusual for this show. 9/10

Entourage 3.18

(Five Towns tv show debuts) All storylines are great, but the Johnny Drama one, in particular, is cool and satisfying. 9/10

Sat, Jun 13, 09 - Scrubs, Entourage, Flashpoint, Californication, Corner Gas

07.00 Scrubs
07.30 Entourage
11.00 Flashpoint
12.00 Californication
12.30 Corner Gas

Scrubs. Season 8, Episode 2. "My Last Words" JD and Turk keep a patient company on his last night.

One of the very best episodes of Scrubs.

Due to budget contraints (I presume) many of the regular characters do not appear. So we get a slimmed-down version of Scrubs: no wacky subplot to deal with. Just a serious a-plot from start to finish.

Entourage. Season 3, Episode 5. "Crash and Burn" Warner Bros wants to fast-track Aquaman 2, but Vince wants to film a low-budget serious film first.

A perfect example of the two things that Entourage does best: Friendship & Tension. The friendship aspect comes out in the scenes where Vince shares the wealth with his buddies: buying them cars, helping Turtle's rap artist client get airplay, and convincing Ari to have a meeting with Turtle and Johnny. It's good stuff.

On the flipside, we have tension in every scene related to the studio and their plans for Vince. Everyone is smiling and friendly, but - deep down - you know that everything is going to go belly up soon...

Flashpoint. Episode 15. "The Fortress" A nanny and children are held hostage when a robbery goes wrong.

One of the few episodes (so far) where the bad guy is an out and out bad guy. The show usually goes to lengths to write the story of the bad guy and explain why they are doing what they are doing. Not this week. This week, the bad guy is a secondary character and the focus of this superb story is the Nanny who helped him commit his crime, but who wants to back out and wants to do whatever she can to help/save the children.

Again, to it's credit, the show is able to make us care about these guest characters and worry about their fate.

Californication. Season 2, Episode 4. "The Raw & the Cooked" Dinner party.

A wonderful and sad episode. We've been watching Hank play house since the second season started and we've been waiting for him to destroy it. The kicker is: he doesn't really do anything to destroy it. Instead, his past catches up with him.

Hank's daughter is the best character in this episode. She has all the best scenes/moments.

The writing of the actual break-up was superb. Karen was written in a sympathetic manner. She doesn't react to Hank from a place of anger, so the audience continues to understand and like her. Her decision makes sense.

What next for Hank?

I've enjoyed these first four episodes, but Hank (and the show) has lacked some of the direction it displayed during Season One.

Corner Gas. Season 5, Episode 15. "No Time Like The Presents" Lacey wonders if Wanda considers her a friend. Hank decides to switch time zones. And everyone else is obsessed with Christmas (even though it is still July).

Strained. The Hank stuff and the Christmas stuff is very strained and raises no laughs.

Wanda's personality raises some chuckles in the other storyline, but not a lot.

Disappointing.

Highlight? Scrubs (one of the best episodes)
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Sat, Jun 6, 09 - Scrubs, Dexter, FNL, Prison Break, Flashpoint, Corner Gas, Californication, Entourage, Jason Of Star Command, Shazam!

07.00 Scrubs
07.30 Dexter
08.30 Friday Night Lights
09.30 Prison Break
11.00 Flashpoint
12.00 Corner Gas
12.30 Californication
01.00 Entourage
01.30 Jason Of Star Command
02.00 Shazam!

Scrubs. Season 8, Episode 1. "My Jerks" Taylor Maddox takes over for Kelso, and JD deals with a bunch of annoying interns.

Except for a few in-jokes about the move to ABC, and a superb debut from Courteney Cox, it's business as usual at Sacred Heart. Scrubs has always been about serious stuff in the middle of zany stuff and - based on this season premier - the formula is intact.

Dexter. Season 3, Episode 12. "Do You Take Dexter Morgan?" Miguel has sent two people after Dexter... his brother and a psycho killer.

Satisfying ending to the third season. Now that Miguel is out of the picture, Dexter still has two foes to deal with. These foes were dealt with in different ways. And both were satisfying. Ramon and Dexter... sat down face to face and had a heartfelt conversation. Yes, there was some violence first (Ramon pulled a gun on Dexter at one point) but - to my surprise/delight - the storyline was resolved when Dexter reasoned with Ramon and allowed him to see the error of his ways.

Cool.

The storyline of the Skinner also came to a surprising conclusion. Dexter was taken hostage/prisoner and - not being an action-hero in the classic sense - I did not expect him to break free. Especially since his (newly-promoted) detective sister was on her way to rescue him. But, no, Dexter went all Jack Bauer on the bad guy and broke free. I wasn't expecting that. It was a bit "too TV" for a show like Dexter, and I hope they don't go there again, but it was a cool way to end the season.

Friday Night Lights. Season 3, Episode 13. "Tomorrow Blues" Flash-forward five months to the early Summer and everyone prepares to go their separate ways.

A perfect season ender. The idea of the jump forward five months is inspired, and allows for a great freedom in storytelling. A lot has happened in the five months we missed. The show jumps from character to character with ease, brings up to date with what has happened since we last saw them and tells us what each one is planning/hoping to do next.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Prison Break: The Final Break. "Free" Michael puts his final plan into action.

Prison Break leaves the air with an episode as good as any that it produced. The elements of a great PB episode are in place: Michael is cool, Michael and Alex are a united team with a strong bond/mutual trust and the storytelling cleverly misdirects us: We assume things that are not true and the episode uses that against us.

Alex gets lots of great screentime in this one, as do Gretchen and T-Bag. This is a fan-pleasing episode. And a good way to end the story.

Flashpoint. Episode 14. "Business As Usual" Three newly-homeless men go after the CEO that caused them to lose their money.

The Flashpoint formula is in place here: great story, compelling guest characters, superb guest actors, and lots and lots of tension leading to action scenes.

Jessica Steen joins the cast. Always a good thing.

Corner Gas. Season 5, Episode 14. "Contagious Fortune" Hank has Pink Eye, Oscar has forged Dog River Dollars and Karen has a mirror image: Davis.

Weak outing from the gang in Dog River. The Pink Eye story tries hard to be a spoof of Zombie movies but never quite reaches the heights. The Davis-copies-Karen-at-everything storyline is unfunny. Oscar raises the best laughs in the episode, but - this too - goes on for too long.

Californication. Season 2, Episode 3. "No Way to Treat a Lady" Hank hangs out with Lew, as he prepares to write his biography. Charlie follows Daisy onto a porn shoot.

The Hank stuff was curiously directionless this week. He just hung out and observed. Normally Hank is in motion and he's about something. Not in this episode. It's a little disappointing, but - I suppose - it's a different side to Hank. Judy Greer guests. Always good.

The Charlie-at-the-porn-shoot storyline was much better. Very funny and interesting. Is Charlie going to go from being a book agent to being a porn agent? That would be hilarious. Quite clever and deep. I love it.

Entourage. Season 3, Episode 4. "Guys and Doll" The 5th guy is still around and everyone (except Vince) is waiting and watching for him to foul things up.

Another good episode, showing what the guys are like when they are not 'themselves'. Dom throws everyone off. Except Vince. Eric and Ari find themselves agreeing.

Jason Of Star Command. Episode 4. "A Cry for Help" After the padding of the previous episode, this one has an abundance of activity. The clone sent by Dragos manages to render Space Academy defenseless and Dragos sends it spinning into a nearby star. Jason meets a hideous monster in the cells, but he removes it's bracelets and it turns into a beautiful princess (nice one, Jason) and together they are able to escape from Dragos (finally!) and fly to a nearby planetoid (where they must deal with earthquakes and so on).

Sid Haig and Craig Littler are wonderful to watch. Littler has his best episode here. He's 100% committed to, and very likable as, Jason.

I also love the music. If you watched any Filmation shows in the '70s you heard all of this music and it's great to hear it again.

Shazam! Episode 2. "The Brothers" Chad is blind and Danny, his older brother, overprotects him. But when Danny is injured by a snake, it falls to the blind boy to find his way to safety and rescue his brother.

It's still hokey but this second episode doesn't have the logic flaws and coincidences that the first episode had. You still have put your brain in neutral to enjoy it but, if you can, you will have a smile on your face. It's a storyline right from the pages of Little House On The Prairie and Lance Kerwin make a good guest star.

Billy Batson and Mentor show up to do their thing. I find the status quo of the series fascinating. The two guys driving around aimlessly, taking direction from animated gods in visions. Cryptic direction at that, since Hercules and the others does come right out and tell Billy exactly what he has to do. They hint and he has to reflect later and figure it all out for himself.

It's really odd. But oddly compelling.

Jackson Bostwick is great as Captain Marvel.

Highlight? Prison Break (as good as any episode that came before it)
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